Top view of a coffee cup filled with brewed coffee.

Doppio

Solo Project

2023

Product Design

UX Research

Branding

What it is

A community-driven coffee brewing app that turns recipes into interactive, step-by-step experiences.

A man with glasses and a gray shirt smiling and standing near a countertop with coffee brewing equipment in a modern cafe or coffee shop.
Mobile app screen showing a coffee brewing recipe with instructions for French press, including 4-minute brew time, 15 grams of coffee, 250 milliliters of water at 93°C, and brewing in a coarse grind, with images of pouring coffee and French press.
Mobile app screen showing a brewing timer labeled 'Now Brewing' with the recipe 'Low Effort Big Reward' by sara.sanders. The timer displays 1 minute and 3 seconds remaining, with a progress bar indicating the brewing process. A weight of 120 grams is noted, and a stirring instruction to stir for 5 seconds is visible at the bottom.
A mobile app interface displaying cooking methods such as French Press, V-60, Moka Pot, Aeropress, and Chemex. It also features categories for people like New Enthusiast, Pro Enthusiast, and Barista, with sample user profiles and follow buttons.

Home-baristas love the ritual of brewing coffee, but feel limited by what they think their equipment can do. Doppio puts a community of real people and their recipes at the center, making it easy to discover new ways to brew with the devices you already own.

The insight

I interviewed 6 home-brewers across New York and Hyderabad. Two patterns dominated every conversation:

A split-screen image features three people in different indoor settings. The top left shows a man brewing coffee with a pour-over kettle in a bright kitchen. The bottom left depicts a man with headphones speaking and gesturing, standing in front of a brick wall with yellow flowers. The right side shows a woman sitting on a green sofa, smiling, holding a phone, and talking to a man sitting across from her.

People are drawn to the ritual of making coffee at home. The meditative, step-by-step process matters as much as the cup itself.

Meta-insight 1 →

“Making coffee at home is a personal experience – my own me-time. Don’t want to make coffee in a rush.”

“I love the process! Sometimes I don’t even want to drink, but still brew nonetheless. It’s relaxing, a state of zen. It’s just me, and getting each step of the way right.”

“Brewing at home is more ritualistic; going to cafés is more for a meeting place, or for some working time.”

But they believe cafés can offer more variety than they can achieve on their own, even though their equipment is more capable than they realize.

Meta-insight 2 →

“I prefer going to cafés for the variation in the number of options involved. I also don’t have a pour-over setup.”

“I don’t consider myself a pro at brewing. I’m not acing it but I guess being a good barista could completely change my experience.” “I don’t have the equipment to brew cortados at home.”

“Coffee shops have more diversity to offer than I can make at home.”

How might we highlight the versatility of people's existing brewing devices, making home-brewing approachable and engaging for all skill levels?

This opened a clear design question:

A woman pouring coffee into a glass cup at a dining table with bottles and dried flowers in the background.

From 4 ideas to 1

I prototyped four divergent concepts and tested them with my user group:

Map with emoji icons and a black recipe card showing a French press coffee recipe, video, comments, and details about a French press brewing method.

a location-based community platform

Screenshots of coffee product pages from onyxcoffeelab.com. The first shows a black and white coffee package labeled "Mogramad" with details about the roast and packaging weight. The second shows a coffee customization interface with options for process, flavor notes, roast, and suggestions, displaying a preferred blend with chocolate, blueberry, stone fruit, and medium-light roast.

a jargon-simplifying browser extension

Calendar titled 'March Samplers' with numbered days, highlight on day 5 showing a smiling face emoji, and day 28 showing a dizzy face emoji. Below is a section titled 'Tropical Weather' with details about Onyx Coffee Labs, including a white image of a coffee cup, description, origin, elevation, processing method, and notes. Additional sections include 'Brewing Guides' with two guides and 'Live Chat' with a chat icon, all decorated with red heart and smiley emojis.

a mystery coffee subscription

Diagram showing a coffee brewing process with a gooseneck kettle on the left, a digital scale with dripper on the right, a smart speaker at the bottom, and various steps of the pouring and boiling process in text. The steps include brewing technique, boiling water to 92°C, pouring water over coffee, and continuing to pour until reaching 250 grams.

a smart brewing station

The community platform won decisively. Three things resonated most:

  • discovering new ways to use their existing brewers,

  • a dynamic community at the centre,

  • and real people's opinions over generic listicles.

Doppio logo with a blue starburst icon and the word 'Doppio' in white text on a black background.

The product

Doppio is a platform where users view, share, and brew coffee recipes with a community of like-minded coffee lovers. It caters to all skill levels and brewing devices: French Press, V-60, Moka Pot, Aeropress, and more.

Home page →

A daily rotating feature card surfaces curated articles, videos, and coffee content. Below it, community-uploaded recipes are organized by brewing method, each showing the creator's skill level, a description, and imagery.


Filters let users sort by trending, popular, newest, or brew time.

Recipe page →

Every recipe displays its core variables at a glance: method, time, drink type, ratio, temperature, and grind size.

A Media/Steps toggle lets users flip between photos and videos of the brew, and a structured step-by-step breakdown. Community comments sit below for feedback, suggestions, and validation.

Brew now →

This is Doppio's signature feature. Tap "Brew Now" on any recipe and the app converts the user-inputted parameters into a live, interactive brewing experience.

A visual timeline maps the entire brew, every pour, wait, and stir, with color-coded segments you can see at a glance. The current step, elapsed time, and running total are always visible. Pre-brew instructions specific to the brewing method help users prepare before the timer starts.

The design went through multiple iterations to get here. It evolved from a simple slider, to a circular gauge, to bar-chart visualizations, before arriving at the horizontal timeline that lets you see the full brew at once.

Search page →

Users search by people, brewing methods, or recipes. The methods grid surfaces every supported brewer.

People are filterable by skill level (New Enthusiast, Pro Enthusiast, and Barista) so beginners can find creators at their level, and advanced brewers can learn from professionals.

Design evolution →

The UI went through significant refinement between mid-fi and high-fi.

A collage of screenshots and photos related to coffee brewing tutorials, recipes, and social media profiles of baristas and enthusiasts.

Brand →

Doppio is Italian for "double espresso."

The identity pairs a blue starburst mark with a warm serif wordmark.

Loppao logo at the top, three circles representing colors: teal, yellow, black, with a white circle at the right, followed by text describing color codes and a QR code at the bottom.

The dark UI palette is designed for kitchen-counter readability and keeps the focus on food photography.

Typography is Roboto throughout for clarity at small sizes on mobile.

Thank you!

A man making coffee using an espresso machine in a coffee shop. Coffee beans are visible in a grinder behind him, with a sign about mask recommendations on the wall.

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