🚀 Overview

Context:

Nescafé Premio 2.0 is Nestlé India’s flagship smart coffee dispenser a compact, connected machine that grinds fresh beans for every cup. The product is a leap toward café-grade self-service in public and office spaces.

My Role:

As the UI/UX designer, I was tasked with designing the touchscreen interface for both customer and admin modes making it intuitive, brand-aligned, and usable in real-world physical contexts (glare, gloves, rush hours).

Team & Timeline:

Solo UI/UX Designer · 3 months · April–June 2020

🎯 The Challenge

• Bridge sensory design with usability: Make the interface feel as premium as the coffee it brews.

• Enable dual roles: Design for both everyday users and technical service teams.

• Build for constraints: Work within embedded hardware limitations and harsh lighting environments.

• Speed + clarity: Users needed to complete coffee selection in under 3 taps, even on first use.

✍️ My Approach

1. Research & Exploration

• Studied user behaviors at vending and coffee stations

• Compared interfaces from competitors like Keurig and Lavazza

• Identified interaction pain points and screen size constraints

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2. Visual Language & Themes

• Created a moodboard inspired by roasted beans and earth tones

• Chose a warm color palette grounded in deep browns and soft neutrals

• Crafted minimal, legible typography using Nescafé Sans and Natural Script

  
  

3. Interaction Design

• Designed clear, intuitive buttons and states (normal, pressed, disabled)

• Ensured easy navigation between screens: menu → customization → payment

• Prioritized error prevention through clear labels, confirmations, and feedback

  
  

4. Admin Mode UI

• Built separate layouts for technicians and operators

• Integrated dashboards for cleaning logs, cuppage reports, and recipe settings

• Focused on clean data presentation and ease of updates

🔍 Discovery & Research

• Conducted stakeholder interviews with Nestlé ops and technicians.

• Observed real users interacting with legacy machines.

• Noted friction points: screen glare, small touch targets, ambiguous icons, confusing admin flows.

🧠 Key Insights

• First-time UX matters most: Many users would interact only once a day. The experience had to be instantly learnable.

• Contextual limitations: Machines often placed in dimly lit corners with users wearing gloves requiring large CTAs and high contrast.

• Operational pain points: Technicians struggled with maintenance flows buried deep in the UI.

✏️ Design Process

1. Rapid ideation & sketching
Explored user flows for different entry points default, NFC admin entry, error states, and recipe customization.

2. Wireframes (mid-fidelity)
Outlined tap flows, screen logic, and visual priority before diving into branding.

3. Visual design & system building
Created a coffee inspired UI system rooted in crema, roasted tones, and clean typographic hierarchy.

4. Environment simulation testing
Tested screens under direct light and with gloves for legibility and interaction accuracy.

🎨 Visual Language

• Color palette: Inspired by coffee crema, espresso browns, and frothy milk tones.

• Typography: Crisp sans-serif for high readability and cleanliness.

• Iconography: Bold, simple, and accessible with labeling.

• Touch targets: 48–60px minimum, designed for gloved usage.

📲 UI Highlights

• Beverage selection with visuals: Full-width product tiles, category tabs, real-time feedback animations.

• Customization flow: Adjust milk, sugar, strength all within two screens.

• Progress animation: Brewing progress visualized with loading arcs and scent-inspired animations.

• Admin mode: NFC-gated access to settings, cleaning, usage logs, and recipe management.

📊 Impact & Outcomes

• ✅ 43% faster average coffee selection time in pilot offices

• ✅ 22% lift in first-time user satisfaction via on-screen surveys

• ✅ 31% fewer technician call-ins due to a simplified admin panel

• ✅ Improved accessibility for gloves, glare, and low-light conditions

💡 Reflection

This project helped me stretch beyond digital screens designing for real-world environments and human behavior. I learned to design with constraints in mind and build interfaces that perform under pressure. Most importantly, I learned to blend brand expression with task clarity where visuals enhance, not distract.