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The Challenge

Peace Coffee is a specialty coffee roaster which sells packaged and bulk coffee at grocery stores and co-ops. ​What is the shopping experience like for their customers and how might we improve it?

The Solution

Update the packaging with the information customers desire. Improve the experience of grinding coffee by adding a Peace Coffee brand toolkit at each store.
Customer experience will be improved by changing the packaging to include the most desired information:
  • Roast level
  • Flavor description
  • Country of origin
  • Date of roasting
  • Consider recyclable or biodegradable packaging
Bulk coffee customer experience will be improved by making sure each grinder station includes a:
  • Brush, for cleaning off the loose grounds from the grinder.
  • Pen or pencil, for writing on the paper bulk coffee bag.
  • Pair of safety scissors, for cutting open coffee bags.

The Design Process

Field Study Finds Bulk Customers Have Unmet Needs
​Despite the messiness, Co-op shoppers buy in bulk for environmental reasons.
  • 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.
When asked why they buy in bulk customers responded:
  • "This makes the best cold press coffee. I'm grinding it into a mason jar so I don't waste a paper bag".
  • "I always buy in bulk, it's better for the environment and I can get as much as I want."
Key Insights:
  1. Bulk customers have unmet needs.
  2. Customers want to have as little impact on the environment as possible.
The majority of Peace Coffee is sold at Co-op grocery stores: (clockwise from top left) close-up of Peace Coffee's bulk set with 12 varieties; Wide-shot of the entire bulk coffee set; brewed Peace Coffee for sale in-store; shelf with packaged coffee.
Customers Care About Roast Level and Recyclable Packaging

​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. The results have been ranked by desirability, followed by a score out of 44 (a perfect score being 44).
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Packaging Features Ranked in Order of Importance:
  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 Ranked in Order of Desirability:
  1. Recyclable (37)
  2. Biodegradable (34)
  3. Resealable (32)
  4. Plastic (24)
  5. Metal (17)

​Key Insights From Survey:
  • Add roast level to the front of packaging
  • Add flavor description to the front of packaging
  • Add Origin to the front of packaging
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Changes to consider (These would result in changing their manufacturing process.)
  • Recyclable or biodegradable packaging
  • Adding roast date to the front of packaging
Wireframes and Mockups Are Created For Usability Testing
To avoid biasing participants different resolution levels were created in Sketch (left and middle) and Photoshop (right). The high resolution designs (right) were good enough to fairly test them against photographs of the current packaging.
High resolution images of the proposed packaging varieties.
Usability Testing Shows Roast Level Vital

Participant Led Testing Has An Interesting Methodology
Instead of walking the user through pre-scripted steps, I would employ Participant Led Usability testing, where the user creates the tasks themselves and solves them their own way. This is a method developed by Christopher Stephan and Nick Rosencrans. 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?
Current Packaging Causes Mistakes
  • 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 Packaging Leads To Faster Shopping
  • They were able to locate a variety fitting their desired preferences 49% faster (averaging 33 seconds vs. 1:05).
  • 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 insights from testing:
  • Roast level was the primary attribute participants looked for when making their choice.
  • In the absence of a roast level preference, the flavor description is the most desired attribute.
In a separate room participants state what information they need when purchasing coffee. Next they enter the testing chamber and asked to point to a coffee variety meeting those needs.
Moving Forward
Peace Coffee has now released new packaging based on this research. They are also in development of a branded grinder station toolkit.
Updated packaging includes prominent placement of roast level, coffee origin, and flavor description (tasting notes).
A grinder station toolkit is in the works based upon this prototype.
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