Case Studies | Jesse Lockwood

Drinkwise
Helping Canadian youth make better decisions, one choice at a time.

In 12 short weeks, our 6-person team at The Centre for Digital Media created a workable prototype drink-tracker mobile application for our client, The Canadian Alcohol Use Disorder Society (CAUDS). This project is targeting Canadian youth ages 19-24, a crucial time when lifelong habits are formed.

Product Trailer

Where to Start?

The Brief we received from the client knew its target audience and goals, but left the execution and possibilities wide open for us.

Because this is a very sensitive topic, we had a thorough research phase to make sure we treated our users with respect. Through our interviews and surveys, we confirmed that they preferred a private mobile experience that was non-judgmental.

We brainstormed different formats, like edutainment and JRPG Games, Health & Wellness style apps, and purely informational resources. We decided a personalized tracker would be the most accessible option for our demographic. After getting client approval on our approach and look, we could begin production.

Making it Happen

Starting with the product roadmap, the Project Manager and I consulted the team to chart our timeline and confirm the scope of our project. We had two part-time Developers for this project, so maximizing their time was a priority. I found unexpected fun in constructing the user flow and Logic for the team. For our first user test, our Designer constructed a wireframe of the drink tracker so we could test the user flow as well as non-representative shapes for the beverages, and the language of the onboarding AUD assessment to make sure it is non-judgemental.

To build the Learn section of the app, I took official resources provided by our client and adjusted them to suit our audience, as well as making it digestible in a mobile format. After researching studies on the effectiveness of self-input trackers, I compiled the notification copy to provide positive reinforcement for our users to encourage engagement and retention. Meanwhile, our Designer was hard at work building the Hi-Fi pages for the Developers who quickly turned them into our workable prototype. They met their goals early, so we were able to include a Journal feature to add extra personalization and a chance for our users to reflect on their journey.

The Hand-off

When it came time for the delivery, the client was pleasantly surprised by what we were able to deliver in 12 weeks, saying it exceeded their expectations and expressed interest in bringing it to market. They are a small non-profit with a lean team that needed a low-maintenance product, so our Developer created an easily-editable format with tutorials so they could add and edit content with minimal tech experience.