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Tangible Design

Embodied Shopping

Zaya is not just a nostalgic tribute—it is a movement to preserve cultural identity and encourage active social interaction in a modern context.

Embodied Shopping

Industry

Children Education

smart pillbox with companion application

Deliverable

UX Research, UI Design

smart pillbox with companion application

Team

Chris Wolford (supervisor), Laila Dodhy, Golnaz Safari, Taha, Ivy Abraham

Group project of 3 UX Designers, 1 Graphic Designer

Timeline

Oct 2023 - Nov 2023

Oct 23 - Nov 23

Project Overview

In this project, we designed an interactive toolkit to develop cognitive skills in tweens (10-12 years) leveraging the experience of grocery shopping. We focused on financial literacy, nutritional awareness, and decision-making skills. Our primary research included Walmart visits, interviews, and shadowing shoppers. They revealed varied shopping behaviors in children aged 5-12. Based on the insights, affinity maps, and experience maps, we designed a physical play-kit with artifacts like paper money and budget sheets. The prototype proved effective in engaging tweens and aiding their understanding of budgets and nutrition.

Hypothesis

We hypothesized that the experience of grocery shopping becomes monotonous and often frustrating for children because they do not find anything that interests them. However, grocery shopping presents a huge opportunity because of the diversity of activties available and decisions to make.

My Role

Carrying out secondary research through literature review.
Conducting contextual inquiry through observations at Walmart.
Participating in Ideation and Data analysis
Visualizing the play-kit.
Conducting In-site User Testing

Project Overview

Hypothesis

My Role

Carrying out secondary research through literature review.
Conducting contextual inquiry through observations at Walmart.
Participating in Ideation and Data analysis
Visualizing the play-kit.
Conducting In-site User Testing

Design Process

Secondary Research

Explored past works done within the domain of improving grocery experiences and child learning and development psychology.

Contextual Inquiry

Conducted a total of 2 visits to Walmart with the objective of

1) observing families with children to uncover how children interact with their parents and the surroundings, and

2) talk to both parents and children to learn more about their interests and activities.

Ideation

Team discussion on analyzing insights revealed.
Using crazy 8s method to brainstorm and sketch on solutions.

Affinity and Experience Mapping

Presented a thematic analysis of the insights and observations, and created an experience map of the parents and children at Walmart.

Presented a thematic analysis of the insights and observations, andcreated an experience map of the parents and children at Walmart.

Designing the play-kit

Digitally designed the various sections of the grocery play-kit for children.

Physical Prototyping

Paper prototyped the physical play-kit. Artifacts included paper currency, wallet, budget sheets, store map, and nutrition guides.

Paper prototyped the physical play-kit. Artifacts included papercurrency, wallet, budget sheets, store map, and nutrition guides.

Evaluation with End-Users

Conducted 15 usability tests of our proposed design to discover usability flaws and analyze efficiency of our solution.

Conducted 15 usability tests of our proposed design to discoverusability flaws and analyze efficiency of our solution.

Research Methods

Literature Review
Contextual Inquiry methods
Sketching
Tangible Paper Prototyping
Live Evaluation with End Users

Sources of Secondary reserach

Academic Literature
Community Forums e.g. Reddit
Walmart Reviews
Online blogs and articles
Online Videos

Spline

Place to design and collaborate in 3D

Spline

Place to design and collaborate in 3D

Figma

Design tool for creating and collaborating

Figma

Design tool for creating and collaborating

Spline

Place to design and collaborate in 3D

Figma

Design tool for creating and collaborating

Findings from Secondary research

Western families often have a negotiation-based structure, giving children more independence and autonomy.
Grocery shopping is used as a learning opportunity, teaching children to select produce using senses and to develop analytical skills like price and health assessment.
Shopping trips serve as chances for younger children to expand their vocabulary and knowledge.
Parents tend to spend more when shopping with their children.
Children use their "purchase-power" directly or indirectly in shopping decisions.
Children, particularly aged 4-11, significantly influence family shopping decisions.
Technological interventions may not suit very young children due to different cognitive and emotional development stages.
Interventions should be straightforward and based on tangible concepts.

