The Client

Peace Coffee is a medium sized coffee company that roasts fair trade and organic coffee and sells it to local grocery stores. 

The User

The user is a coffee purchaser shopping at a grocery store in the Twin Cities.

The Problem

• How can the in-store shopping experience be better?
• How can we teach customers about the effects climate change is having on coffee farms?
• How to teach customers about the supply chain?

The Solution

• Redesign packaging to make shopping easier.
• Add a set of tools to make grinding coffee a better experience.
• Use available space on the bulk bins to educate customers about the supply change and how climate change impacts coffee farms.
• Create a website detailing where Peace Coffee fits in the climate change issue.

Tools Used

• KanoSurvey.com
• Ethnographic research
• Sketch App - wireframes
• Adobe Photoshop - mockups​

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RESEARCH

I began by interviewing the client and finding more about Peace Coffee, their value proposition, and how they make money.

Stakeholder Interview

• They value paying organic farmers beyond fair trade prices.
• They value the environment demonstrated by delivering their coffee by bicycle and biodiesel van.
• The majority of their sales are wholesale (selling to local grocery stores).
• They are expanding to the greater Midwest with partnerships with Target and Hyvee. 

To improve the in-store experience I needed to find out what the current experience was like. I visited a Target store and a co-op. I observed shoppers for two hours at each store.

Target, 2500 E Lake St, Minneapolis, MN

Field Study: Target Stores

• Peace Coffee was sold out.
• Average cost for 12oz. coffee is 6 dollars.
• The only organic and/or fair trade coffee is their private label.
• Premium coffees (Caribou, Starbucks, Peets) all in plastic-foil "tin tie" bags.
• Cheaper coffees (Folgers, Cafe Bustelo, Maxwell House) in plastic tubs or steel cans.
• Most brands display roast level on the front of the bag.​

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Seward Community Co-op, 2823 E Franklin Ave, Minneapolis, MN

Field Study: Seward Community Co-op

• Large bulk section, small bagged section (all plastic tin-tie bags)
• Peace Coffee beverage available for sale in Deli.
• The Co-op emphasizes the bulk coffees on the grounds of: Fair Trade, Locally Roasted, and Co-op Owned.
• The Co-op's description of Peace Coffee, "Peace Coffee produces organic fair-trade coffee that preserves and protects the environment and sustains the livelihoods of the people who grow, roast, and sell it."​

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User Interviews: Seward Community Co-op
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While at Seward Community Co-op I asked three people why they were buying that particular coffee and why in bulk:
Participant 1. Driftless, Medium Roast -
"This makes the best cold press coffee. I'm grinding it into a mason jar so I don't waste a paper bag".

Participant 2. Peace Coffee, Decaf Dark -
​"This is for my mom, it's the only coffee she'll drink. I always buy in bulk, it's better for the environment and I can get as much as I want. I don't want a lot of decaf because it's only for my mom."

Customer Types

Three User Groups: 12 oz Packaged Customers, Bulk Customers, All Customers

From my initial in-store research I've identified three user types:

• Customers who buy packaged coffee
• Customers who buy bulk coffee
• Customers in the store

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PACKAGED CUSTOMERS

What are customers expectations when it comes to packaging? What information are they looking for? What's the experience like looking for the coffee you want? The plan:

• Analyse competitors packaging labels
• Conduct a Kano survey of coffee purchasers
• Redesign packaging for testing
• Participant led usability testing of current vs. new packaging

​Competitive Analysis of Coffee Bag Features

I visited the grocery store and compiled a list of features from the front of coffee packaging as well as different types of packaging materials. What information does the customer desire?

Coffee Label Features

• Roast Level (light, medium, dark)
• Roast level on a scale (1-10)
• Whole bean/ground
• Origin source
• Flavor description
• Premium
• Fair trade certified
• Organic certified
• Rainforest Alliance certified
• Acidity level
• Body description
• Brand Name
• Roast Date (when was it roasted)
• Supply chain details
• Climate change impact on supply chain details

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Packaging Types

• Resealable
• Tin tie closure
• Recyclable packaging
• Biodegradable packaging
• Poly-foil bag
• Metal can
• Plastic packaging

Competitor Examples

Kano Survey & Ranking of Coffee Bag Features

Forty-four participants who identified as making coffee at home were surveyed. Two questions were added to specifically address Peace Coffee's desire to educate the public about the coffee supply chain and the effects of climate change on the supply chain. The results have been ranked by most desirable to indifferent followed by the Kano score out of 44. (The scores were calculated by adding together Mandatory, Linear, and Exciter.)

Coffee Label Features 

1. Roast Level (40)
2. Whole Bean/Ground (37)
3. Fair Trade (36)
4. Origin(34)
5. Roast Date (29)
6. Flavor description (28)
7. Organic (28)
8. Rainforest Alliance certified (24)
9. Supply chain details (19)
10. Roast Level 1-10 (19)
11. Climate Change impact on supply change details (17)

Packaging Types

1. Recyclable (37)
2. Biodegradable (34)
3. Resealable (32)
4. Plastic (24)
5. Metal (17)

Kano Survey Data

Key Insights:

• Roast Level is the most important feature and it's currently missing.
• Packaging that impacts the Earth less is important.
• Customers interest in Climate Change's impact on supply chain is low.

