My Contribution
My teammates and I collaborated on all stages of the design process, including user research, prototyping, and the UI/UX of the final design.
In the research stage, I contributed to creating the user interview protocol and conducting stakeholder interviews, as well as online field observations. During ideation, I created wireframe sketches of the app's onboarding. I was also responsible for designing UI elements for the low to high-fidelity mockups of the app's onboarding process.
Understanding Our Community
Before fully diving into problem space, we wanted to gain a better understanding of our stakeholders and their experience with fast fashion. Through informal interviews and secondary online research, we learned that:
Research (Contextual Inquiry)
We conducted a total of 10 stakeholder interviews with students at UC San Diego to understand college students' personal consumption habits, sustainable choices and habits, and their experience with fast fashion. We also engaged in in-person and online field research with 11 participants to observe students' behaviors as they shop for clothing.
“I really don't like throwing away clothes. Sometimes I'll go back and be like 'wow, why did I put this shirt away? I actually really like it’”
Affinity Mapping
Using the post-it notes from our interviews and field observations, my team and I organized our notes into clusters to consolidate and make sense of our findings. We created two affinity maps- one from our stakeholder interviews and one from our field observations.
Affinity Map: Interviews
Affinity Map: Field Observations
Specifying the Design Problem
To specify the design problem we wanted to tackle, my team and I categorized our affinity diagrams into broader categories. We found that fast fashion is an issue that can be tackled on the individual and the industry level. However, we decided to explore the problem on the individual level, given the scope of the class. Specifically, we found that people's shopping habits do not line up with sustainability practices.
While the majority of our interviewees know what fast fashion is, many still choose to buy from fast fashion companies. Additionally, the majority of our interviewees wanted to make more sustainable shopping choices, but were unsure how.
Brainstorming Solutions
Using the method of Crazy 8's, my teammates each brainstormed design ideas that aligned with our problem statement, generating a total of 48 design ideas that we then consolidated into 12 potential solutions.
The solution we decided to move forward with is a clothing swap/thrift app. This was the solution we agreed on, since it addresses our stakeholders' shopping priorities, which include style, convenience, and price.
STYLE
Users would be able to choose to engage with people who have clothes and styles the user is interested in
CONVENIENCE
A mobile interface means users would have the ability to browse and shop for clothing at their fingertips
PRICE
Price of clothing would be more affordable, as most users would list clothing that has already been worn
Initial Ideation
In this stage, all 6 of us created sketch wireframes of the app flow and interface (
see all sketches). We then met to discuss our sketches and explore the different features that each of us wanted to implement. Converging our sketches and ideas, we created the lo-fi prototype shown below.
User Testing
We conducted three rounds of user testing with 8 college students at UC San Diego.
After each round of user testing, we iterated on our design based on the feedback we received. This resulted in a total of 4 design iterations.
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Final Design: Swap&Shop App
Users are asked to sign up or log in with their student e-mail in order ensure the safety of everyone on the app. The user is then asked to set their preferences or choose to skip and set them later.
This feature allows users to "heart" or "x" clothes until they find a match, which happens when two users "heart" each other's item. When a match happens, a new chat is created between the user and their match.
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Users can also browse through clothes on the explore page and directly message the seller if they are interested in purchasing something.
On their profile, users can see their current listings and reviews from other users who have swapped or bought clothing from them.
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Users can list an item for swap, sale or both through their profile. Once a listing is added, it will appear on the user's profile.
Reflection
1) Setting a timer for activities such as affinity mapping during team meetings allowed us to work faster and more efficiently with each other
2) Comparing interview and field observation notes was useful in identifying patterns or inconsistencies in our data
3) Thank you to my wonderful team members for all your hard work on this project!
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