Spline

Place to design and collaborate in 3D

Figma

Design tool for creating and collaborating

Findings from Secondary research

Western families often have a negotiation-based structure, giving children more independence and autonomy.
Grocery shopping is used as a learning opportunity, teaching children to select produce using senses and to develop analytical skills like price and health assessment.
Shopping trips serve as chances for younger children to expand their vocabulary and knowledge.
Parents tend to spend more when shopping with their children.
Children use their "purchase-power" directly or indirectly in shopping decisions.
Children, particularly aged 4-11, significantly influence family shopping decisions.
Technological interventions may not suit very young children due to different cognitive and emotional development stages.
Interventions should be straightforward and based on tangible concepts.

Findings from Secondary research

Western families often have a negotiation-based structure, giving children more independence and autonomy.
Grocery shopping is used as a learning opportunity, teaching children to select produce using senses and to develop analytical skills like price and health assessment.
Shopping trips serve as chances for younger children to expand their vocabulary and knowledge.
Parents tend to spend more when shopping with their children.
Children use their "purchase-power" directly or indirectly in shopping decisions.
Children, particularly aged 4-11, significantly influence family shopping decisions.
Technological interventions may not suit very young children due to different cognitive and emotional development stages.
Interventions should be straightforward and based on tangible concepts.

Secondary Research

Kids have a say: Western families often have a negotiation-based structure, giving children more independence and autonomy.
Shop to learn: Grocery shopping is used as a learning opportunity, teaching children to select produce using senses and to develop analytical skills like price and health assessment.
Builds vocabulary: Shopping trips serve as chances for younger children to expand their vocabulary and knowledge.
Spending rises with kids: Parents tend to spend more when shopping with their children.
Kids sway purchases: Children use their "purchase-power" directly or indirectly in shopping decisions.
Ages 4–11 influence: Children, particularly aged 4-11, significantly influence family shopping decisions.
Low-tech for toddlers: Technological interventions may not suit very young children due to different cognitive and emotional development stages.
Simple, hands-on fixes: Interventions should be straightforward and based on tangible concepts.

Findings from Secondary research

Western families often have a negotiation-based structure, giving children more independence and autonomy.
Grocery shopping is used as a learning opportunity, teaching children to select produce using senses and to develop analytical skills like price and health assessment.
Shopping trips serve as chances for younger children to expand their vocabulary and knowledge.
Parents tend to spend more when shopping with their children.
Children use their "purchase-power" directly or indirectly in shopping decisions.
Children, particularly aged 4-11, significantly influence family shopping decisions.
Technological interventions may not suit very young children due to different cognitive and emotional development stages.
Interventions should be straightforward and based on tangible concepts.

Findings from Secondary research

Western families often have a negotiation-based structure, giving children more independence and autonomy.
Grocery shopping is used as a learning opportunity, teaching children to select produce using senses and to develop analytical skills like price and health assessment.
Shopping trips serve as chances for younger children to expand their vocabulary and knowledge.
Parents tend to spend more when shopping with their children.
Children use their "purchase-power" directly or indirectly in shopping decisions.
Children, particularly aged 4-11, significantly influence family shopping decisions.
Technological interventions may not suit very young children due to different cognitive and emotional development stages.
Interventions should be straightforward and based on tangible concepts.

Primary research

We first started with an exploration of Walmart Super center and we shadowed shoppers throughout their experience. Our observations were compiled and then categorized on Miro based on:

Demographics
Usage of technology
Targeted Walmart areas such as the check-out and fresh produce sections.

We then shortlisted families as our target group and did interviews with 6 families and a mix of unobtrusive and participant observations (~30 participants) in our next trip.

We first started with an exploration of Walmart Super center and we shadowed shoppers throughout their experience. Our observations were compiled and then categorized on Miro based on:

Demographics
Usage of technology
Targeted Walmart areas such as the check-out and fresh produce sections.

