Prototyping

For my first prototype, I wanted to test the way a modified grocery receipt could affect the purchaser. I’m aiming this one at the “food gatekeepers,” the person in the family who takes responsibility for the food planning, purchasing and preparation in the home. By reaching out to my momma friends on Facebook, I secured a few weekly grocery receipts and started chopping. A sketched-out a paper version was first. By comparing the list items against Michi’s Ladder, each item was placed into a category of the ladder. (Michi’s Ladder is a guideline. According to its creators at beachbody.com, if you only ate from Tiers 1 & 2, you would have a near-perfect diet!)

I wanted to pull more information from the receipt. So the sketch evolved into a “food report,” in which I added percentages, a goal, and a trade-up option for items in the lower tiers. Also, the tiers were re-named with more friendly headlines.

When I showed the receipt back to the owners, I received mixed reports, but they contained very helpful information.

The pros of this exercise:

• Buyers expressed their interest in a site or app similar to this. 
• They expressed the possibility that a mobile app would be more useful because then you could refer to it while at the store (although I guess with a smartphone you could just look up the website too).
• Interest in an instant report: by scanning or entering an item and getting at what category tier it would be on or what would be a better option
• One tester wrote, “I really love the “Swap Up” section. Especially because I always wonder which would be a better choice and don’t always feel like reading and interpreting labels.”

Issues that need to be addressed in future iterations:

• Possibly too judgmental. One tester wrote: “I feel like I need a disclaimer - even though I know you’re not judging me, but that need for a perfect grade is still there (and 70 is not an A) - the English Muffins and Gatorade were for Greg and the kids who had a stomach bug at the time. They are not usually on my list.
• The ladder is not a one-size-fits-all guideline. It is more for adults and weight loss, and not appropriate for kids in all areas, because kids require more fats in their diet.” I’ll need to research additional sources of the base nutrition guidelines used for this application.
• The goal would need to be user-adjustable. I started with 80% “healthy”/20% “enjoy sparingly”, but every family has different needs and goals.
• Planning for parties or events could skew the overall results
• Interim shopping for fresh items during the week could also skew weekly results

When I spoke with one of my testers she mentioned that she was thinking of me when she was shopping, and knew she would be sending me her receipt. She said, “I was going to get a loaf of white bread, but then I thought of you…” That was music to my ears. I could be onto something here!