The document shown above is a case study for how a small business might adapt to the novel COVID-19 pandemic. The business chosen for this case study is Urban Earth, a small shop located in Memphis Tennessee that focuses on the sale of indoor and outdoor plants as well as plant-related items.
To create this piece, there were two visible moments of translation work. The first one was taking all the recommendations the Center for Disease Control (CDC) emitted for small shops and businesses and turning them into implementable action items that could be easily displayed and understood both by employees and customers. This resulted to be the most challenging moment of translation, given the thoroughness of detail provided by the CDC versus the one-line rule I was attempting to follow for all the recommendations.
The second moment of translation was one of design. I wanted to create a set of case studies that could, in one sitting, be edited and utilized as a guideline to be shared by the store. Additionally, I wanted to create a simple yet effective design that would be as useful in digital formats such as email and social media, as well as printable so it could be easily displayed within the physical store. The end goal of this malleability would be to create something that could be used in multiple situations to ensure that all employees and customers follow these measures and help keep the community safe.
Although I do like the current iteration of this case study, in the future there are some changes I would like to make. First is I would look for or design a style guide so that all the COVID-19 documentation followed the same style as was easy to recognize by all employees and patrons. Additionally, during the process of creating the actual guidelines, I would like to implement ways of receiving feedback from the store’s stakeholders before finalizing the rules. This could mean surveying employees since they know their daily work routine best for gathering input from customers on what would make them feel secure to return to the store.