FairTrade USA wanted to explore how to use human-centered design for its programs. We started by creating a design challenge that could prototype how design would inform building programs that reflected the unmet needs of consumers, retailers and producers- ‘How might we better connect the FT coffee experience from crop to cup?’ This scope gave us a clear supply chain to work with as well as the right constraints for design. We started our research by ‘looking in’ with FairTrade USA to understand its culture, capacities/capabilities, challenges, product, brand and current experience. We then went into the field to do ethnographic research with coffee farmers in the Anserma district of Colombia and with consumers and retailers in Cincinnati and the Bay Area. We uncovered numerous opportunities to redesign FairTrade USA’s programs around the unmet needs of their key users to make the experience deeper and more resonant and compelling. The work resulted in two big opportunities: evolving into a ‘platform’ for good and a human-centered design toolkit for FairTrade to use. These opportunities are being brought to life now.
What emerged…
During an in-home tour, a consumer expresses frustration at the tenuousness relationship between products, brands and her hierarchy of needs
People are struggling to make sense of values and brand experiences
In our ethnographic research with consumers, coffee shops and retailers in Cincinnati and the Bay Area we found time and again that our values are deeply held and yet quite fickle based on how/where/when we get information. Deepening participation in a brand through experiences can help FairTrade USA better connect and stay relevant with consumers.
Smallholder farmers juggle many challenges, including how to connect more directly to markets and to enhance their knowledge
Farmers are already prototyping solutions for themselves.
By going on ride alongs with coffee farmers, suppliers, agents, buyers and processors in Colombia, it was clear that there are myriad opportunities to better support farmers in connecting them with what consumers are seeking as well as with each other to better share knowledge, experience and expertise
Tool to understand the roles, needs and value of the participants in the value chain
Make it a platform for good.
Platforms are an amazingly generative way to connect people with products and services. Uber, Airbnb, YouTube and all the other platform organizations succeed through making activity on their platforms seamless and self-motivated by reducing transaction costs and providing users with what they want and rewarding them for it. By platformizing the product of FairTrade USA, producers, brands and consumers will more readily be able to learn, tell stories, share knowledge, gain access to services and to scale.