Cocktail Atlas
Cocktail Atlas is a combination of a recipe cocktail book in combination with an app, through which it is made possible for people to travel just through the taste of cocktails and learn more about the world and other cultures. This idea has mainly been shaped during the Covid-19 pandemic, and the inability to travel the world, something that has been mentally challenging for many. Through Cocktail Atlas, I wanted to find a way of supporting people during these difficult times and offer them new ways of exploring the world.
Target Group
The target audience consists out of people between the age of 25-30. It is not defined by gender, as both fit within the group, however, due to my choice of designs, I rather want to choose women as my target audience. The relationship status does not matter for my target audience, however, it is most likely that have not become parents so far, as it would not fit their lifestyle. They are interested in cocktails and travelling, as these are the two key points I am combining. Furthermore, they like to learn new things and are open-minded to new cultures and languages. They are adventurous and like to try new food, beverages and flavours.
As they are likely to spend more money on their different vacations every year, they have a higher income, which makes it possible for them to have this lifestyle. Since they have not been able to keep up this lifestyle in over a year now, since the beginning of the pandemic, they were able to save a lot of money. Therefore, they are more likely to treat themselves, while waiting until they can travel again, and chose products that fit their interests of travelling.
They regularly, especially during the lockdown, look into books that cover travel or geography aspects, to find information about new destinations, and therefore, it is likely that they will stumble across my book. The current situation is the major motivation to buy my book right now, as it is a close option to experience travelling, especially through the different options within the app.
Furthermore, they value the opinion of close friends that have similar interests and therefore trust in their recommendations. This makes it easier to get a bigger audience, once someone likes the experience they had with the cocktail book.
When it comes to alcohol consumption, within that age group 1/4 does not consume any alcohol. Another quarter drinks less than once a month while 26% drink once or twice a month, 21% more than once a week and 3% on a daily basis. This fits the idea of my book and app, as it should be something special, and not happen every day.
Book Design
For the style of my book, I want to concentrate on the aspect that differentiates it from other already existing books, the geographical aspect. This is the main source of inspiration for my designs as it best fits my target group and makes the outcome individual in contrast to the other already existing books. Furthermore, this is not only fitting to the design but also the content itself, which I want to structure by countries in my book.
I decided on a size of 25×17,5cm, as I wanted something that is between the sizes of DIN A4 and DIN A5, as I thought A4 would be too big and impractical for a cooking book, but A5 also seemed too small. I think especially in the kitchen it can be useful to have a book that does not take up too much space.
Within the book, I want to include all of the ingredients and tools that are needed for each of the different cocktails. However, I am not going to include the actual steps of how to make the cocktail, as this will be included within the app, and therefore, both are always needed in order to finish the cocktails.
As I was not able to make all the cocktails by myself and photograph them, I decided to create illustrations of each of them, instead of finding pictures online, as they therefore all fit each other within their style.
I decided to use a style that gives a more realistic look through its shadowing, while still making sure it can be seen as an illustration through the outlines I have used.
For each of the countries, I wanted to have a starting page, which portrays something typical of that country or a famous sight. I used a style in which shapes in one colour are used to form the different scenes. It gives an abstract look, while still clearly showing what it represents.
The page layout of the first pages does not follow a specific pattern, as they are all very individual within their content. For the content page, I chose a grid layout with the illustrations of each country underneath the page number, as it makes a quick overview possible, without the need to read all of the chapter’s titles. For the glasses and tools pages, I decided to mix the used pictures on both sides, instead of separating the glasses from the tools, to have a more dynamic structure.
The page layout for all of the country pages is very similar to each other, as they always start with the “introduction page” for each country on the left side. The illustrations I have created for each country are on the left side. For the countries’ names, I always used a specific font I have chosen for each country. The name itself is always in the country’s language, and the English translation can be found underneath it if it has a different spelling than in English. In addition to that, the distance from the UK can also be found underneath it.
On the right side after the chapter’s start are always two or three cocktails. The cocktail’s name is always right next to the cocktail, either on the right or left, depending on the placement of the cocktail illustration. The ingredients section is always the first one, and the tools section always follows more to the right. Only including the ingredients and tools, and not the individual steps, within the book made it able for me to have a clean layout, which is a big contrast to most other recipe books. The cocktail’s name is also in the same font, as the country’s name. The chapter of a country either stops here or continues if there are five to six cocktails I was able to find.
App Design
For the app, I included all of the countries, from which one can learn more about each of the countries and also find the belonging cocktails there. For the cocktails, I included instructions to make it easier for people to create even unknown cocktails. The instructions are animated, which makes it more interactive and easy to understand. In addition to that, the users can find knowledge about different things, such as cocktail glasses and hacks to make better cocktails.
The goal of the app is to show recipes of the individual cocktails with step-by-step instructions, give more information about the history as well as more about the backgrounds of each country, to give a travel experience without actually travelling. I wanted to use a simple, and easily understandable design, which fits the preferences of my target audience as well as my corporate design.
