WINE & FOOD PAIRING APP
CLIENT
VinelyAI
DATE
2025
ROLE
AI UI/UX Designer
Vinely is an AI-powered wine and food pairing app that offers personalized, context-aware recommendations with photo, voice, or text – plus social sharing and fun challenges.
TOOLS
PROBLEM STATEMENT
Many casual wine drinkers feel intimidated by wine and food pairing because of limited knowledge, overwhelming options, and apps filled with jargon and unclear recommendations. Instead of guiding them, existing tools often add confusion and decision fatigue. Users want a fast, approachable way to get trustworthy pairings, explained in plain language, with the ability to save and revisit their favorites—making the experience simple, confident, and enjoyable.
SOLUTION
VinelyAI uses AI to make wine and food pairing simple and approachable, delivering quick recommendations with clear “why it works” explanations. The clean, intuitive design and save features help users build confidence and revisit favorites. Research showed people feel overwhelmed by options and jargon, so VinelyAI acts as a virtual assistant—offering personalized, real-time guidance and an engaging social layer with gamified elements.
DISCOVER
COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS – WINE + FOOD PAIRING
In our competitive analysis of wine and food pairing apps, we identified key strengths and gaps in the market. Many apps—such as Vivino, Hello Vino, and Wine-Searcher—excel at providing large databases of wine information, ratings, and reviews. Some also offer food pairing suggestions, but these are often buried in menus or presented in ways that feel overly technical, making them less accessible for casual wine drinkers.
Observations
Rich databases and detailed wine information (Vivino, Wine-Searcher). Lifestyle apps provide a fun, approachable experience. Some tools allow user reviews and ratings to guide choices.
Opportunities
Reduce complexity to make pairing approachable for casual users. Provide personalization without overwhelming the user. Balance trusted wine expertise with a friendly, modern design.
Competitive Gaps & Potential
-
Fragmented Market—Most apps focus on consumer discovery or restaurant use, rarely bridging both.
-
Operational Weakness—Few integrate with POS, inventory, or staff workflows.
-
Limited Personalization—Pairings are meal-based, missing mood, occasion, or preferences.
-
Low Retention—Many drive one-off sales without loyalty or CRM support.
-
Training & Events Gap—No strong tools for staff education, tastings, or VIP experiences.
AI HYPOTHESIS
We believe that if VinelyAI delivers highly accurate wine and food pairings in under three seconds, beginners and explorers will feel more confident and enjoy the process. Success will be measured by strong feedback, retention, and engagement. This creates value by reducing decision fatigue, building trust, and increasing satisfaction—captured through premium subscriptions, affiliate wine sales, and gamified user engagement.
DEFINE
TARGET AUDIENCE
-
Adults who enjoy food, wine, and hosting
-
Diverse in gender, age, and wine knowledge
-
Seek quick, confident pairing suggestions
-
Value clear explanations without wine jargon
-
Want an easy way to save and revisit pairings
PERSONAS
By understanding the user’s needs, we focused on solving their main challenges in wine pairing: too many confusing choices, lack of confidence, and unclear wine jargon. Their desire to impress guests, stick to a budget, and serve the right wine shaped our design approach. This insight guided features like simple pairing flows, clear “why it works” explanations, and save-to-favorites options—making the process feel quick, approachable, and rewarding.
EMPATHY MAP
The empathy map showed users struggle with too many options, confusing jargon, and fear of getting it wrong. They want to impress guests but feel overwhelmed by conflicting advice and crowded shelves. These insights drove key UIUX decisions: fast, confident recommendations, plain-language “why it works” explanations, and a warm, approachable interface. Simple save-and-revisit features made good pairings repeatable. The result: turning wine selection from stressful to confident and enjoyable.
USER JOURNEY MAP
Mapping the journey revealed where wine pairing stress begins—and how VinelyAI can help. The user starts planning a dinner, realizes they need wine, and searches online or in-store, only to hit a wall of too many options, conflicting advice, and confusing labels. Frustration and self-doubt are high. With VinelyAI, this pain point becomes a quick win: they enter the meal, get an instant pairing with a plain-language explanation, save it for later, and head to the store with confidence—ending the journey by hosting proudly, knowing the pairing was a perfect match.
