(This project is under NDA, and some details have been generalized or omitted.)

The Project

A client in the wine education space—offering in-person courses and tours—wanted to expand into online courses and certification, improve their mobile experience, and refresh their website. The business was run by a Master of Wine and had a solid reputation, but they lacked insight into who their audience really was and how to reach them online.

They brought us in to help them understand their users, refine their online course offering, and improve the overall user experience, especially on mobile.

The project ran for about six weeks, and we had to balance research, design, and testing in a short timeline.

Team & Role

I worked on this project as a user research consultant, alongside my business partner (Jonathan), who was also a researcher. We split the work evenly, and checked in regularly to keep things aligned.

I focused more on stakeholder and user interviews, as well as the usability testing and iteration of the prototypes. Jonathan led a competitor analysis and expert review of the website. We both contributed to synthesizing insights, interaction design, and shaping the final recommendations.

Research Process

We broke the project into key steps to align on the client’s goals, develop a focused research plan, understand the audience, and improve the online course experience.

Stakeholder interviews & workshop

I started with stakeholder interviews to understand their goals and challenges. This included the business owner (a Master of Wine), their marketing lead, and their in-house visual designer. I also ran a workshop to explore who they were targeting, who was attending their courses, and what they wanted to achieve with their online offering.

After these conversations, I proposed a research plan that would help them to better understand their users and identify ways to improve the online experience. We aligned on a roadmap that balanced depth with speed.

User interviews

Jonathan and I attended one of their in-person courses—a sensory masterclass—where we interviewed participants during breaks to understand why they signed up, what they wanted to learn, and their experiences with online learning. As a bonus, we learned a lot about wine aromas and flavours.

I also conducted remote interviews over Zoom with wine enthusiasts who weren’t yet customers. We sourced participants through our research panel and a few other channels. These interviews focused on their motivations for learning about wine, their awareness of wine certification, and their online learning experiences.

Together, these interviews gave us a strong understanding of user needs and what the online experience needed to deliver.

Expert review & competitor analysis

While I ran the interviews and workshop, Jonathan conducted an expert review of the existing website, identifying areas likely to cause friction—especially on mobile. He also analyzed similar education platforms, identifying useful features and trends, and drawing from our past work in online learning. We synced regularly to share findings and align insights.

Prototyping & usability testing

With this background in place, we worked with their visual designer to create prototypes for the new online course experience, including mobile layouts. Jonathan and I developed the interaction flows, and their designer added the visual flair.

We ran remote usability testing over Zoom with wine enthusiasts from the target audience, using our interactive prototypes. Jonathan and I took turns moderating the sessions, while the other took notes. We completed a few rounds of testing with a handful of participants per round, iterating on the design as we went.

By the end of the project, we had a refined, user-tested design ready for development.

Insights & Recommendations

Wine certification was a mystery. Even among wine enthusiasts, there was limited awareness or understanding of wine certification—how it worked, what the levels meant, or why it mattered. In person, the Master of Wine could explain this directly to interested people on his tours, but online, the offering needed to stand on its own. We added clear, engaging explanations about the certification process, to demystify it and make it feel worthwhile.

Customers wanted more detail (not less). Because the client was seen as a trusted expert, users were actually willing to read more about the courses and certifications. Prototypes that highlighted the client’s expertise were better received. Rather than minimizing text, we focused on making it easy to scan, while still offering deeper details for those who wanted them.

No single factor drove course selection. As in any online education platform, users cared about more than just the course content—they also considered location, instructor background, reviews from past course-takers, and cost. We ensured that the new design surfaced this information clearly, and supported multiple ways to explore and filter courses, helping people find what mattered most to them.