Origin Trip

First of its kind foundational user research.

 

Overview

To date, the tech team at Fair Trade had only created products for traders (actors in the middle of the supply chain), therefore all of the team's knowledge around producers was second-hand. This was the design team's first chance to dive firsthand into producers' experiences.

My Role

Working collaboratively with another UX designer, I developed the research plan, conducted interviews in the field, synthesized results, and presented to stakeholders.

Method

 

Goals

Our overarching goal was to empathize with producers — how they interact with Fair Trade USA and what their pain points are in context with the rest of their lives. But more specifically we hoped to

  • establish a framework for qualitative user research at Fair Trade USA and

  • begin a persona library that Fair Trade USA staff can use as a common language to align our workaround.

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Approach

We conducted ethnographic interviews with folks in the Fair Trade seafood and produce categories. Each interview was held in the field with the assistance of a translator.

We had the opportunity to interview over 50 individuals consisting of:

  • Farm workers

  • Fisherman

  • Farm management

  • Fishery management

  • Fair Trade

  • Committee members

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Synthesis

 

When we returned to the office after our trip, we poured over our notes and marked them up by color for the following data points:

  • Challenges or frustrations

  • Wins

  • Suggestions

  • Other interesting points

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After processing all our notes, we transferred these observations to post its and began to group them together using different methods to gain insights.

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Outcome

 

Findings

Once we had our insights documented we started to see trends among them. First, we grouped our learnings by insight. In doing so, we found five indicators that lead to the successful implementation of the Fair Trade model. When we reorganized our insights by these indicators, we saw some interesting data emerge.

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In total we spoke with 51 individuals, 33 of whom were management and 18 were workers. Of that total 41% were women. We were able to create baseline personas for the individuals we encountered but further research would need to be conducted to give these personas more depth.

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Learnings

This was my first research trip of this nature and I learned a lot from the two weeks I was immersed in the Fair Trade producer’s world.

  • A lot gets left out of translation, try to stick to translating often and avoid paraphrasing and translator follow-up questions.

  • Lack of connection is a hard gap to fill when you don’t speak the language.

  • Learn to read nonverbal queues and record in notes to color the words they are saying.

  • Study facilities beforehand to know the larger context and if you’re getting lip service.

  • Conduct interviews in a casual setting and don’t interview someone with their boss present.