Farmer’s Market Kiosk

This project was a part of DSGN 100, a prototyping class. We were told to create a digital kiosk for a location of our choosing. My team opted to make one for farmer’s markets.

Team

4 designers

Timeline

Jan 2025 - Mar 2025

Tools

Figma, Inkscape, Procreate, Epilog Laser Cutter,

Skills

User research methodologies, visual design, UX design, woodworking, usability testing

Why Farmer’s Markets?

Farmer’s markets encourage healthy eating, bring community together, promote sustainability, and support local farmers. Whether it is someone’s first time attending, vs their hundredth, farmer’s markets are an exciting experience. However, they can tend to be chaotic, busy, and unorganized, which can discourage customers from shopping.

Research

Online Research

We conducted in-depth online research to understand how various individuals engage with farmers markets and explored existing forums and apps designed to address common challenges associated with these experiences.

Our findings:

Technology is increasingly used to enhance farmers market experiences for both vendors and consumers
Apps aim to simplify access to fresh produce and facilitate direct sales between farmers and consumers
Users experience…
- 🧊 Unwelcoming atmospheres: Markets feel theme park-like, overcrowded, and cause time constraints that deter consumers
- 💰 Cost concerns: Users see farmers markets as pricey and less cost-effective versus grocery stores
- 🚙 Parking difficulties: Users find parking hard to access, especially in urban areas, leading to convenience issues
- 🤔 Vendor recognition issues: Users often forget vendor names or struggle to locate specific booths
- ❓ Confusion: Users frequently seek recommendations for vendors and specific products

Field Observations

We decided to check out some farmer’s markets in San Diego to get some preliminary insights.

Little Italy

encountered parking and traffic issues
random organization, large crowds, long lines
there were some (but not all), vendor signs at entry points

Ocean Beach

crowded, one lane layout, and lines in front of food vendors

La Jolla

this market had one entry point, and was organized into three sections: artisans, farmers, and food vendors
more spacious layout, and seating areas for market goers

Interviews

We created some storyboards to use in interviews to better understand what to include in our kiosk. We spoke to 5 attendees (Ocean Beach, La Jolla), 1 market organizer (UCSD), and 1 market manager (La Jolla).

Storyboards

Where can I shop?

Forgot a bag

Organizing vendors

Interview Findings

4/5 interviewees who were asked had somewhat/lots of difficulty when navigating a market
3/3 interviewees who were asked were frustrated when they couldn’t find a vendor at their previous spot
2/2 organizers would want to see a mall type kiosk that offers vendor check ins, filters, maps, etc
2/2 organizers said vendors often have logistical problems
Reasons for a kiosk
- Difficulty navigating
- Hard to find where a vendor is when they move around each time
- To provide attendees with information right off the bat, filters
- Help people find solutions if they forget a bag
“A vendor lineup of who's here today, who might be here next week and if it could list like the vendors websites, like a quick bio would be fantastic”
“We have people come or they're looking for a vendor who was here last week, but then they're not here this week”

Key Personas

Our key personas are attendees of farmers markets, organizers, and vendors.

Prototyping: Digital

User Flows

Using the key personas, we created user flows for the kiosk experiences.

Wireframes

These wireframes represent three core components of our prototype—the search functionality, interactive map, and rental bag feature. They were developed based on our user flows and sentence ideation process to ensure a seamless and intuitive user experience.

Usability Testing

We conducted usability testing on our prototype to gather feedback and identify improvements to guide our high-fidelity development.

Our findings/what we changed:

Added more feedback for users
Updated the final step to be more visually intuitive
Added clear instructions throughout (iconography)
Adjusted the available categories
Implemented a live filtering system
Improved visualization of vendors

Branding

Drawing inspiration from the keywords we associated with farmer’s markets (bright, vibrant, fresh, colorful, welcoming, organic, earthy, nature, nostalgic, clean, youthful) we created our logo and brand kit for the final designs in Figma.

View our prototype

Hifi Screens

Key Features

🛍️ Rental Bags

We designed this feature to provide users with a convenient and reliable way to carry their groceries, especially in cases where they may have forgotten to bring their own bag—addressing a common barrier to a seamless farmers market experience.

🗺️ Map

We designed this feature to help users easily locate vendors and view who is present at the market. Additionally, we labeled surrounding streets to provide directional context, making it simpler for users to navigate the market and find their desired vendors efficiently.

🔍 Search

We designed this feature to allow users to easily filter/search for specific products and vendors based on given categories. This helps streamline the market experience by enabling users to quickly find both the products and vendors that best meet their preferences.

Prototyping: Physical

The Final Kiosk

Design Choices/Special Features

Seamlessly integrated screen
Small scalloped edge design to emulate the roofs on stands at markets
“Vending Machine”
- Our bag rental system
  displays and dispenses bags from the acrylic window and retrieval area (uses Wizard of Oz method)
Bag Return Slot
- To return a rental bag, customers can find a return slot behind the screen
Payment Options
- Customers can pay for the
  rental bag using tap to pay or a cash slot