A digital experience that blends old world elegance with modern usability for a heritage-driven wine brand.
UX/UI Design
Project Snapshot
My Role
Lead UX/UI Designer
The Team
Josh Bromehead (Development)
Kayla Brown (Project Management)
Matt Washburn (Project Oversight & Client Relations
Timeline
October 2022 to January 2023
Tools
Figma
Where We Started
Niebaum Pennino is a historic wine label within the Francis Ford Coppola family of brands. They approached our agency with a strong vision for their new website and came prepared with key visual ingredients that reflected the brand’s character. They had already selected colors, typefaces, and an overall creative direction. My role was to refine and evolve their visual concepts and bring them to life in a functional and modern digital experience that honored their heritage.
The Problem
Background
Niebaum Pennino has a rich brand history rooted in old world charm and family legacy. Their website needed to feel refined and timeless, but it also needed to support clear product storytelling and e-commerce functionality for a diverse audience of wine buyers.
What Wasn't Working
Why It Mattered
For a heritage brand, the digital experience is an important extension of its identity. A thoughtful interface helps users connect with the story, understand the wine, and engage with the product in a way that feels consistent and trustworthy.
Discovery & Understanding
We began by reviewing the existing digital assets and documenting the project requirements. I created a clear sitemap, detailed page outlines, and low fidelity wireframes to guide both content strategy and visual direction. Although the client already had a strong sense of their brand, we worked together to refine the details and ensure the site structure would support both storytelling and e-commerce needs. This early alignment allowed us to focus most of our effort on creating a compelling visual identity and product experience.
Design Strategy
Goals
Create a visual experience that feels timeless and immersive
The design should reflect the brand’s heritage while feeling inviting and contemporary.
Support rich product storytelling
Each bottle has its own narrative, so the layout needed to highlight details without overwhelming users.
Balance beauty with usability
The interface should feel elegant and expressive, while still supporting intuitive browsing and shopping.
Guiding Principles
Let the brand’s history shape the design
Use imagery, color, and texture to create a sense of place and identity.
Highlight what makes each wine unique
Present information clearly so users can explore and compare vintages with ease.
Design for flexibility and consistency
Build components that support both aesthetic cohesion and future content needs.
Exploration & Decisions
I explored two visual directions for the homepage and surrounding pages. One direction leaned into a more contemporary expression that used bold photography, modern layouts, and subtle interactions to create a sense of energy. The second direction embraced a more historical aesthetic with archival imagery, engraved textures, and soft color washes that created a nostalgic atmosphere. By collaborating closely with the client, I blended the strongest elements of both concepts into a unified style that honored the brand’s history and still felt current.
Final Experience
Once the overall direction was approved, I translated each low fidelity wireframe into a full high fidelity layout across mobile, tablet, and desktop breakpoints. The client provided new photography from a shoot that was guided by our design concepts, which strengthened the authenticity and richness of the visual story. I created a refined visual system that included page templates, reusable modules, and product detail components. One of the core challenges was designing a product detail layout that could support multiple vintages without creating unnecessary page variations. The solution was a modular vintage selector that allowed users to explore different years while keeping the experience simple and intuitive. As the designs reached completion, I worked closely with our developer to troubleshoot and refine the implementation. I reviewed each build for accuracy and consistency, ensuring that the final site captured the nuance and detail of the visual design. The finished website balanced beauty and function, creating a compelling experience for wine buyers and collectors.