SustainAbility
SustainAbility is an app brimming with tutorials, lessons and an enthusiastic community of like minded people with a desire to help themselves develop sustainable fashion habits.
SustainAbility
My role - Product Designer
Project type - Conceptual App
Tools - pen, paper, sketch, Invision, sketchbook iPad app
Timeline - 8 weeks
Design Methodology
The Double Diamond Process
I use the double diamond method to manage my core discipline of design thinking. This allows me to explore an issue broadly (divergent thinking) and then narrow my thinking to a focused issue. (convergent thinking)
DISCOVER, DEFINE, DEVELOP and DELIVER.
The Design Thinking Process
Design thinking is the primary design methodology I use to approach solving problems.
My Design thinking method allows me to design for real users and provide solutions to solve their real life problems, empathising with their behaviours, feelings and thoughts.
Design Challenge
Identifying A Problem Space
Climate change is arguably the biggest concern facing the planet at this time.
Coming from a Fashion background I was acutely aware of the enormous impact this industry has on the planet. The excessive waste created in production and the mass purchase of cheap garments from distant countries contributes to the global issue of excessive waste and climate change.
Field Research
With all this in mind I set out to see if my peers were aware of the issues at hand.
I sent out questions to my fashion network; bloggers, journalists, stylists and designers to understand what they deemed to be the biggest issues facing the fashion industry.
They all confirmed they are hugely concerned about fashion’s contribution to mass waste and feel there is scope within the industry for digital interference to educate and encourage consumers to be more sustainable!
“Sustainability is the most pressing issue for the industry at large, and also something I am personally mindful about.”
Assumptions About The Fashion Industry
This led me to make some assumptions about the fashion industry.
Current State
The fashion industry is one of the most polluting industries in the world.
People buy more clothes than ever before but wear them less and throw them away due to bad quality.
Clothes take 100’s of years to degrade when in landfill.
Future State
In the future people will have a better understanding of how to shop consciously and engage with their wardrobes in a more sustainable way.
The fashion industry won’t waste as much and the environmental impact will be less.
Technology will help consumers and the industry develop habits that will help to save the planet.
Key Research Insights
What is the problem I’m trying to solve?
Why is it an issue?
The fashion industry is one of the most polluting and unethical industries in the world.
13 million tons of textiles are wasted each year, 95% of which could be reused or recycled.
Fig 1: Leuween Beattie
The average consumer now buys 60% more items of clothing than in 2000, but each garment is kept for half as long.
The fashion industry has seen disasters in factories such as the Rana Plaza collapse in Bangladesh where 1,134 people died in 2013. Many of whom were children working in terrible conditions.
Fig 3 : https://www.brandchannel.com/2017/05/04/rana-plaza-050417/
Summary Of Research
Both the fashion industry and consumers blame each other for the problem of textile waste but neither take responsibility.
Workers mostly work in unsafe conditions to keep up with fast fashion demands.
These factors contribute to a compelling and engaging problem space with lots of scope for impact.
“My grandmother has only one shirt in her wardrobe. My mother has three. My daughter’s generation, 50. And 48% of them, she never wears.”
Considering all the research and the problem space, I have developed a North Star to guide me through the design process and keep the purpose of the project at the forefront of my mind.
How Might We help millennials develop sustainable fashion habits?
Competitor Research
Where can my user currently get resources?
With my problem space established, the next step was to delve into what already exists in the digital fashion sustainability space.
There are many initiatives within this field attempting to address this problem, however most focus on continued consumerism and promoting sustainable brands which is ultimately a self perpetuating problem. My challenge will be to break this cycle.
They fall into these categories; Apps, Podcasts, Websites, E-commerce and Documentaries.
Comovita - Fashion E-commerce
Sustainable Life - E-commerce
Renoon - Fashion E-commerce
Nuwardrobe - Clothes Swapping
Good On You - Rates Brands
Opportunities For Intervention
Hypothesis
Having analysed my research and competitors I found some opportunities for intervention.
