Crocery Cart Interface

“A million dollar idea.” “Genius.” “We’ll leave school early and turn professional.” Unfortunately, our initial research revealed a humbling truth: the interactive grocery cart was already on the market. Yet as designers it also provided an opportunity space to improve upon an existing design.

What we learned in Phase One:

• Grocery Cart Interfaces do exist but they are poorly designed in both aesthetics and usability. Moreover, their primary function is often to promote consumerism.
• RFID tags can link products to a wealth of information. This information, in turn, can be utilized in unique ways such as documenting the carbon footprint of a product or offering wine pairings.
• Touch screen interfaces provide certain affordances to the user such as the ability to cycle through information in a non-linear fashion. There is also potential for a clear, clean aesthetic that does not call attention to the technology itself.

What we learned in Phase Two:

• Phase Two took us to a Bristol Farms store located in South Pasadena. Unique to the Bristol Farms chain was their methodology in promoting community. For example, certain products featured ribbons as part of a customer driven blue ribbon rating system. The store also offered workshops (such as cooking classes and wine tastings) and gave out a plethora of free samples to its customers. Moreover, the Bristol Farms in South Pasadena also includes a gift shop and café where customers can gather.
• Observations were also made of the store’s layout and product placement. In particular, the alcohol section was unusually large and placed directly in the middle of the store prompting us to wonder whether this was a liquor store with lettuce.

What we learned in Phase Three:

• In Phase Three, we decided to build a physical model of our interface. The ergonomic considerations of placing a touch screen on top of grocery cart included its size, height and how this may or may not affect the child’s seat in the front of the cart.
• During this time we also researched online communities, such as www.yelp.com , to understand the intricacies of on-line community building.