FashionSnap
A end to end application aiding in the reduction of manufacturing waste by enhancing the user's try-on experience.
HIGH LEVEL TIMELINE
4 Week Sprint
MAKE OF THE TEAM
I acted as the sole user experience / interface deisgner.
KEY GOAL
To understand consumer reasons for returns; to create better relationship between consumer & brand in the efforts to reduce packaging / shipping waste.
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THE PROBLEM
Fashion waste results from various behind-the-scenes production processes, such as sampling for fit and design, promotion photos. As well as the packaging materials used to ship products directly to consumers. Impacting the relationship between company & consumer through increased costs, eco-centric values and morals weighting on the consumer.
As of 2023, the fashion industry produced a startling 97 million tons of waste annually, of which 18 million were leftover textiles, 2.5 million were chemical waste, and 3 million were packaging materials. Unsettling patterns show an increase in fast fashion contributions, which exacerbates environmental issues. There are regional differences as well, with some areas reporting waste production that is out of proportion. The industry’s increasing environmental impact highlights the urgency of addressing these statistics and the need for swift action toward sustainable practices.
MY ROLE
As the Sole user experience researcher and user interface designer; I was in charge of identifying and aligning the target consumer's stressors with the industry goals.
As a Fashion Industry professional with 6+ years of experience working with sourcing partners who are in charge of ensuring product waste is being used from a manufacturing & shipping perspective.
Furthermore as a society we hear time and time again around the harm of fast fashion and how industries need to start scaling back waste to ensure a cleaner tomorrow. In this case study I hope to relieve these pressures from society through aligning societal needs with business needs.
Understand consumers reasons for returns; to create a better relationship between consumer & brand in the efforts to reduce packaging/shipping waste.
GOALS & OBJECTIVES
With understanding the consumer's reason for returns; I will be able to start tackling a portion of the 97 Million tons of waste produced by the fashion industry.
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The goals of creating a eco-centric sustainable approach by reducing the waste created by return to seller. While understanding the current industry standards of the consumer's experience from a digital presence and how to better improve the experience.
THE USER
For research and design purpose, I decided to focus on the gen Z & late millenials.
Consumer Behavior data and findings of Gen Z & Late millennials have identified that more than half of the generation use visuals resources more than qualitative notations such as comments or reviews of product. Which would hopefully lead to wide application acceptance of FashionSnap.
BREAKING DOWN THE PROCESS
To better understand why consumer's return items & assess competitors have developed and designed into to help mitigate the amount of returns for the industry, I organized consumer interviews followed up by a competitor Analysis.
After identifying the users FashionSnap would target from a consumer influence perspective, I decided to interview 5-8 individuals about their experiences when shopping online & their reasons for returns or dissatisfaction with retailers.
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Listening to our User's frustrations around online shopping and the main reasons for returning items and or not purchasing specific items. I dove into what are other company's solves for these concerns to find a grey space in which FashionSnap can grow.
THESE WERE SOME MAJOR LEARNINGS OR POINTS WE WANTED TO CALL OUT
Assortment
Users find themselves returning items more often than not due to assortment issues such as: sizing, quality of the garments & how the items fits
Lack of Use
Users are not checking the size charts given out by companies often, and or feel as if the charts are not updated for the fluctuating trend silhouettes.
Skepticism
Users feel a tremendous amount of skepticism around the ability for companies to better their size charts and measurements.
Competitor's Attempts
Size correction seems to be the most prevalent attempt at helping consumers. Company's such as TrueFit & FitAnalytics are resources available to consumers; focusing on helping the user correctly find the size of the garments they are looking for based on the information provided by the user.
Competitor's Attempts cntd.
Lastly, Auglio has disrupted the consumer's shopping approach by allowing the user to "try-on" product with their camera. However, focused on the beauty and eyewear industries leaving consumers still concerned about their apparel purchases.
THE PERSONA
Joey DeClaremont
Medical Student
Needs
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The ability to understand how the product would fit him personally
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To view products as a complete outfit
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To trust companies are sizing their products appropriately
Joey is a 24 year old medical student from Madison, Wisconsin. While he is focusing on his academics; This eco-conscious individual wants to grow his wardrobe and style.
Motivation
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Wants confidence when purchasing clothes
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Wants to reduce the # of returns he has to process
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Wants to ensure he is buying the correct size for his body type
Pain Points
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Struggles to figure out what size he should be purchasing based on fit.
