Design Concept Project | C2C | Sustainability
2The9s
Designing a digital wardrobe app centered on sustainability, featuring an AI stylist for smarter outfit planning
My team
Jon Mori, Jordan Davis, Sean Eng, Michelle Yee
My role
Defining project scope and strategy
Content strategy
Conducting research
Delivering solutions through UX design methods and techniques
Deliverables
Project Concept
MVP Scope
User Research
Competitive Analysis
User Flows & Wireframes
Style Tile
Hi-fi Mockups
Specifications
Duration: 3 weeks
Tools: Figma, Photoshop, Procreate, Miro, Trello
Problem
Wardrobe apps that don't solve the root cause of the problem — one's closet.
Problem Space Challenges
Lack of a system and in-app distractions when creating a digital wardrobe.
Frictions when creating an account and a digital wardrobe: long, complex process of adding clothes to a wardrobe, no autofill, manual selection of outfits etc.
Excessive gamification features.
Solutions
Designing a system to smartly manage the clothes you already have.
Optimizing your wardrobe through sustainable and resource-sensible features of the app — cataloging, outfits planning and scheduling via AI stylist Tania, caring for your clothes via Services tool (donation, sale and repair).
Tracking your progress through AI suggested fashion challenges.
Results
2The9s is a concept-project of a digital wardrobe app that equips people with tools to optimize clothes they own, wear them better and spend less on new clothes.
Comprehensive Case Study
The Brief
2The9s is a digital wardrobe app that is focused on sustainable management of clothes and utilization of AI assistant.
2The9s provides tools that people need to sort, catalogue, plan and wear clothes from one's wardrobe.
To facilitate the use of 100% of one's wardrobe, 2The9's utilizes AI stylist Tania to curate daily outfits suggestions and Services tool to care for one's clothes.
The primary age target groups of this project are Millenials and gen-Z.
The Framework
Iterative odyssey, IDEO-like
Research & Ideation: " What's in your closet?"
research plan for data-driven solution
Users' Mental Models
of target user base distilled from the research data:
Mindset
Widespread uncertainty over what's in one's closet and confusion about styling and pairing clothes well.
When participants were asked "Do you know what's in your closet?", the majority gave uncertain replies and approximations. Many cited lack of organization or space in their closet.
Paint point
Not knowing exactly what's in one's closet and storing outdated, old, not fitting clothing.
75% consider buying new clothes easier than organizing and arranging their wardrobes.
Motivation
Low accountability-seeking behavior.
Several participants believe that it's not enough to have a closet full of clothes, one needs to know how to wear and style clothing which is a skill that's not easy to obtain.
Some of the barriers to higher accountability-seeking behavior are adequate and engaging tools of clothes organization & styling.
Analyzing the Competition
We studied 7 of 2 most common business models (business model canvas competitive analysis framework):
model 1: the integrated digital clothes categorizer with additional services
model 2: the marketplace.
It became clear that 2The9s should follow the virtual closet organizer with additional services model.
a look at competitors: Save Your Wardrobe: Organizer, Open Wardrobe Outfit Planner (AI closet organizer), Acloset mobile apps
Strategy: Paradigm Shift
Insights from the research led us to a paradigm shift and initial concept reframing which allowed us to narrow down our overall proposal.
Defining the MVP, User Stories
We formulated the final MVP consisting of a mix of high, medium, and low-priority user stories for a product that provided enough value to attract early adopters. Below are 13 user stories that made it to the MVP.
How might we…
Design the wardrobe organization app to make users feel comfortable, motivated, and in control when confronting the chaos of an overstuffed closet and turning it into clarity?
Value Proposition 1
AI assisted wardrobe organization and outfit-planning based on user's needs and preferences.
Value Proposition 2
Decrease the obstacles to wardrobe optimization as much as possible.
Value Proposition 3
Offer a tool to track one’s progress.
Design & Development: Feature Prioritization — a Balancing Act
User Flows
Informed by research data, we synthesized our best ideas to define the most important features of the 2the9s — wardrobe cataloguing, outfits, and services — via user flows.
Structuring the Home Page
The home page structure of 2the9s features an almost 1:1 ratio between feature set and CTAs. We opted to remove Features 4 and 5 from the page-flow in order to cut down on potential time-sinks features and give the outfit related tasks all the room to take center stage.
Visual Design
The Origin of the Name
The name ‘2the9s’ is chosen because the idiom "dressed to the nines" means to be dressed to the highest degree, smartly, and fashionably. It suggests that a person has taken great care in their appearance and chose attire that is suitable for an occasion. We wanted to emphasize one's well-executed style over simply a location (as in case of Open Wardrobe or Acloset) or a function (e.g, Wardrobe Tracker or Outfit Planner).
Here are a few of the other name alternatives considered:
Style tile
Design Iterations
We validated and iterated on our designs by testing our mid-fidelity prototype with users that fit our target audience. We created a user testing protocol, in which we had laid out 4 tasks for the users to perform.
Users' feedback and the level of completion of user testing tasks necessitated the following completed iterations:
Provide Multi-functional Add Menu Button
Users had trouble understanding the exact function/-s of the plus icon in the menu. We upgraded it from a single-function "Add Clothes" into a multi-functional add button via a pop-up window.
Lower a Number of Steps
Users found the duplicate plus icon distracting and not clear and the steps for adding clothes to Wardrobe to numerous. We eliminated the duplicate and lowered the number of steps for the function.
Explain Functions
Users felt that the buttons "Create an Outfit" and "Tania's Styling" needed to stand out and be more clear. We expanded them into cards and added explanations.
Match Users' Mental Models
Users felt that there should be a different way to display pre-sorted for services clothes. We introduced 2 browsing sources: "Wardrobe" (all clothes) and "Piles" with previously marked for services clothes.
Add Labels for Clarification and Accessibility
Users felt that there should be a different way to display pre-sorted for services clothes. We introduced 2 browsing sources: "Wardrobe" (all clothes) and "Piles" with previously marked for services clothes.
Listen to Preferences
Users felt that the buttons "Create an Outfit" and "Tania's Styling" needed to stand out and be more clear. We expanded them into cards and added explanations.
Accessibility Considerations
We consulted WCAG SC Standards to assure that the design complies with best practices and meets accessibility requirements. Some of the practices we implemented using table format for data information, contrast b/w background and foreground, content spacing and heading, and different designs for different viewport sizes, and labeled, scalable elements.
Results: Just Enough AI Assistance and Gamification
Putting It All Together
Conclusion
The result of my team's and mine efforts within a tight deadline is 2The9's — a user-centered digital wardrobe app that focuses on sustainability of one's wardrobe and provides its effective management system.
True to its purpose, 2The9's offers the most effective tools to take control and optimize one's closet while having fun and tracking progress. 2The9's features a calendar to schedule of outfits, an AI stylist Tania, an array of services to take care of your clothes and a fun way to track your progress towards more sustainable, savvy and stylish self.