Packaging Wireframes

Wireframes of proposed packaging.

High Fidelity Mockups Created for Usability Testing

Participant Led Usability Testing

Current Coffee Bag Test Display

Methodology
Participant Led Usability Research is a method developed by Christopher Stephan and Nick Rosencrans where instead of walking the user though pre-scripted steps, the user creates the task themselves and solves it their own way. The goal is to discover the mental models of the customer as they are choosing a coffee that meets their specific desires and to compare the experience between the current and new packaging.
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The participants self-identified as having previously purchased coffee from grocery stores and signed a consent & recording release form. They were asked to write down 3-5 characteristics they look for when shopping for coffee. Next they were led into the testing chamber and shown either an assortment of the current or the new coffee bag designs.

The coffee bags were arranged at eye level as they would be found at most wholesale retailers. Participants were asked to approach the display as they would at a grocery store and to locate a variety of coffee that meets their first characteristic they wrote down. Then they were asked if the variety they choose met their second characteristic, if yes, then we moved down the line to their next characteristic. If they answered no, then they'd be asked to choose which variety would they buy instead and why?

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Current Bag Design

Proposed Bag Design

User Testing

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Test Results

Current 12oz Label

• Roast level was the most demanded feature.
  
• 66% didn't find the coffee they wanted.
• When given the physical bag two participants were unable to locate the roast level on the back.
• The liked the flavor description in aiding their choice.

Proposed 12oz Label

• Positive verbal reactions to prominent roast level display. They were able to locate a variety fitting their desired preferences faster.
• Positive reaction to roast date being shown, "you never know if it's 2 weeks old or 9 months and that's important."
• Participants without a specific preference used the flavor description to aid in choice. 
• No comments on the biodegradable logo. After the test, five participants were asked what they thought the symbol mean and none of them knew it meant biodegradable. One person said it was the wrong symbol. She was right. The new design should switch to a more standard symbol.
• One participant suggested the roast level and roast date should be next to each other.

Key Insight

• Roast level is the single most important feature when picking a coffee.
• Positive reaction from the flavor descriptions.
  

Packaging Findings & Recommendations

1. Add roast level to the front of the packaging - The current packaging met most of the customers written desired characteristics. However during the testing, whether the participants had written it down or not, roast level came up as a deciding factor in 5 of the 6 trials. 
2. Move "flavor description" to front of packaging - All participants commented favorably to the descriptions on the front of the bag.  Notably one participant who doesn't drink coffee, but buys it for her household remarked that she liked knowing what tastes her family was experiencing when they drank the coffee. 
3. ​Recyclable or Biodegradable packaging - This was the most desired packaging characteristic.

Recommended Packaging

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COFFEE GRINDER (BULK) CUSTOMERS

Ethnographic Study

Initially I thought of this group as bulk coffee purchasers. Because of the time I spent watching customers purchase coffee in the grocery store I'm going to modify this group to include anyone who uses the bulk coffee grinder station. I realized while there are two ways of purchasing Peace Coffee, the biggest difference between customers was if they used the bulk grinder or not. I witnessed the same problems come up around the coffee grinders.

Key Insights:

• Customers want to use the grinder, but can't because the previous user left it messy.
• Customers want to purchase multiple types of bulk coffee, but need a way to label the blank paper bag.
• Customers want to grind packaged coffee, but need a way to cut open the sealed foil bag.

Prototype

What we need is

• Brush - to clean off the loose coffee grounds from the grinder.
• Pen - to write down type of coffee is in your bulk bag.
• Safety scissors - to cut open sealed foil bags safely.
• Management - a way to prevent them from being lost. This should be tested to see if it is necessary.

Grinder Customer Tool Kit Prototype 1

Grinder Customer Tool Kit Prototype 2

STORE CUSTOMERS 

One of Peace Coffee's goals is to inform the public about Climate Change and the effect on farmers. How do we address this in a grocery store in a natural way? How do we create the space for this, both physical in the store and mental in the customer's minds?

Peace Coffee and it's customers value the environment this is shown in the following customer touch points: Bike delivery, biodiesel van delivery, wording at bulk bins, wording on package coffee bags. What more can they do? They could switch to recyclable or biodegradable packaging. Such a dramatic shift from a premium organic coffee company would highlight how much they care about the environment and create a space to talk about how climate change harms their supply chain. What else could be changed to achieve the goal of informing the public about how Climate Change is impacting coffee farms?

Display Supply Chain Information

On bulk bins there is space available to add cards. These cards could explain how the supply chain works. They also could have photos of the coffee farms, explain how climate change is hurting them, and link to find out more. Finally, if Peace Coffee were to switch to a different style of packaging this area could be used as advertisement.

Climate Change Website Wireframe

The website would address three things:

• This is the problem.
• This is how we interact with the problem.
• This is what we can do about it.

MOVING FORWARD

Recommendations

• Improve packaging by adding roast level and flavor descriptions to the front of the bag.
• Add a tool set consisting of a brush, a pen, and safety scissors, to every store where there is a grinder.
• Print cards to attach to the front of the bulk coffee explaining the effects of climate change and educating customers on the supply chain.
• Create a website explaining the climate change problem and how Peace Coffee interacts with this problem.

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