— PLATFORM
App
— ROLE & RESPONSIBILITIES
Side project
User research
Ideation
Product definition (MVP)
User flow
Wireframes
Prototyping
Usability test.
— TIMEFRAME
2.5 months
April 2021- July 2021
CacaoShares is an ecological project that offers Japanese chocolatiers the opportunity to obtain their own fair trade cocoa beans, and helps Venezuelan farmers grow and rescue exotic varieties of cacao, contributing to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Cacao that connects
The main goal of this project is to connect Venezuelan farmers and Japanese chocolatiers, through the cacao traceability (from upstream to downstream), and the accessibility of data; creating a dynamic that helps the farmers preserve the exotic varieties of cacao beans.
Our Cacao journey started with the user research when we prepared interview sessions with the stakeholders and a Venezuelan chocolate expert.
Virtual Interview sessions with Angélica Pavani and Alejandro Patino.
Affinity diagram
A lot of beans to handle…
We never imagined that there was a lot of new information to handle. All about the process that involves obtaining the cocoa beans and the importance of its traceability.
So, we took all these insights and grouped them into five main topics:
- -Sustainability and ecology
- -Traceability & processes
- -User
- -Technology
- -Business
A lot of beans to handle
CacaoShares ecosystem
To put all the agents that affect CacaoShares in the same place, we prepare an ecosystem diagram and discussed over it.
This helped us to focus on all the important matters and understand how the agents work together to keep CacaoShares functioning.
The agents that work together to keep Cacao Shares functioning
Meet the Cacao lovers
At this moment, we had some findings to build our protopersonas, archetypes based on our main users: the farmer and the chocolatier.
Ramón, the cacao guy
“Working my land to give you the best cocoa in Patanemo”
31 years. 5 children. Lives in Patanemo
User persona. Meet Ramón
Azami, ecofriendly chocolatier
“Let’s have a sweet conversation”
37 years, married. Lives in Tokyo
User persona. Meet Azami
Note that we had two different approaches to define a protojourney based on the necessities of the Venezuelan farmer and the Japanese Chocolatier.
The first approach we took was the perspective of the farmer. CacaoShares has already an app called Tree Manager and we did some brainstorming about how to improve its usability and make sure the chocolate maker receives valuable information.
Protojourney
In this case, we focused our attention to the Japanese Chocolatier.
Here we used a Journey map to identify the pain points and opportunities while the chocolatier uses our digital product.
How might we take this to solutions?
With our findings, we decided to focus the MVP on three core features: Farm Info & Location, providing essential transparency and traceability; Cacao Traceability, ensuring real-time updates on bean sourcing; and Milestones & Cacao Tree Avatars, to create a personalized, engaging user experience. This approach ensured a strong alignment with user goals while remaining achievable for an initial launch.
Using the Kano model to define our MVP
1.
Farm information and location
CacaoShares offers a Farm Info & Location feature that provides detailed information about the cocoa farms in Venezuela. Users can access farm profiles, learn about the exotic cacao varieties being cultivated, and view the farm's sustainable practices. The feature includes a map displaying the farm’s exact location, allowing chocolatiers to trace the journey of their fair trade cocoa beans from farm to chocolate bar, promoting transparency and traceability in the supply chain.
2.
Cacao´s traceability information
The Cacao Traceability feature in CacaoShares enables users to track the entire journey of their cocoa beans, from seed to shipment. It provides real-time updates on each stage of the production process, including harvesting, fermentation, drying, and transportation. This feature also offers key data on the quality and sustainability certifications of the cacao, ensuring that it meets fair trade standards.
3.
Milestones
& Avatars
The Milestones & Cacao Tree Avatar feature in CacaoShares allows users to personalize their experience by setting virtual cacao tree avatars that represent the specific farms they partner with. As users progress through different stages of their cacao sourcing journey, they can add milestones, such as the first harvest or achieving sustainability certifications, to track and celebrate key achievements. The cacao tree avatar evolves visually as milestones are reached, reflecting the growth and impact of their partnership with Venezuelan farmers. This feature fosters deeper engagement and a sense of connection to the cacao cultivation process.
Design & Prototyping
A sweet flow
We defined different use cases, using the tasks that will make our features work.
Here it was important to set some user stories and make sure to think about the user flow in a more agile and focused way.
This exercise also, helped came up with the first wireframes.
Task flow looking for the farm´s information
High fidelity Prototype
Feature 1
Farm information and location
Feature 2
Cacao´s traceability information
Feature 3
Adding milestones and setting cacao trees avatar
Usability test
Do people find the main structure of the information clear enough?
To answer this question, 6 “Friends and family” users where asked to complete the most important tasks of our product.
The main problems observed were related to the structure of the information. Especially when it came to finding the follow-up information about de cacao´s traceability.
Users couldn´t find the information in an intuitive way.
Solution: Creating content shortcuts and visible section tabs.
My sweet Learnings
My main learnings about this project can be grouped into two topics: Ecology and UX.
Ecology
Our disconnection with the nature makes us forget that what we eat comes from it, and it´s all thanks to the hard work of the farmer.
Fair trade cacao beans and the value it has to generate credibility, making the product traceable.
UX
Information should be structured clearly and simply as possible. As designers we tend to think that our solutions will work out for the users. That´s why the usability tests are so important.
Looking at the big picture. During the research phase it is so important to understand the user and all the external factors that may affect. It could be the industry, the culture, a crisis or a particular case.
Next Steps
CacaoShares´s team is putting all the effort to make a reality the development of this app, to help reach the goal of making a 1 million trees forest nurture Cacao agroforestry and preserve rare Cacao varieties while contributing to capture excess carbon emissions.
You can find more information here.