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Cannot gauge how the garment will fit based on model poses.
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Developed a mis-trust for the industries ability to gauge size & color appropriately
UNDERSTANDING THE USER
Joey Declaremont is a target user for FashionSnap. Wanting confidence in their purchases, looking to lower his return rates impacted by size and fit issues. Leading to creating a trust in the company's quality of product.
Leading to the questions of:
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1. How might we build users confidence while shopping online.
2.How might we decrease user return rates through understanding fit.
3.How might we allow users to gain quality assurance of produced products.
THE FEATURES
As I think about what would make FashionSnap stand out from our competitors and appealing to users like Joey. I thought about what features would not only aid in the reduction of returns by the user but also meet the needs of the industry.
Virtual Marketplace
As we look at what our competitors are not offering their users; they are missing a digital store front. This allows users to stay on the app without having to navigate elsewhere once size information is received.
Virtual Try-On
The industry is forever evolving with the capabilities of using personal devices and data to personalize user's shopping methods. Auglio goes the extra mile allowing users to use their cameras to try make up shades and eyewear but why not clothing?
Category tailored filters
As the breathe of assortment grows within FashionSnap I want to ensure we are thinking about the ease of a consumer's search for garments. Narrowing down the search through category specific filters will be important in the ease of the search
THE FLOW
After the key features were determined for FashionSnap to compete with competitors, influenced by our persona's needs & motivations. It was time to understand how our user will navigate our mobile app. From logging onto the app for the first time to checking out with a cart filled with product.
THE WIREFRAMES
After logging into the application or creating an account, the user would be advised to create/customize an avatar built with AI using the user's personal data.
Once the flow was aligned upon, fitting the needs of Joey; ensuring he would be able to find items he is looking for; try them on and potentially purchase it was time to start bringing these ideas to life.
The user would then enter the home screen which displays a market place, with promotional activity, featured items etc.
Once the user selects items to try on, they can enter the "virtual fitting room" allowing the user to try on their selected product on an avatar tailored to their dimension.
MID-FI USER TESTING
As I continued to gauge user interest in FashionSnap, I used a web-enabled prototyping tool called Maze. Gaining feedback from real life users on their thoughts and interest in the application before continuing along with the design.
The Results
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Users are worried about the accuracy of the avatar in help them fit and match size while shopping online.
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1 user spoke to the design being "sloppy" and unpolished.
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1 user was worried they would always need to have an account to use the application.
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3 out of 5 users spoke to the need for real sample photos or product photos.
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benefiting the overall design by allowing them to see real color and texture.
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1 user stated:
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"I'm not sure this would help in the same way that glasses companies can help you choose frames by putting them on a photo of yourself."​
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Going on to discuss the differences in designs and styles, which would not make them feel confident in the process or help them solve the issue of reducing return rates.​
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Although the outcomes of the user testing was not the responses I was hoping for, it allowed me to gain an insightful idea of how to improve the product heading into the final prototype.
NEXT STEPS
There was some overall weariness around the acceptance of virtual try-ons; users looking for validation of the accuracy of the product. Which stems from customer acceptance and marketing exposure.
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The users are also looking for a cleaner more polished look to the overall design. This can be accomplished through a lighter color story and adding rea product photos to the product pages allowing the user to see the 3D rendering in comparison to the real product.
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THE FINAL PRODUCT
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After taking the user's feedback adjusting the color story & adding in an additional way for user's to try on products the product was ready for final prototyping before being passed off.
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These are just a few of the several screens designed for FashionSnap. To see all of the screens and how they interacted with one another for the user's ease feel free to try out the prototype.
TITLE OF THE CALLOUT BLOCK
LESSONS LEARNED
Full end-to-end products in which are disrupting user's current flow need to revisit user testing more than once to ensure engagement and acceptance from their users.
After receiving the user's feedback coming out of my mid-fidelity testing. It became clear to me that this project and design might resonated with the user I once perceived. Circling back to my user research to better understand the approach of this product, I realized creating an avatar based try on application may not have been widely accepted by the user.
Once the design/concept was created as a solution to the overall problem of return waste, I should have re-entered user interviews to gauge acceptance and temperature levels to the idea of relaying on AI to appropriately help with sizing issues and concerns from the users.