Assignment 1: The Deep Dive
Question 1
This video is about 20 years old! Which ideas from this work show up in today’s shopping carts? Which ideas did not make it, and why didn’t they?
The idea of self check out has gained lots of popularity over the years. IDEO is aware of users wanting to save time, and implements a scanner in the grocery cart to avoid checkout lines. I do not see scanners implemented on carts in most grocery stores today, but I know they exist in some stores such as King Soopers as we mentioned in class.
More popularly, I see self checkout kiosks at a majority of grocery stores. It removes the cart aspect, but still gives the user typically a shorter line than employees checking them out.
Amazon does implement the idea of self checkout in their Amazon Go Stores. Users scan their cell phones when entering the store, and then items are directly added to their virtual cart using computer vision and weight sensors. This is only implemented at Amazon Go stores, and I don’t see this idea expanding into other grocery stores. I don’t know if Amazon’s computer vision algorithm is opened sourced for other suppliers to use, and I see it being a very expessive process to add weight sensors on every shelf in a grocery store. I don’t think most users would find this accesible as well, and people might not have a cell phone that supports this model.
One idea that hasn’t been adopted like self checkout is IDEO’s shopping bag hangers. There is a common trend, specifically in Boulder, to bring your own grocery bags to the store. The hooks in IDEO’s video support hanging plastic bags, and wouldn’t be able to support multiple sizes and weights. With users bringing in a variety of bags, this idea wouldn’t fit well in society today.
I liked IDEO’s idea of replacing the main cart with baskets. I think this idea could be improved by having the shopping cart consist of the user’s reusable bags intead. The idea is there, but needs improvements to work with a variety of shoppers.
Question 2
Who did the design team talk to? For each group of stakeholders that the designers talked to, explain why it was important to talk to them?
Before the IDEO designers began designing the hardwear of the cart, they went to observe users at the grocery store. They observed …
- Shoppers at the grocery store
- An employee working in the parking lot
The video claims they talked to “people who use, make, and repair shopping carts”, although I only saw them observing shoppers and talking to the one employee outside in the lot.
After the hardwear of the cart was designed, they went back to the store and talked to a few Whole Food’s employees to get their thoughts on the design after it was implemented.
Overall, it is very important to understand the users of the cart, and their intent with the cart. I think they got a good understanding of mothers and children. I think they should have expanded their audience into different categories, and got a broader understanding. Talking to shoppers is important, but we didn’t get thoughts of other departments such as the grocer’s finance department, cashiers, managers, floor employers, or repairsmen (to name a few).
I would have also loved to go into different types of grocery stores. Really busy places such as Target, or Walmart, but also smaller local grocery stores. It would have been interesting to observe an Indian or Asain foods grocery store as well to see if there are differences.
Even talking to less wealthy populations, quick shoppers VS long shoppers, the homeless population who steals carts, etc.
Other Thoughts
I loved the extremity of ideas in this video. Someone mentioned carts having a velco interior for children with velcro pants to prevent them from falling out. I can see why having extreme thoughts and ideas is really important to branching into other ideas. I am definitely going to keep this in mind throughout my creative design processes!
I also would have loved to see more diversity in the team. I understand there was a diversity of skillsets, but there was not a diversity of backgrounds. If the user studies are limited, it is even more important there are designers who can speak on behalf of those who weren’t interviewed or observered.