With the app, I want to provide a distraction from our current situation in lockdown during Covid and a time in which it is not possible to experience travel. Furthermore, I want to give users inspiration for new cocktails and travel destinations, once it is possible again.
The first thing one can see after opening the app is the loading screen, which can be clicked away, once the app has fully loaded. For this the screen starts with the map in the background, which then gets darker, to take away the main attention. The logo fades in and has a blinking glow underneath it, with this, the user can see that the loading process is still going on. Furthermore, once the logo is completely visible, the name Cocktail Atlas appears in a handwritten style and the Good Vibes font. Finally, a smaller text with “Click to continue” appears, which makes it clear for the user that this is the loading screen.
For the sound, I decided to use a piano song. For me, this song fits very well, as it gives the user a feeling of excitement and exploring something new. It increases the interest in what is awaiting them, while still being neutral when it comes to specific cultures. This was important to me, as I did not want to concentrate the general music on one culture.
After the loading screen is finished, the first thing the user can see is the home screen. In the upper left corner, the name of the app can be found. Clicking on this directly takes the user from any page to the home page. In the right corner is a search icon, which allows users to find specific categories, countries or cocktails. The upper part/the header is the same on all of the app pages. At the bottom, the menu can be found, which navigates the user through the whole app. The first icon is for the home screen, the second one takes the user to the different countries. For this, I have decided to use a small globe to present the countries. The cocktail glass stands for the different cocktails, while I chose a brain icon for the knowledge section. The category that is currently active is highlighted with a blue colour in the background.
The home page consists out of four pictures. The first one represents the cocktail of the day, which is updated daily, to give users inspiration for what they could try. Furthermore, the other images take them to the categories of countries, cocktails and knowledge, and therefore also function as a menu. Through that, I wanted to make it easier for users to start using the app, without being overwhelmed by everything available. It breaks the app down into four simple categories, from which they can navigate themselves into subcategories.
On all of the images, I have used Good Vibes as it is the main font within my app for headlines. Only for the cocktail of the day, I have used Bananas Personal Use, as it is the font I have chosen for the Bahamas and the Goombay Smash belongs to that country. With that and the background, I can already give a little taste of what is awaiting the users.
On the second page, I decided to give the option to choose from the different countries, as this is the main aspect people should be able to explore. I used a similar layout as within my book. The countries are portrayed within a square, instead of a rectangle, as this does not use the full screen, makes clear that the user should scroll down and gives a clear grid. On each of the images, I have used the country’s font again and wrote down the name of the country in the original language, as well as the translation if it was different to English. Furthermore, I here also added the distance, to show how far one can travel through one click.
After clicking on one of the countries, it takes the user to that specific country page. On this page, there is the option to see all of the cocktails that belong to that country, simply by sliding the pictures to the left or right. I decided to place the cocktails right at the top, as it is the main part of my idea and people might first want to decide on which cocktail they want to drink before they want to learn more about the country. Furthermore, there can be found quick information about the country, which can be key factors while travelling, as well as a map. Underneath that, there is a text about the country and what makes it special. The user then can find a link to different sights within the country, which tell them more about what can be done there.
For the cocktails‘ backgrounds, I have used the created illustrations, which are always fitting to the cocktail’s origin, as well as the fonts I have chosen for each of the countries. After choosing one of the cocktails, it takes the user to a page specifically created for that cocktail. Those are the same pages that are also linked from the “cocktail of the day”, and from the individual country’s cocktail options. Below that, I added the ingredients once again.
The next thing on the screen is a button that takes the user to the step-by-step instruction. Many people have problems with creating their own cocktails, as they have no experience and do not know where to start. Therefore, I decided that step-by-step instructions accompanied by animations are the easiest way of transferring the recipes. After the user has finished a step, he has the ability to click on “next”, without being pushed if he was slower than the animation. Furthermore, I added a timer, where necessary, to make it easier for users to stick to those measurements. When the cocktail is done the users are directed back to the page about this cocktail.
Below that instruction button, they can also find more information about the cocktail’s history, which takes it to a new level, in comparison to other cocktail books/apps. Furthermore, it makes this experience more personal and special, as they can connect their own story to it.
On the knowledge page, I want to give users the possibility to find more information about specific things that are cocktail related. For this, I chose the five different categories: cocktail history, tools, glasses, common mistakes and alcohol influence during pandemics. Especially the impact of alcohol is a very important topic, which I want to inform people about.
The different categories are all represented by a tile, on which one can click, to be redirected to the specific pages. The pages that are linked all look quite similar. For the history and influence of alcohol, I added the picture at the top as a header and it is followed by a text block, as those are longer texts the users have to read. The other three categories, tools, common mistake and glasses, only show one item/topic at a time, with further information underneath it. For the glasses, I have also added examples of cocktails that are served within that glass, where one can click on and be directed to the recipe. To read about the next item/topic, the users can slide to the side.
This project was created in April 2021.