We then shortlisted families as our target group and did interviews with 6 families and a mix of unobtrusive and participant observations (~30 participants) in our next trip.

Primary research insights

Families tend to treat grocery shopping trips on the weekend as opportunities to spend time together.
Parents educate their children about product quality, price,
physical qualities, nutritional value, and expiration dates. They teach young children the names of items too.
Parents want to make their children financially responsible and make their older children help them select items and make the grocery store list.
Young children are generally put in carts and do not have much autonomy.
Young kids usually cause chaos in stores. They are placated through toys, snacks, and mothers holding their hands or picking them up.

Siblings tend to copy each other. Younger kids especially copy their older siblings.
Children (especially 9-11 year old) tend to help their parents shop and negotiate about item purchases.
Mothers are generally responsible for shopping and they tend to ask children for their opinion on items. Hence, showing they want their children to be more active in this experience.
Children tend to wander off in the Toys section but stick to their parents in the Fresh Produce sections.
The purchasing power of kids was observable as parents also agreed that they tend to spend more when they come to stores with kids. But they do not buy whatever the kid wants.

Findings from Secondary research

Western families often have a negotiation-based structure, giving children more independence and autonomy.
Grocery shopping is used as a learning opportunity, teaching children to select produce using senses and to develop analytical skills like price and health assessment.
Shopping trips serve as chances for younger children to expand their vocabulary and knowledge.
Parents tend to spend more when shopping with their children.
Children use their "purchase-power" directly or indirectly in shopping decisions.
Children, particularly aged 4-11, significantly influence family shopping decisions.
Technological interventions may not suit very young children due to different cognitive and emotional development stages.
Interventions should be straightforward and based on tangible concepts.

Findings from Secondary research

Western families often have a negotiation-based structure, giving children more independence and autonomy.
Grocery shopping is used as a learning opportunity, teaching children to select produce using senses and to develop analytical skills like price and health assessment.
Shopping trips serve as chances for younger children to expand their vocabulary and knowledge.
Parents tend to spend more when shopping with their children.
Children use their "purchase-power" directly or indirectly in shopping decisions.
Children, particularly aged 4-11, significantly influence family shopping decisions.
Technological interventions may not suit very young children due to different cognitive and emotional development stages.
Interventions should be straightforward and based on tangible concepts.

Affinity Map (Thematic)

Findings from Secondary research

Western families often have a negotiation-based structure, giving children more independence and autonomy.
Grocery shopping is used as a learning opportunity, teaching children to select produce using senses and to develop analytical skills like price and health assessment.
Shopping trips serve as chances for younger children to expand their vocabulary and knowledge.
Parents tend to spend more when shopping with their children.
Children use their "purchase-power" directly or indirectly in shopping decisions.
Children, particularly aged 4-11, significantly influence family shopping decisions.
Technological interventions may not suit very young children due to different cognitive and emotional development stages.
Interventions should be straightforward and based on tangible concepts.

Findings from Secondary research

Western families often have a negotiation-based structure, giving children more independence and autonomy.
Grocery shopping is used as a learning opportunity, teaching children to select produce using senses and to develop analytical skills like price and health assessment.
Shopping trips serve as chances for younger children to expand their vocabulary and knowledge.
Parents tend to spend more when shopping with their children.
Children use their "purchase-power" directly or indirectly in shopping decisions.
Children, particularly aged 4-11, significantly influence family shopping decisions.
Technological interventions may not suit very young children due to different cognitive and emotional development stages.
Interventions should be straightforward and based on tangible concepts.

Personas

Meet Jess!

10 year old girl

Lives in Lafayette, Indiana
5th grade student at Lafayette
Elementary School

10 year old girl

Lives in Lafayette, Indiana
5th grade student at Lafayette
Elementary School

10 year old girl

Lives in Lafayette, Indiana
5th grade student at Lafayette
Elementary School

10 year old girl

Lives in Lafayette, Indiana
5th grade student at Lafayette
Elementary School

Background

Lives with parents and a younger sister, Jenny

Usually shops with her mom

Lives with parents and a younger sister, Jenny

Usually shops with her mom

Lives with parents and a younger sister, Jenny

Usually shops with her mom

Lives with parents and a younger sister, Jenny

Usually shops with her mom

Attitudes:

Finds it a bit boring but likes exploring new foods
Enjoys picking out snacks but sometimes gets restless during long shopping trips
Likes to look around for items
Finds certain aisles less interesting

Aspirations:

Wants to become more responsible in making healthy food choices.
Wants to make more informed choices when shopping on budget.