I believe there is a desire for an app that will help millennials become more sustainably conscious with their fashion choices. As they’re becoming more aware of the impact their fashion choices have on the environment, I noticed the desire to change far outweighs the available resources to enable this change.
Business Model Canvas
With a clear design direction I developed a roadmap to refer back to throughout this project. I used the Business Model Canvas template as shown below.
Goal
At this stage I took a step back to figure out what’s next…..
I want to:
Develop an education space where people can engage with information and actionable methods to change their personal environmental impact.
Give advice on up-cycling and DIY for your wardrobe.
List resources on best methods of recycling/reselling/re-purposing clothes.
Provide tips on how to make your clothes match your identity.
Give advice on how to buy consciously.
Create a community space with like minded people.
Interview Participant Criteria
With all my research, insights and goals in my back pocket I set about preparing for my interviews.
Who should I interview?
Interview Insights
There is a need for informative content about alterations and revitalisations of clothing.
These women’s habits have changed drastically over their 20s, how can we encourage more change in an engaging and inspiring way?
Despite working within the sustainable industry some interviewees feel they still have progress to make with their own understanding and actions.
What that means
All these women were aware of the issues around fashion and were concerned about being more sustainable.
Each of them would like to improve in someway to become more sustainable in their actions and choices but don’t know where to start.
Over half of them were willing to learn new skills and techniques to become more sustainable.
Persona Development
After gathering all my insights and research I developed two personas. Eloise is my primary persona; she has recently become more aware of the impacts her fashion decisions have on the planet and she wants to make a change.
“It’s so annoying that I have all these clothes that I am bored of but don’t know what to do with them to make me excited about them”
My secondary Persona is Sophia; she is a sustainability blogger and wants to have a unique platform to post all her content and engage with like minded stylish eco warriors like herself.
Task Selection Process
Experience Map
With Eloise in the forefront of my mind I went about developing a user experience map for her.
Eloise wants the process of becoming more aware to be concise, trusted and at her finger tips.
She hates not being able to keep track of articles or even know where to start when learning about sustainability.
User stories
Having worked through the user experience with Eloise I wanted to develop her stories as a user, I worked through many and finally chose the following.
What does she really want and why?
Chosen user stories
Primary
As a user I want to look up content about fixes, alterations and revitalisations so that I can increase the longevity of my current wardrobe.
Secondary
As a user I want to search for content to learn about how and where to shop sustainably so that I can feel good about my purchases.
Task Flow Selection
Taking Eloise’s primary story I converted it into a task; Searching for a tutorial.
I then mapped out all the steps she has to take to achieve her task.
She can successfully watch a tutorial.
Visualisations And Prototyping
Sketching
With my task flow established I started sketching out the screens for Eloise to start her sustainability journey properly and watch her first tutorial. Starting out at the home screen she moves through to Categories and Tutorials to watch her selected tutorial where she will then be prompted to take a Sustainability School lesson and quiz. She’ll be congratulated when she’s finished it.
Wireframe
I conducted basic peer testing with my first iteration of the app.
Findings
Some text was difficult to read.
Card layout could be better defined .
Text was at the top of the cards - moved it to bottom to be more in line with standards.
User Testing
After building my first set of screens I was ready to user test.
2 Rounds with 5 people
Task 1 = Search for a tutorial
Task 2 = Find information resources
Task 3 = Find brand ratings
Iterations
Round 1
Overall result for round 1 was 93% success
There were no major usability issues but there were definitely improvements to be made in the layout of the Information Architecture and Standards.
On the sustainability school screen, the categories of courses are in a square with only space for four topics, this was improved by making it scrollable to show other options or possibilities.
Changed the categories into cards.
Usability was improved by separating the courses into lessons and suggesting which to start with.
Similar change here to previous screen.
Round 2
Overall result for round 2 was 100% success
However there was still so much room for improvement.
So here are some of the changes I made after round 2
I reinstated the community section which I removed after round 1 so that Eloise can engage with like minded people as was her desire at the beginning.
Added a time for each lesson category to give more information to Eloise about how much of a commitment she is undertaking.
I changed the profile to the home icon because I realised it was a heuristic violation of not having consistency with system standards.