IDEATION
VINELYAI MVP
Our MVP focused on making wine pairing simple, fast, and confidence-boosting. We designed two consistent flows—Food → Wine and Wine → Food—with clear inputs (type, budget, region, occasion) and instant AI-powered recommendations. Each result included a short “why it works” explanation to reduce decision fatigue and build user trust.
The AI analyzed flavor profiles, food categories, and user preferences to deliver curated pairings in seconds. Small features like favorites, search history, and visual match cues kept the experience approachable and personal. The goal wasn’t to do everything—it was to do the right things well, making the app intuitive, trustworthy, and worth returning to.
SITE MAP
The VinelyAI site map defines two connected
flows designed to make pairing simple and approachable.
-
Wine Pairing starts with a food input (text, speech, or image). Users can add context like budget or occasion, then choose Easy Mode for quick results or Interactive Mode for deeper refinement.
-
Food Pairing reverses the process, starting with a wine input and refining by food type, cooking method, or flavor to suggest tailored dishes.
Both flows are consistent, beginner-friendly, and deep enough for enthusiasts—supporting VinelyAI’s goal of turning an overwhelming choice into a confident, enjoyable experience.
DESIGN
SKETCHING
We started with quick sketch wireframes to map the core flows—Food → Wine and Wine → Food—with the goal of making pairing feel effortless. Both flows were designed consistently so users wouldn’t get confused, no matter where they began.
Each screen focused on clear language and simple layouts, guiding users without clutter. The results screens highlighted top matches with labels like Best Match or Good Match, along with a short “why it works” explanation to build user confidence.
DESIGN INSPIRATION
The VinelyAI moodboard draws inspiration from the elegance of wine culture and the joy of shared dining experiences. By combining sophisticated typography, wine-inspired colors, and vibrant lifestyle imagery, the design aims to feel both refined and approachable. The playful yet polished aesthetic reflects VinelyAI’s mission to make wine pairing accessible, creative, and enjoyable for everyone—from casual drinkers to passionate enthusiasts.
DESIGN SYSTEM
The VinelyAI design system makes wine pairing approachable and easy to navigate. A warm, wine-inspired palette and modern typography keep the interface friendly yet premium. Consistent spacing, clear hierarchy, and simple icons reduce cognitive load, while reusable components—like pairing cards, badges, and save buttons—ensure a seamless, trustworthy experience from prototype to final build.
HIGH-FIDELITY VISUAL SITE MAP
We mapped out two parallel journeys—food → wine and wine → food—branching from the same home hub. One flow guides users from typing or snapping a dish to curated wine recommendations; the other starts with a bottle scan and suggests dishes. Along the way, simple filters, concise pairing details, and save/share actions keep the experience focused. Onboarding, chat help, and a favorites/profile section connect via a consistent bottom navigation. This layout keeps entry points clear and steps intuitive, so users always know where they are.
HIGH FIDELITY WIREFRAMES
Our high-fidelity wireframes transformed early sketches into a polished, approachable interface. We refined layouts with a warm color palette, clean typography, and clear hierarchy so recommendations stood out on every screen. Interactive elements like badges, save buttons, and filters were designed for easy access—building confidence, reducing decision fatigue, and keeping the journey consistent whether starting with food or wine.
RESULTS
VinelyAI’s final design delivered a smooth, confidence-boosting pairing experience by tackling key frustrations—overwhelming choices, jargon, and self-doubt. With plain-language “why it works” explanations, intuitive navigation, and save-to-favorites, pairing became quick, repeatable, and enjoyable. Users responded positively to interactive modes, and the warm interface helped beginners feel like pairing pros in minutes.
REFLECTIONS
This project reinforced the value of designing with empathy. Grounding decisions in real user needs allowed us to deliver an experience that feels both functional and delightful—balancing clarity with charm to build trust and encourage return use.