Parental Influence

Usually shops with her mom, who encourages her to make small decisions
Her mother, Jane, is supportive of Jess being involved and learning during the process

Usually shops with her mom, who encourages her to make small decisions
Her mother, Jane, is supportive of Jess being involved and learning during the process

Usually shops with her mom, who encourages her to make small decisions
Her mother, Jane, is supportive of Jess being involved and learning during the process

Usually shops with her mom, who encourages her to make small decisions
Her mother, Jane, is supportive of Jess being involved and learning during the process

Personality:

Curious and outgoing

Enjoys learning new things
Wants to help others.

Curious and outgoing

Enjoys learning new things
Wants to help others.

Curious and outgoing

Enjoys learning new things
Wants to help others.

Curious and outgoing

Enjoys learning new things
Wants to help others.

Tech Proficiency:

Proficient in using a tablet for education and dancing lessons

Does not like playing games on smartphones as she finds them childish and distracting.

Proficient in using a tablet for education and dancing lessons

Does not like playing games on smartphones as she finds them childish and distracting.

Proficient in using a tablet for education and dancing lessons

Does not like playing games on smartphones as she finds them childish and distracting.

Proficient in using a tablet for education and dancing lessons

Does not like playing games on smartphones as she finds them childish and distracting.

Hobbies & Interests

Loves science and art classes

Enjoys doing gymnastics
Collects stickers at home

Loves science and art classes

Enjoys doing gymnastics
Collects stickers at home

Loves science and art classes

Enjoys doing gymnastics
Collects stickers at home

Loves science and art classes

Enjoys doing gymnastics
Collects stickers at home

Low fidelity Sketches

Idea 1: Financial Responsibility

A research at Cambridge University showed that the approach towards money and spending are instilled towards children from the age of 7. We include several activities such as making grocery lists and budgets, and tangible items such as paper currencies, piggy banks for savings and appreciation stickers to instill habits of ﬁnancial responsibility amongst children.

Idea 2: Imparting Soft Skills

Some of the soft skills that we sketched for our designs include decision making, problem solving, and communication. These were embedded through store maps for navigation, decision trees for selecting fresh produce, and mini-games to be played by both parents and children. By design, these encouraged communication between families.

Idea 3: Nutritional Values

Each product holds various forms of information and labels within its packaging. We wanted children to understand some parts of it in order to help them make better purchase decisions. These include nutritional facts, important numbers e.g. serving size and expiry dates, and pricing details.

Findings from Secondary research

Western families often have a negotiation-based structure, giving children more independence and autonomy.
Grocery shopping is used as a learning opportunity, teaching children to select produce using senses and to develop analytical skills like price and health assessment.
Shopping trips serve as chances for younger children to expand their vocabulary and knowledge.
Parents tend to spend more when shopping with their children.
Children use their "purchase-power" directly or indirectly in shopping decisions.
Children, particularly aged 4-11, significantly influence family shopping decisions.
Technological interventions may not suit very young children due to different cognitive and emotional development stages.
Interventions should be straightforward and based on tangible concepts.

Findings from Secondary research

Western families often have a negotiation-based structure, giving children more independence and autonomy.
Grocery shopping is used as a learning opportunity, teaching children to select produce using senses and to develop analytical skills like price and health assessment.
Shopping trips serve as chances for younger children to expand their vocabulary and knowledge.
Parents tend to spend more when shopping with their children.
Children use their "purchase-power" directly or indirectly in shopping decisions.
Children, particularly aged 4-11, significantly influence family shopping decisions.
Technological interventions may not suit very young children due to different cognitive and emotional development stages.
Interventions should be straightforward and based on tangible concepts.