I reinstated the nav bar and made sure that each part was specifically attached to an important screen.
Visual Identity Story
Having made all these changes I also designed additional screens which complemented the primary and secondary task flow. Before moving into the final hi-fidelity prototype I worked on the visual identity of the app.
I started playing around with the words which align with my
app as a brand.
“More than” statements helped to establish the direction of the brand and its identity.
Here I played around with word marks, you’ll see the final version soon.
I chose the name SustainAbility, and by capitalising the A in ability it empowers the user have the confidence in their own ability to be more sustainable.
Mood Board
This lead into my moodboard nicely where I established the feel and mood for the app as, Calm, Natural, Textured, Cool, Rustic, Resourceful, Sustainable, Conscious and Chic but not exclusive.
Logo And Icon Design
I played around with the word logo and a thimble initially and then decided to illustrate a logo showing the world hovering about a hand. It is simple but could be improved with a thicker line to make it more visible in smaller instances.
Typography
I established typography to be used throughout the app at Hi-fidelity.
Final Icon, Word-mark and Logo
These are simple and I am really happy with how the align to the branding and feel of the app and I think Eloise would hit download really fast.
Prototype
Check out the live prototype here to see how I added the visual identity to the app using the mood and colours established already.
Static Hi-Fidelity Screens
Marketing Website
With the project finished it was time to start thinking about showing it off, please see below my responsive marketing website or check out the live website prototype here
Alternate Platform
I then worked on an alternative platform for SustainAbility.
After more research, sketching and iterations, I decided an app for her apple watch could be great for Eloise.
She can download her lessons to her watch and listen and learn while out for an evening stroll.
Design Impact And Future Thinking
Key Learnings
Research Phase
Research of this type was entirely new to me. Learning to extract key information from research and interviews was a challenge instead of jumping to my own pre-conceived understanding.
I learned through this process, how to use the research to support my narrative as I told my story, this got better with practise and will continue to do so.
Iteration Phase
Done is better than perfect.
Coming from Fashion this was a real challenge.
During the iteration process I learned that it is crucial to get your product out to your peers and users to test and iterate repeatedly.
Distinguishing between feedback and opinions was critical along with accepting constructive criticism were all learning points as well.
Visual Design Phase
This is was where I was most comfortable, the mood and colour came together with relative ease. Implementing the colour and developing my UI was harder and will only get better with practise.
This phase was the most enjoyable part of the process for me.
Next Steps Using Tarot Cards Of Tech
The Catalyst Questions.
How might cultural habits change how your product is used?
I think cultural habits may change SustainAbility in regards to pop culture developments, with the use of platforms like tiktok being so popular there could be a change in how content and information is presented.
How might your product change cultural habits?
I believe this to be the sole purpose of the app. Hopefully creating a space for the growth and development of Eloise’s mind and skills she will become more sustainable in her fashion choices. Which will hopefully trickle down to her social groups and become a real force for change in creating cultural improvements.
What context would an alien from outer space need to use or understand your product?
I love this question.
This reminds me of the movie clip of aliens watching the war and destruction humans have enforced on our planet since the Industrial Revolution. However I would refer them to Jack Ma the founder of Alibaba’s quote;
“My grandmother has only one shirt in her wardrobe. My mother has three. My daughter’s generation, 50. And 48% of them, she never wears.”
We are a society of excess who embrace throw away culture which simply isn’t SustainAble.
And finally
What social norms, etiquette or traditions could change because of your product?
If SustainAbility were to be successful as a product, our users would look at their wardrobe and not just see old clothes but the endless opportunities and the confidence to develop them.
Assured in their abilities and their new sustainable fashion habits.
Obviously this product didn’t go live but if it did I imagine it to enter an Agile life cycle possibly using Scrum thus allowing me to use my UX Advocacy and keep my UX Ownership throughout the launch process.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read my case study if you would like to reach out to talk about the project or just sustainability or design in general you can contact me here.
I hope I have tweaked your interest in my design and sustainability as a whole, I look forward to connecting with you.
Leuween Beattie
