ClearLabel: Research and Strategy for Current Associates
I was hired by Current Associates, a design agency, to design and conduct ethnographic research focused on food sensitivities. Based on the research, the project evolved into the design strategy for a mobile application that allows users with dietary restrictions to easily search for restaurants that meet their dietary requirements.
The Problem
Current Associates, a design consultancy, hired me to design and conduct research for a client called ClearLabel. The team presented me with a nebulous idea - the general project outline was broad, undeveloped and not substantiated through research. ClearLabel sought to bridge the knowledge gap between consumers and what they put in their bodies. Our clients wanted to empower the consumer to be conscious and knowledgeable about what they ingest -- be it through our skin, what we eat, or what we breath.
The Outcome
I conducted multiple rounds of ethnographic research - generative research via collaborative design sessions, ride along studies and in-depth interviews. Based on research, the strategy I recommended to the client was very different than what they set out to do. Users didn’t necessarily need more information about what they were picking up off their grocery store shelves, but people with food sensitivities really wanted a solution that allowed them to experience dining out without the stress and anxiety caused by their food intolerances. I packaged the design research and strategy into a deck the team could use to take back to their clients. ClearLabel was excited to have a strategic, research-backed direction for their idea that they could develop further with the clarity of a specific problem and solution.
Detailed Case Study
I worked with the clients to create an affinity map of customer quotes and sentiment in order to pull out themes from the initial research.
Research Strategy
The folks at ClearLabel were passionate about their mission, but hadn’t refined the problem down into something I could out and find answers for. I approached the first phase of this project by attempting to narrow down the problem space into something tangible the team could use to move forward. In order to narrow down my task and guide my next phase of research, I started with the question: why aren’t any of the existing applications working? There are multiple resources on the market that attempt to do what ClearLabel suggested, but none of them were widely used. Guided by attempting to find an answer to this question, I conducted user interviews at grocery stores, through targeted outreach to users with dietary restrictions and among self-described ‘foodies.’
Research Findings
Consumers, as it turns out, are incredibly concerned about the chemicals, ethics, hidden ingredients, lack of clear labeling, food system stability....and the list goes on. What surprised me (and my clients) was that most users are both concerned and informed about the incredibly complex systems at play regarding labeling products. My research found that consumers not only recognize that eating organic food was better for them, they knew that an “organic label” doesn’t necessarily tell the whole story. Consumers didn’t need another app to tell them if something was organic, or non-GMO, or ethically raised, because they also know that those labels are often meaningless. Furthermore, users with dietary restrictions (like an allergy to wheat or dairy) don’t use the labels to clarify what they can and cannot eat - their restrictions force them to do in-depth research on specific products at home. For these reasons, most research participants stated they would not trust an application that helped them read the label.
Though I uncovered that the idea for ClearLabel in its current state was unlikely to have the impact the clients wanted, I did uncover a specific population and problem that no one was focusing on. I included multiple users with food allergies in my studies, and consistently heard that grocery shopping was a process they had down to a science. What people with food allergies couldn’t do easily was go out to eat. People with food allergies experienced varying levels of social anxiety when dining out - this anxiety affected personal and professional relationships. Multiple users we spoke with admitted to eating food they knew would make them sick the next day to avoid the social stigma and pressure surrounding their food intolerances. Other users said they just refused to go out at all. Users with young children with multiple food allergies struggled as well - getting a quick meal to feed their family is never an option. People with food allergies stated that they were bored with eating the same foods all the time - they often don’t get to experience the joy of eating out. The lamented their inability to enjoy hip, local eateries, because they weren’t sure they’d be able to tolerate the food on offer.
Design Strategy
To develop the idea, I used the research we’d already done to develop a persona we could use to build empathy for this specific type of user. Without actually experiencing the anxiety of not being able to just ‘go with the flow’ when it comes to eating out, it wasn’t always easy to fully understand why this problem was so important to solve. I introduced the clients to Laila, a working Mom with wheat and dairy intolerances. Laila cherishes the moments she has outside of the house with her kids (like getting to go out to a restaurant with friends), and is passionate about building her career. As I developed the initial product concept, I used an anecdote that came up in various forms in the research. Our persona was interviewing for a new job, and, as part of the day-long interview at a tech company, lunch would be provided. Laila’s potential boss asked her where she would like to go for lunch. Laila was anxious about the whole lunch ordeal - she wasn’t familiar with the area or local restaurants, she was worried she’s get sick and not do well in the interview the rest of the afternoon, she was worried their wouldn’t be something she could eat and she’d be starving the rest of the long day, she worried that if she brought a lunch she’d miss out on valuable face time with the new boss. Developing the persona and their journey in this way made it easier for myself and the clients to focus in on a specific and obvious problem.
I developed a persona and customer journey that helped make the research findings tangible and relatable so they team could strategize solutions.
Additional Research
Now that the problem space had been narrowed down and more clearly defined, I was able to develop low fidelity wireframes that could be used for concept testing with users. I wanted to be able to iterate on these ideas rapidly, based on user feedback, so I used a combination of concept testing and collaborative design sessions with users with dietary restrictions. Three important findings became clear after this round of research:
Trust is an issue. People with food intolerances struggle to eat out not only because of social norms (they feel like a burden to friends and loved ones because they can’t ‘go with the flow) but because they don’t truly know what’s in the food they are eating. They don’t trust restaurant staff or menus. In order to gain trust in the food they are eating, they want to speak with the chief personally, hear about success from someone with similar dietary restrictions or see a detailed list of menu ingredients.
Severity matters. Within the world of food intolerance, there is a spectrum. During co-creation sessions with users, the idea of a severity rating was introduced. As we refined that idea, we agreed that the only two classifications a restaurant would be able to accommodate are ‘dedicated preparation area vs. ‘non-dedicated preparation area.’
Scale matters. Likely the biggest hurdle to the success of a product like this is the ability for it to launch already at some scale. Users didn’t want a solution that only offered chain restaurant menus, they wanted to search for places they could eat that let them try the new local spot, or the fun pop up restaurant. Unless restaurant owners were motivated to painstakingly put their menu items in an online repository, the success of a product like this would depend on crowd sourcing information.
Design Recommendations
The scope of this project was to deliver research that helped ClearLabel better understand the utility of their product idea. I delivered that research, and was able to validate and learn about the usefulness of a potential different direction. As a next step, I recommended the ClearLabel team consider integrations with existing applications - for example, if trusted dietary filters could be incorporated into Google searchers or Yelp reviews, or people with dietary restrictions could be verified as ‘experts’ so their reviews had different badges rather than investing in building a new and standalone product.