High-fidelity Prototype

Internal look

External Look

Findings from Secondary research

Western families often have a negotiation-based structure, giving children more independence and autonomy.
Grocery shopping is used as a learning opportunity, teaching children to select produce using senses and to develop analytical skills like price and health assessment.
Shopping trips serve as chances for younger children to expand their vocabulary and knowledge.
Parents tend to spend more when shopping with their children.
Children use their "purchase-power" directly or indirectly in shopping decisions.
Children, particularly aged 4-11, significantly influence family shopping decisions.
Technological interventions may not suit very young children due to different cognitive and emotional development stages.
Interventions should be straightforward and based on tangible concepts.

Findings from Secondary research

Western families often have a negotiation-based structure, giving children more independence and autonomy.
Grocery shopping is used as a learning opportunity, teaching children to select produce using senses and to develop analytical skills like price and health assessment.
Shopping trips serve as chances for younger children to expand their vocabulary and knowledge.
Parents tend to spend more when shopping with their children.
Children use their "purchase-power" directly or indirectly in shopping decisions.
Children, particularly aged 4-11, significantly influence family shopping decisions.
Technological interventions may not suit very young children due to different cognitive and emotional development stages.
Interventions should be straightforward and based on tangible concepts.

Step by Step

The following section annotates and explains the activities within our proposed grocery toolkit in a sequential manner, and highlights the implicit transfer of skills during each.

Internal look

Instruction set:

The instructions help children understand how to use the grocery kit. It offers a step-by-step approach.

Priority Stickers:

Used to indicate how much does the child want each of their listed items. It has three levels as shown.

Wallet:

Children will be given a budget for their shopping in the form of paper currency. They will store this within the wallet.

Savings:

Money that the children do not end up using will be placed and stored within this pocket.

Step 1 - Making a Grocery List

The activity starts off at home! Children will enlist the items that they want to buy, and assign priorities to them using Priority Stickers. They will also discuss this list with their parents who will assign a budget value.

Step 2 - Navigating the Store

Each Walmart store has its own map layout available on its website. We present a gamified version of the map in order to help children look for the items within their grocery lists.

Nutritional Facts include information regarding serving size, calorie counts, and nutrients present.

Important Numbers include expiry date and pricing information.

Step 3 - Know your Product

This sheet teaches children about the different types of information present within a product's packing.

Such a learning would encourage children to make more informed purchase decisions.

Step 4 - Picking a Fresh Fruit

Children learn by observing and experimenting. This activity provides a hands-on approach to picking the right fruit based on a set of criteria.

Children will learn how to make decisions and how to rationalize them using decision trees or flowcharts.

Rule: Play in turns. Pick your sticker from below and place it on a fresh fruit (based on the criteria in Step3

Whoever has more fresh fruits wins.

Step 5 - Mini Game

As a succession to the previous activity, children will now put their learnings into practice by playing a game with their parents. The goal is to identify and pick fresh fruits.

Item details: Children note down the items that they bought including their price and quantity.

Amount: Children calculate their total amounts and see if they exceeded the budget or remained within it.

Step 6 - Budgeting

The budget list is the final activity within the kit.

Children will write down what they bought and calculate the total. They will then compare it with their budget and see if they saved or overspent.

Findings from Secondary research

Western families often have a negotiation-based structure, giving children more independence and autonomy.
Grocery shopping is used as a learning opportunity, teaching children to select produce using senses and to develop analytical skills like price and health assessment.
Shopping trips serve as chances for younger children to expand their vocabulary and knowledge.
Parents tend to spend more when shopping with their children.
Children use their "purchase-power" directly or indirectly in shopping decisions.
Children, particularly aged 4-11, significantly influence family shopping decisions.
Technological interventions may not suit very young children due to different cognitive and emotional development stages.
Interventions should be straightforward and based on tangible concepts.

