Project Overview
CONFIGURE is an app that is meant to give women a space to find outfits and styles that best suit their body shape. By giving outfit ideas and suggesting a variety of stores that are more size inclusive, the goal is to boost self-esteem in women to help them feel more empowered and confident in themselves so that they can be only the best versions of themselves.
My Role: UX Designer, UX Researcher, UI Designer
Project Duration: 10 weeks
Tools Used: Figma, On-Paper Sketching
Background
Body image is defined as the way that someone perceives their body and also how one might assume how others perceive them and it is often affected by friends, family, social pressure, and of course, social media.
Women tend to compare themselves to celebrities and wonder why they look different from the Hollywood beauty standards. This negative way of thinking towards oneself can only increase the risks of living an unhealthy lifestyle such as disordered eating or over-exercising just so one might become "beautiful". This leads to the development of low self-esteem because not all women have the same body shape and a lot of clothes might not look the same as it does on someone else which ultimately discourages women to want to be fashionable and stay in new trends because the fashion industry has proven over time that it mainly caters to one specific body type.
Problem Space
Women are 16.8% more likely to first develop insecurities about their bodies. After doing some brief research, I found that the clothes that we wear greatly contribute to our self-esteem. I wanted to incorporate body insecurity with understanding what styles of clothes work for people, and what doesn't in order to help them find something to wear without feeling insecure about how it might look on them.
Key Research
1
By the age of 17, 78% of women are unhappy with their bodies and more than 90% admit to feeling like they have to look a certain way or would change the way they looked if they could.
2
46% of women struggle with size and fit issues and more than 50% of women feel like there are no clothes made to fit their body type.
3
A theory known as "dopamine dressing" explains how the way that we dress can greatly reflect the way you feel and wearing specific clothes can make you feel happier when you're not at your best
Based on the information that I found on the problem, I developed the following statement to help guide this project closer to the solution that I was looking for:
How might we help women feel more comfortable in the clothes they wear in order to boost their self-esteem?
Hypothesis Statement
I believe that developing a digital solution to make dressing up easier for women will help to boost their confidence and feel more comfortable in the clothes they wear.
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I will know that this is true when I see that the percentage of women who feel insecure about their bodies drop in numbers from women who feel more empowered by their newfound confidence in themselves.
Research Plan
The research is being conducted through decontextualized user interviews. After interviewing a total of 5 women, I focused mainly on the qualitative and attitudinal aspects of women who are insecure of their bodies.
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I carefully analyzed the information I got and organized them into common themes that I found and then further organized those themes into 3 main themes that helped me to figure out each woman's pain point, their motivations, and their behaviors.
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The data I collected benefit my research by giving me a much deeper understanding of each user's needs which ultimately opened my eyes to possible solutions that I might have missed prior to conducting my user interviews.
User Interview Insights
Feeling Confident
Feels self-conscious of her body and it stops her from dressing-up in dressier/tighter fitting outfits
Finding a Style that Works
Its easy to find things that look good on her because she has a set idea of what she wants, but if she can't find anything in store, she wouldn't shop there anymore.
Name: Jamie
Age: 27 years old
Location: Brampton, ON
Occupation: Advertising
Finding the Perfect Size
Likes to stick to shopping at a very small number of stores that she knows that she can easily find a size in anything that she needs
Main Interview themes
1
Finding the Right Size
Finding the right size is a lot more complicated than just looking at what is printed on the price tags. Many big brands are very much at fault for designing without considering size inclusivity.
2
Body Insecurity
Because of society and because of the media, it's hard to not want to compare ourselves to the Hollywood Beauty Standards which, in the end, keeps women feeling insecure about their bodies.
3
Finding Inspiration
It helps women feel better when they see influencers and celebrities who have the same body shape as the, and that inspires women to want to dress-up like the people they look up to because they know that it works.
Building A Persona
Based on my use interviews, I created the following persona to help me visualize a summary of the pain points, motivations, and behaviors of each woman.
Tori Thompson
The Comfy Cozy Homebody
25 years old | Interior Designer​
"Everyone has a different body shape, so it's really discouraging to see how the fashion industry mainly caters to a specific size & shape."
As an Interior Designer, Tori wants to dress the part, but she is often unable to find clothes that fit her right, and instead opts for baggier clothes because they are comfier.
