Overview
Death & Co, an iconic cocktail brand, partnered with Valere to develop an AI-powered bartender chatbot—designed as a personalized digital assistant offering curated cocktail recommendations, expert mixology guidance, and recipe support. As Product Design Lead, I participated from the initial discovery phase, helping define the concept and aligning it with both user needs and brand heritage. I then led the design direction and UI efforts to shape a proof of concept (PoC) that delivers an engaging experience for both enthusiasts and professionals, while also functioning as a marketing funnel to collect user data for future engagement. The tool is embedded directly on the Death & Co website and reflects the brand’s distinctive voice and identity.
Challenge
Despite having a collection of over 2,000 cocktail recipes, Death & Co lacked a centralized and interactive tool to help users engage with this content meaningfully. During the discovery phase, I helped uncover key pain points:
Static Experience: Existing resources were static, making it hard for both home users and professional bartenders to explore recipes based on their ingredients, preferences, or context.
Low Engagement Potential: Without an interactive experience, there was a missed opportunity to build stronger customer relationships or convert engagement into marketing insights.
Solution
We’re developing a single-page application featuring an AI-powered chatbot with a bartender-like persona designed to deliver conversational recommendations and cocktail education. I led the product design direction, shaping both the conversational experience and the interface to reflect the brand’s tone and goals. The system is built on a Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) framework, allowing real-time access to Death & Co’s recipe database, user preference tracking, and paving the way for future e-commerce integration. This tool is set to elevate digital engagement and reinforce Death & Co’s position as an innovator in cocktail culture.
