Drobemate
Closet organizing apps has been around for awhile. People use them to come up with outfit ideas more so than organizing their wardrobe. For this design challenge, I look for the common pain point and see what could be improve upon.
Role
User Research, Interaction Design, Prototyping
Looking into similar apps
To understand what works and what does not, I reviewed a total of four leading apps in the market, see what users like and dislike about them. This sets a good foundation at knowing what they think of existing products.
Highlighted below are findings from the research.
What they like:
Fresh perspective on pairing clothes
Provide them with stats about their clothes
Great for packing outfits when traveling
What they dislike:
Long and tedious prep time setting up closet
Outfit suggestion does not suite daily agenda
Not enough incentive to use app
Why is it hard to generate outfit ideas?
After knowing the struggle, I decided to reached out to people from Lookbook and other styling apps to see how people usually pick their outfit. Some of the insights were highlighted below.
Aside from daily weather and agenda, mood plays a relatively important part when interviewee picks an outfit
Other interviewee prefer to choose a statement piece first, then pair the rest of the outfit with it
They feel guilty about getting rid of clothes lying around their closet. And only do mass cleaning once a year or when they move.
Sharing clothes is not uncommon with people of the same household (e.g. siblings, parent, partner)
Defining the problem and mapping solutions
Base from all the insights gathered, I turned some into point of view statement to answer the "How might we" question. Under each of those question, I wrote down possible ideas and pick one the seem to have least effort and great impact.
Feature: Easy Setup
When user first sign up for the app, they will be given prompt to take action to set-up their first virtual closet. The three-step process involves analyzing their dressing style, picking up basic items that resembles their closet, and syncing the app with their calendar. All are crucial when using the app later on. Depending on the dressing style, they would pick items from different clothing collections, so it is just a matter of a few clicks.
Feature: Outfit Suggestion Made Personal
The app takes into weather data, calendar events, and most importantly the user's mood of the day into consideration when suggesting an outfit. Each time the user login, they will be greeted with a few descriptive tags for them to choose from, this helps the system get a better sense on the outfit suggestions. The tone of the greeting serves as a way that adds humanity into the app.
User could classify their closet items using the tagging system as well. This helps organize the closet and add personality to each piece. Examples of the tags could be party, study, chill, trippy, literally anything you can think of. The tags applied are crucial when populating outfit suggestion as mentioned in the previous feature.
Feature: Shared Bigger Closet
The share closet feature allows people, ideally of the same household, to share their clothes. This could be between roommates, siblings, or significant other. It allows the user to try other's clothes and create more interesting outfit combinations — pair an outfit with oversize tees or cropped top they have always wanted from each other's closet.
Least worn clothes will have a bigger chance on appearing at other people's outfit suggestions. And as the saying goes, "One man’s trash is another man’s treasure!" The item that has been lying around for ages in your closet could make a difference in other people's outfit.
