Case Study Overview
PROJECT
ITO by KONMARI is an IOS concept for users looking for personal styling help and closet organization. We started with the premise that personal style can be an important tool to shape outward perception. More importantly, it’s a form of personal expression and can be an integral part of one’s self-confidence. We wanted to empower people to express their best selves through fashion, but assembling the perfect wardrobe and choosing the best look each day can be time-consuming and tedious.
PARTNERSHIP
KonMari’s perfect fit as a partner really surfaced during the research stage. They are a trusted name and already have consultants in peoples home organizing, among other things, their closets. This partnership represents an opportunity for them to maintain ongoing engagement with their clients.
ROLE
Working in a team with 2 other UX Designers, my role was working as the lead designer where I delivers the hi-fidelity wireframes and prototype, scrum master, consulted in research, and presenting to mock-stakeholders.
THE PROBLEM
Personal style showcases how you want to be seen and is a form of self-expression. Busy New Yorkers have a hard time editing their ever-growing wardrobes and care about the way they look.
How might we help busy New Yorkers achieve their styling goals based on organization of what they currently have and recommending additions to their existing wardrobe?
Opportunity
Offer a service to users who have been through the KonMari consultation method to take it a step further by styling, editing and recommending outfits based on their style preferences and other factors such as work, weather, and occasions using an intelligent algorithm.
The Research
Competitive
Analysis
They are quite a few digital closet apps and personal styling apps in the market. We conducted an audit of some of the top options in the market to gather some insights to understand some of the pain-points.
Shared Values
Styling Recommendation
Smart Style Inspiration
Closet Organization System
Painpoints
Does not solve the problem of messy closet.
Lacking smart algorithm for personalizing style
Recurring Outfit Recommendations
User
Interviews
We created a screener survey to target people who were interested in fashion and curating their closets. We identified ten who had find-ability issues in their closets and were interested in style assistance.
“It's(closet) an absolute disaster, I've got clothes everywhere. I can only find one side of most of my shoes. I do make sure to always hang my really expensive stuff. It constantly makes me late for work and social events. I have anxiety about getting ready and having to look for stuff.” - Carrie
“I am comfortable with my style as it is, but wouldn’t mind advice from a personal stylist. I’m totally down for a personal stylist if cost is not a barrier. Would definitely benefit from weekly planned out outfits for work and casual night outs.” - Victoria
“I wore about 40% of my closet in the last 6 months. Sometimes I purchase items but I have issue matching pieces because I’m missing pieces that goes with it.” - Coleman
Insights
Persona
My team created a user persona that was representative of the 10 different users that we interviewed. These reflect an amalgamation of our interviewees’ opinions and behaviors.
The Design
Design
Studio
To quickly ideate design possibilities for each feature and align the team, I led a design studio with all members of our team.
Design Studio Structure:
5 mins Independent Sketch Ideation
3 mins Pitch Sketches
2 mins Critique Rounds
15 mins Collaborate
MVP
With the insights we gathered, and created features. A few are below. On the following page, we’ve provided annotated wireframes, for a visual guide to our features.
Annotated Wireframes
Design Notes
Touch to change event
Touch to edit today’s outfit
Tap to see weather report
Tap to filter closet by categories
Tag identifies clothing by events
See product details
Tap to exit product page
Tap to buy outfit
Try out outfit with items in closet
Tap to not see that product recommendation again
Usability
Testing &
Resulting
Iterations
These are the results from our two rounds of usability testing. The second task increased by 70% after we made the mid-fidelity iterations. Unfortunately, the third task dropped in performance by 20% after the hi-fidelity iterations. This was not due to the functionality of the app, but more-so that the app was tested with both men and women and some of the men tested did not understand the directives about women’s clothing. Some keys iterations made between the 1st and 2nd usability test:
Add Password Field
Rename “Your Outfit” CTA on the item screen to “Create Your Outfit”
Change “remove” CTA” to “remove from closet”
Populate entire outfit on screen when user goes from item detail page to “your outfit”
The next step in our process would be re-testing the hi- fidelity prototype with solely a female audience to ensure it was not an issue with the app functionality.
Prototype
Key Learns
This is by one of my favorite projects I have worked on. I know my friends and family would love and use such a product. I believe that this app would be an amazing addition for everyone who wants to simplify their life. On the business side, this app would add tremendous value to the KonMari brand. There is a great upsell with being able to order users the ability to add to there closet within the app based on the style and preference is unlike any other apps out there.
The next steps of this product would be as follows:
Add save icon and collections.
Create a calendar to plan outfits for a specific day.
Enable users to create custom events for look recommendations.
Beta test with select clients.
Interview consultants.