Findings from Secondary research

Western families often have a negotiation-based structure, giving children more independence and autonomy.
Grocery shopping is used as a learning opportunity, teaching children to select produce using senses and to develop analytical skills like price and health assessment.
Shopping trips serve as chances for younger children to expand their vocabulary and knowledge.
Parents tend to spend more when shopping with their children.
Children use their "purchase-power" directly or indirectly in shopping decisions.
Children, particularly aged 4-11, significantly influence family shopping decisions.
Technological interventions may not suit very young children due to different cognitive and emotional development stages.
Interventions should be straightforward and based on tangible concepts.

Transferred Skill

Financial Responsibility

Increasing Nutritional Awareness

Soft Skills

Corresponding Activity and Objects

Grocery List, Budget List, Paper Currency, Stickers, Wallets

Nutritional Information Sheet

Store Map, Decision Tree for Picking Fruit, Mini-Game

Evaluation Form and Process

We carried out testing with two children at Walmart, who interacted with our play-kit while shopping with their parents. This was followed by a semi-structured interview and a short survey. The survey evaluated the satisfaction of our participants regarding the grocery shopping toolkit.

Findings from Secondary research

Western families often have a negotiation-based structure, giving children more independence and autonomy.
Grocery shopping is used as a learning opportunity, teaching children to select produce using senses and to develop analytical skills like price and health assessment.
Shopping trips serve as chances for younger children to expand their vocabulary and knowledge.
Parents tend to spend more when shopping with their children.
Children use their "purchase-power" directly or indirectly in shopping decisions.
Children, particularly aged 4-11, significantly influence family shopping decisions.
Technological interventions may not suit very young children due to different cognitive and emotional development stages.
Interventions should be straightforward and based on tangible concepts.

Findings from Secondary research

Western families often have a negotiation-based structure, giving children more independence and autonomy.
Grocery shopping is used as a learning opportunity, teaching children to select produce using senses and to develop analytical skills like price and health assessment.
Shopping trips serve as chances for younger children to expand their vocabulary and knowledge.
Parents tend to spend more when shopping with their children.
Children use their "purchase-power" directly or indirectly in shopping decisions.
Children, particularly aged 4-11, significantly influence family shopping decisions.
Technological interventions may not suit very young children due to different cognitive and emotional development stages.
Interventions should be straightforward and based on tangible concepts.

Evaluation Results

Based on the survey findings, both of our participants found the toolkit to be fun and engaging. They reported learning valuable skills such as how to read product labels, manage money and stickers, create a budget, and navigate the store using a map. P1 specifically mentioned learning about the difference between unit price and retail price. Similarly, P2 highlighted learning how to manage her budget and grocery list effectively.

Overall, both participants rated the toolkit positively and expressed their intention to use it again during their next Walmart visit. These findings demonstrate the effectiveness of our toolkit in enhancing the grocery shopping experience for tweens and fostering essential life skills.

Findings from Secondary research

Western families often have a negotiation-based structure, giving children more independence and autonomy.
Grocery shopping is used as a learning opportunity, teaching children to select produce using senses and to develop analytical skills like price and health assessment.
Shopping trips serve as chances for younger children to expand their vocabulary and knowledge.
Parents tend to spend more when shopping with their children.
Children use their "purchase-power" directly or indirectly in shopping decisions.
Children, particularly aged 4-11, significantly influence family shopping decisions.
Technological interventions may not suit very young children due to different cognitive and emotional development stages.
Interventions should be straightforward and based on tangible concepts.

Findings from Secondary research

Western families often have a negotiation-based structure, giving children more independence and autonomy.
Grocery shopping is used as a learning opportunity, teaching children to select produce using senses and to develop analytical skills like price and health assessment.
Shopping trips serve as chances for younger children to expand their vocabulary and knowledge.
Parents tend to spend more when shopping with their children.
Children use their "purchase-power" directly or indirectly in shopping decisions.
Children, particularly aged 4-11, significantly influence family shopping decisions.
Technological interventions may not suit very young children due to different cognitive and emotional development stages.
Interventions should be straightforward and based on tangible concepts.