
Trader Joes for All
This case study takes an in-depth look at enhancing accessibility for visually impaired customers at Trader Joe's, a well-regarded national grocery store chain known for its commitment to offering the best quality products at competitive prices.
This ongoing prioritizes extensive user experience research, focusing on creating more inclusive and accessible shopping environments. Through rigorous testing and trials, the study examines various aspects of systems design, including the development of web interfaces compatible with assistive technologies, the implementation of tactile design elements, and the incorporation of Braille within branding and visual systems.
The initiative emphasizes designing for disabled populations and is driven by community feedback, reflecting a broader commitment to inclusivity in user experience design. Furthermore, it explores ethical considerations in web design and coding practices, highlighting the importance of accessibility in today's digital age.
duration
May 2023 - Present
CONTEXT
✢ The story so far.
What's 'Trader Joes'?
Trader Joe's, a distinguished grocery store chain in the United States, is renowned for its distinctive, laid-back vibe and a significant selection of private label sweets and snacks.
What drew me towards Trader Joes?
Emphasizing a unique branding strategy, nearly 80% of its offerings are Trader Joe's-branded products sourced from reputable manufacturers, repackaged and sold under the store’s name.
This approach is complemented by the use of playful and engaging product names, incorporating puns, cultural references, and humorous twists to enrich the shopping experience and make the products memorable. The packaging of these products features a nostalgic and whimsical design, adorned with hand-drawn illustrations, vintage fonts, and captivating stories about the product on the label, ensuring they stand out on the shelves.
How does this all connect?
The company's ethos, as they put it, focuses on providing "a store full of unique and interesting products, along with everyday basics, in the Trader Joe's label," eschewing a multitude of branded items in favor of enhancing the customer experience. This experience is crafted to be "rewarding, eventful, and fun," supported by the efforts of helpful and friendly crew members who ensure safe and inviting store environments, create informative and creative signage, and foster a sense of adventure, humor, and community.
✢ That leads us to understand,
In the context of our study, Trader Joe's serves as an ideal "candidate" or "user persona" due to their meticulous attention to customer experience and innovative branding and packaging strategies. However, it's crucial to note that while Trader Joe's exemplifies the focus of our testing, the insights and strategies discussed can be universally applied across the board to any grocery store, food store, whole foods suppliers, or food packaging companies, underscoring the broader applicability and potential impact of our project beyond just one brand or retailer.
PROBLEM AREAS
Addressing the General Problem
✢ The current situation
Currently, there are no universal Braille symbols to represent special dietary restrictions such as “Kosher,” “Gluten Free,” or “Vegan” in most food packaging. While organizations may develop their own symbols for internal use, these rarely include inclusive options such as standard Braille code, making it difficult for visually impaired shoppers to identify products that meet their dietary needs. For accessible packaging labeling, sticking to the standard Braille alphabet to spell out important terms is the most accessible and universally understood approach.
Addressing the Specific Problem
✢ Looking through a focused lens.
Trader Joe's, like many grocery stores, aims to make their in-person experience accessible to all customers, including those with disabilities. Their efforts include store layout designs that are navigable for people with visual impairments, training staff to provide assistance, and incorporating technology or tools that enhance shopping accessibility. Trader Joe's also takes extensive measures to make their web-shopping experience accessible, ensuring their website passes WCAG compliance and partnering with MagnusMode to aid neurodivergent customers.
However, despite their unique packaging and design strategy, Trader Joe's currently does not have any products in their stores with packaging that is accessible to visually impaired customers.
PROJECT GOALS
✢ Some metrics I set to determine success,
To create a new system of data visualization
To explore product packaging design that specifically caters towards visually impaired customers; this entails explorations of integrating tactile Braille labels and intuitive signs and symbols, to enable individuals with visual impairments to shop independently but also makes it easier to identify products that meet various dietary restrictions.
To expand the system to a web platform
To integrate this design system into a web-shopping experience, while exploring accessibility for web products.
To explore product packaging design
To create packaging that is not only functional for the visually impaired but also aesthetically pleasing and practical for all consumers, thereby fostering an inclusive shopping environment.
RESEARCH
Understanding Braille
✢ These are the elements that I incorporated into the project.
Braille
Braille is a tactile writing system used by people who are visually impaired. Braille enables people with visual impairments to read and write through touch, rather than sight.
Braille is read by moving one's fingers over the raised dots. Skilled readers can read Braille quickly and efficiently.
What is the structure of Braille?
Braille is composed of raised dots arranged in cells. Each cell contains up to six dots in a 3x2 grid.
The Grid: The grid of dots in each Braille cell is referred to as a Braille cell. Each position in the cell is numbered, with the top left dot being position 1, and the bottom right dot being position 6.
Braille Cell: 6 dots in a 3x2 grid
Characters: Different combinations of these raised dots represent different characters, including letters, numbers, punctuation marks, and even certain formatting indications like capitalization or italics.
Braille Characters: A to Z (top left to bottom right)
Numbers: Braille numbers are made using the first ten letters of the alphabet, “a” through “j”, and a special number sign, # (represented by dots 3, 4, 5, and 6).
Larger numbers only need one number sign (#). Commas are used to separate the multiples of 10 and 100s. The comma in Braille is dot 2, and is used in numbers and with words, too.
Braille Numbers
Braille Punctuations
DESIGN PROCESS
Developing Components & Features for the Project
✢ When going from concept to creation,
Braille
Braille is a tactile writing system used by people who are visually impaired. Braille enables people with visual impairments to read and write through touch, rather than sight.
Braille is read by moving one's fingers over the raised dots. Skilled readers can read Braille quickly and efficiently.
What is the structure of Braille?
Braille is composed of raised dots arranged in cells. Each cell contains up to six dots in a 3x2 grid.
The Grid: The grid of dots in each Braille cell is referred to as a Braille cell. Each position in the cell is numbered, with the top left dot being position 1, and the bottom right dot being position 6.
Braille Cell: 6 dots in a 3x2 grid
Characters: Different combinations of these raised dots represent different characters, including letters, numbers, punctuation marks, and even certain formatting indications like capitalization or italics.
Braille Characters: A to Z (top left to bottom right)
Numbers: Braille numbers are made using the first ten letters of the alphabet, “a” through “j”, and a special number sign, # (represented by dots 3, 4, 5, and 6).
Larger numbers only need one number sign (#). Commas are used to separate the multiples of 10 and 100s. The comma in Braille is dot 2, and is used in numbers and with words, too.
Braille Numbers
Braille Punctuations