Shindiggers

CLIENT
Shindigger Brewing.

MY ROLE
UX Researcher
UX Designer

TOOLS & PROCESS
Design Thinking
Journey mapping
Storyboarding
Business Model Canvas
Stakeholder Workshop
Stakeholder Map
Idea Napkin
Innovation Matrix
Lo-fidelity Prototyping

BRIEF: Design a solution for Shindigger Brewing to expand their business while maintaining their start-up authenticity with their customer base.

Our team of 10 multidisciplinary members consisted of 5 people focusing on User-Experience and 5 people focusing on Business Strategy. I was a part of the User-Experience team.

DESIGN SPRINT

To begin our process, we first spoke briefly with the co-founder to learn more about the brand and realized that Shindigger strives to be more than just a brewery. They emphasized that the brand’s core value was to create social experiences and to bring people together; beer was just a facilitator. This meant that we could explore the possibilities to create meaningful experiences for people and connect them with others. From this preliminary interview, we formulated a general research objective to help us better understand how people enjoy meaningful experiences:

How might we extend a moment of a social experience so that it brings out meaning and an authentic sense of self?

STEP 1: UNDERSTAND

Our first step was to define the scope of the problem so that we could determine what exactly we were trying to solve for. We designed a co-creation workshop with ShinDigger for the purpose of better understanding the needs of the client. We identified key objectives surrounding the Shindigger persona:

• What are key areas Shindigger is doing well in? Why? What are the learnings?

• What are key challenges Shindigger has faced? Why? What are the learnings?

• What is the personality of the brand?

• What are the core values of the brand and how are they carried out?

INTERVIEWS

ShinDigger defined their target demographic as “young, urban professionals”. Going from this, we conducted research about this group and the people who drink ShinDigger beer. We also used this as a guide for interviews.

We prepared a interview guide to learn more about ShinDigger and the perception of their brand amongst locals. We interviewed customers and bartenders at bars and pubs so that we could observe the interactions and dynamism of the social experiences in it. We then downloaded our interviews so that we can get a clear picture of the insights and opportunity areas available. During this stage, a few key insights emerged:

• Transparency and authenticity is important for customers to view the brand as a friend, rather than a business.

• Common goal of Shindigger’s demographic is personal growth and exercising creativity.

• Escapism is often a direct or indirect goal around getting together with friends and drinking beer. People seek a break in their lives in which they can “escape” for a moment.

STEP 2: SKETCH

By affinity mapping data from our research, we collected a few key insights::

• Meaningful Connections: Social experiences bring people together, and beer serves as a means to create a community. Our goal was to facilitate social experiences without the mindless consumption of beer

• Adventurousness and Growth: ShinDigger’s target demographic are seeking to grow in both their personal and professional careers

• Escapism: Create experiences in which the target demographic can have a means to “escape” without having to party and drink.

• Community: Maintain ShinDigger’s community of people having fun and supporting each other.

To begin ideation, we created a Stakeholder Map listing the needs of each stakeholder. Then we ideated possible solutions based on short term and long term goals.

STEP 3: DECIDE

After discussion, we collected our Idea Napkins and dot voted on our favorite ones, and then organized them on a timeline based on complexity of implementation. The idea was to present ShinDigger with a 1-5 year roadmap. We used an Innovation Matrix to map out where each idea as a solution for innovation and scalability.

STEP 4: PROTOTYPE

We created both lo-fidelity prototypes so that we can briefly test our ideas, and touched bases with users to test and refine. A few ideas we tested are:

• Brew Box: home brewing kit so that friends and communities can have a shared experience creating beer. This solution addresses the core values of creativity, adventurous, and social connection.

• Shindigger Brewing Workshop: Shindigger would host workshops that bring groups of friends together to learn the process of brewing beer. This allows for creativity and social connection, but without having to get drunk.

• Team building: young, urban professionals are becoming involved in their workplace teams, and for businesses, this means opportunities to create bonding experiences.

STEP 5: TEST & VALIDATE

We had multiple touch points with users throughout our process to make sure we remain user-centered. Our goal would be to continue testing our prototypes with a greater audience and refine the process.

SOLUTION: SHINDIGGER CO-BREW + ACCELERATOR

The final package delivered in our business strategy constitutes of 3 main timeframes. In each one, we outlined the steps needed to scale as a company, while maintaining the core authenticity as a company. Our strategy began by incorporating the community into the beer brewing process in the form of workshops and home-brewing kits. Then, it transforms into Team-Building packages that companies can purchase for their employees to engage in. Lastly, ShinDigger will host a co-working space within their brewery to help young professionals and startups accelerate their growth. Overall, we are bringing ShinDigger closer to their users and while helping achieve their professional goals..

Our solution addresses the following key insights:

• Meaningful Connections: Workshops help bring the community together and strengthens the bond between the brand and the user. This helps establish strong connections and the idea that ShinDigger is “for the people, by the people.”

• Adventurousness and Growth: Networking with other likeminded young professionals creates a community where ideas flourish and relationships are built.

• Escapism: Workshops and networking events helps young professional “escape” in a different way that is goal-oriented.

• Community: Over time, ShinDigger’s will have a co-working space to help people supporting each other in their careers and path to growth.