Goals:
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Learn what styles work for her body shape
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Easily put together outfits or work as well as for her personal life
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Feel comfortable in the clothes that she wears
Habits:
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Compares herself to celebrities and developed a low-self esteem from it
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If she can't find her size she will find another way to buy an item she likes (ex. buying a bigger size)
Needs and Pain points:
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Finds it difficult to shop because some stores don't carry the size she wears
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Is uncomfortable and discouraged from not being able to dress in the way that she wants to
Based on Tori's needs, I curated a large number of user stories that would further help me to create a solution to the problem. Above all, I decided to focus on size inclusivity as it seemed to be the biggest issue for women when shopping for clothes.
The User Story is as follows:
"As a woman, I want to know where I can go to shop so that I don't have to worry about whether or not they carry my size."
Based on the user story I chose to focus on, the task I've created is for users to find a store that would carry the clothes they are looking for and have their size. To help me build the necessary screens for the chosen task, I created a task flow diagram so I can better visualize the flow that users as well as the system would make.
greyscale wireframes
user testing plan
Test Objectives:
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main objective is to find out if the app designed works well
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gather feedback that might help improve overall usability and design
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reveal features that don't work as intended
Participant Criteria:
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tester must be a woman
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tester must have been shopping before (both in-person & online)
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tester is familiar with the process of looking for style inspiration
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tester is familiar with the process of locating a specific store
User Testing Highlights
I received an overwhelming amount of feedback from each user testing and was only able to implement a few changes to my design before designing the final high-fidelity prototype. However, even though the changes I focused on were small, it ultimately improved the overall usability of the app because each change was based on areas where the users struggled or felt like they needed something more to help them through the process of going through the app.
Before
After
Here, the majority of the users did not know how to click off the pop-up text box.
To fix this, I added in a small exit icon
After
Before
On this screen, the users wanted to see a way for them to find out what their body type is or at least be reminded of what they already know. To fix this issue, I added in a Text CTA at the bottom of the filter screen that brings users to the Body Shape Guide.
This screen is the added in Body Shape Guide and it is focused on the pear shape body. Not only does this screen tell the user about specific body characteristics, but it also gives useful tips on how to style themselves so that they can learn how to bring out their best features.
After
Before
This screen is the filter screen for finding a store. Many users wanted to be able to set their own distance rather than clicking on a generalized filter. They also felt the same way with settings their own budget limits rather than clicking on a generalized button.
To fix both of these issues, replaced both with sliders that the user can adjust based on what they're looking for
After
Before
On the store details screen, many users wanted to see store hours and contact information so that they may be able to better plan their trip to this store and find out ahead of time if they have the item they are looking for in stock, or if they have sizes available for them.
To fix this is simply added in store hours and store phone number and also rearranged the information so that it makes more sense.
final greyscale wireframes
new task flow
Since I've added more screens to help the user better understand their bodies before looking for clothes to buy, I also had to make changes to the task flow as the previous flow has since changed.
The Final Solution
When designing the high-fidelity prototype, I went in and made sure that this iteration followed the proper mobile grids and also made sure that everything was properly aligned. I also added in an extra screen in the beginning to mimic a loading screen when a user first opens the app. One change that I wanted to do is make sure that the background blur behind the daily motivational quote was actually a blur rather than a transparent black box that imitates a shadow behind the box.
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This iteration of my app was finally market ready after weeks and weeks and weeks of sleepless nights and it is 10,000% ready to empower and change women's overall shopping experience and help them to see themselves, especially their bodies, in a more positive light.
What's Next?
Future Plans
I plan on taking the design further by designing more screens for a fully functional prototype that users are able to explore more features of the app that were not included in the main flow. Once I'm done with that I also plan to test my product more for increased usability.
What have I learned?
This project is by far the largest of all the projects I've worked on so far while studying at BrainStation, and most definitely the one where I learned the most lessons. I cannot stress enough the importance of trial and error especially in this field because it's almost always impossible to get the concept right the first time without going through user testing and peer critiques.
Even though I have a ton of sleep to catch up on, I am very proud of how far I've come since the beginning of the bootcamp and with the new skills that I've learned from the educational staff and of course my classmates, I can now proudly shout from the rooftops that I am ready to enter the world of UX/UI Design!