Paper Bag Redesign

1 of 5 teammates, March - June 2022

Challenge

At Trader Joes, it’s almost guaranteed that the cashier will double-bag your items. Why? Because the handles rip on grocery buyers time and time again. The team and I noticed this issue after shopping ourselves and commuting 20+ minutes, only for our salsa jar to rip through the bag and shatter all over the street.

Skills

Technical/Management: problem finding, performance testing protocol and analysis, user testing protocol and analysis, product benchmarking, sustainability life cycle analysis,

Outcome

The team and I created a sticker-based solution to provide an additional layer of support, eliminating the need for double bagging all together; our solution is eco friendly and equally as strong as the traditional double-bagging tactic used by grocers across the country.

Process Highlight

My personal favorite component of the design process was conducting both performance testing and user testing before deciding on a final concept. The team brainstormed 8 different bag designs and tested them using a rigorous testing protocol. In these tests, we used a control (standard double bag), and I ran a path with the paper bag to evaluate the strength of each prototype. Each prototype had the same heavy, boxy goods that typically cause bag fracture. From this, we identified two methods that produced in-line results with the double bagging standard. From there, we conducted user testing with users mimicking a standard commute home from the grocery store to derive the solution that best meets the needs of our users. In the end, finalized a design that both met performance needs with an elevated user experience.

The bottom left image depicts the process to reach a final design, and the right image identifies the advantages of our proposed design.

Project Learnings

About myself as a Designer:

  • Sometimes, the final solution is simple. In fact, simplicity is hard to come by in design and creates tangible positive effects.

  • Identifying workarounds is a huge opportunity for innovation.

  • Designing solutions for when the user is not the buyer can be challenging. In this case, this extra layer of nuance forced me to rigorously prioritize the user while managing the constraints of the buyer.

  • In many cases, sustainable design can be implemented without compromise.