Background Human-centered design, or design thinking, offers an extensive toolkit of methods and strategies for user-centered engagement that lends itself well to intervention development and implementation. These methods can be applied to the fields of public health and medicine to design interventions that may be more feasible and viable in real-world contexts than those developed with different methods. Objective The design team aimed to develop approaches to building food skills among caregivers of children aged 0-5 years who are eligible for a federal food assistance program while they were in the grocery store. Methods They applied 3 specific human-centered design methods—Extremes and Mainstreams, Journey Mapping, and Co-Creation Sessions—to collaboratively develop intervention approaches to enhance Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education (SNAP-Ed) reach and impact across food retail settings. Extremes and Mainstreams is a specific kind of purposive sampling that selects individuals based on characteristics beyond demographics. Journey Mapping is a visual tool that asks individuals to identify key moments and decision points during an experience. Co-Creation Sessions are choreographed opportunities for individuals to explicitly contribute to the design of a solution alongside research or design team members. Results Ten caregivers with diverse lived experiences were selected to participate in remote design thinking workshops and create individual journey maps to depict their grocery store experiences. Common happy points and pain points were identified. Nine stakeholders, including caregivers, SNAP-Ed staff, and grocery store dieticians, cocreated 2 potential intervention approaches informed by caregivers’ experiences and needs: a rewards program and a meal box option. Conclusions These 3 human-centered design methods led to a meaningful co-design process where proposed interventions aligned with caregivers’ wants and needs. This case study provides other public health practitioners with specific examples of how to use these methods in program development and stakeholder engagement as well as lessons learned when adapting these methods to remote settings.

BACKGROUND Human-centered design, or design thinking, offers an extensive toolkit of methods and strategies for user-centered engagement that lends itself well to intervention development and implementation. These methods can be applied to the fields of public health or medicine to design interventions that are more feasible and viable in real world context and in the long run than those developed with different methods. OBJECTIVE Our team was charged with developing approaches to deploy within food retail settings (e.g., grocery stores) to build food skills among caregivers of children ages 0-5 years who are eligible for a federal food assistance program. METHODS We applied three specific human-centered design methods – Extremes and Mainstreams, Journey Mapping, and Co-Creation Sessions – to enhance Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education reach and impact across food retail settings. RESULTS Ten caregivers with diverse lived experiences were selected to participate in virtual design thinking workshops and created individual journey maps to depict their grocery store experiences. These informed the co-creation of two potential interventions to promote healthy food choices in the food retail environment: a rewards program and a meal box option. CONCLUSIONS These three human-centered design methods led to a meaningful co-design process where proposed interventions aligned with caregivers’ wants and needs. This case study provides other public health practitioners with applied examples of how to utilize these methods in program development and stakeholder engagement as well as lessons learned when adapting these methods to virtual settings.