Redefining how people interact with their wardrobes
Timeline
8 weeks
Tools
Miro, Dovetail
Team
Ananya Singh, Callista Faustine, Yu-Fei Hwang
What I did
Co-design workshop, Focus Group, Qaulitative Data Analysis, Scoping,
Roadmap
🔍 The Big Question
How might we rethink wardrobe interaction to better support real people - real habits, real constraints, and real needs?
CODESIGN SUMMARY
🧠 Why we co-designed (instead of other research methods)
We wanted to design with, not just design for. So we brought users into the room early - as creative collaborators.
Activity summary
What if?
We started with sticky notes and simple prompts -“How do you choose what to wear?” Participants built visual mindmaps of their decision-making.
With a comic strip format and thought bubbles, people imagined interactive, voice-powered wardrobes that could help them plan or even surprise them.
FOCUS GROUP SUMMARY
💬 What we learned from the focus group
Real lives are messy. And so is getting dressed. In group discussions, we dug into:
The invisible friction points - digging through drawers, forgetting what’s clean, or picking “the usual” out of habit
The outside pressures - weather, events, and that always-ticking clock
The desire for systems that don’t just store clothes - but work with them
DATA ANALYSIS
What kind of data did we collect
We gathered qualitative data from our co-design activities and focus group discussions, which included:
Mind Maps
User frustrations, thought processes, and decision-making patterns
Storyboards
Speculative ways users are engaging with the closet
Focus Group Notes
User's thought processes, challenges, and preferences
THEMATIC ANALYSIS
STEP 1 - What themes are coming up?
We developed codes to different data points to see what themes emerged here.
Achieved an inter-coder reliability score of - .90
AXIAL CODING
STEP 2 - What are the connections in these themes?
Through axial coding we found out what underlying causes and relationships emerged. This helped us synthesize our findings into core insights, forming the foundation for our design decisions.
DATA SYNTHESIS CORE INSIGHTS
Clothing Visibility
Users forget what they own and fall into repetitive outfit loops
External Sources
Users rely on external sources (Pinterest, past experiences) to plan outfits
Event Planning
Outfits get chosen because of events. But there’s no easy way to prep looks ahead
DESIGN GOALS
Help people see more of their wardrobe - not just what’s on the top of the pile
Make planning ahead feel effortless (and even fun!)
Surface variety without overwhelming the user
FEATURE PRIORITIZATION
TOUCHPOINTS CONSIDERED
We asked: Where and how do people interact with their clothes?
The answer: the mirror and the phone.
It’s already a key moment of reflection (pun intended).
To support on-the-go outfit planning and give users digital access to their wardrobe, anywhere.
IDEATION
PRODUCT CONCEPT
Meet Jane, she's a full time college student. She is -
Juggling a packed schedule
Struggles to plan outfits in advance
Often forgets what’s in her closet
Uses Pinterest for inspiration but rarely translates it to real life
Calendar Sync
Jane opens the app to check her week. She sees a synced calendar with her upcoming plans: a networking event on Monday, and a party on Thursday.
The app auto-generates outfit suggestions based on events, weather, and time of day.
"Love that it already picked something for Wednesday - I totally forgot about that event!"
The suggested outfit is cute but the top feels too formal. Jane taps “Edit” to make a quick swap.
Edit mode lets her scroll through other tops in her wardrobe - quick and visual.
"This crop top feels more me. Glad I didn’t have to rebuild the whole outfit."
She remembers pinning a blazer-and-jeans look last week. The app shows how to recreate a similar look with pieces she already owns.
Pinterest integration pulls in her style inspiration and cross-checks her wardrobe.
"Ohh I actually have something close - totally forgot about those jeans."
On the weekend, Jane scrolls through her wardrobe. The app surfaces underused items and suggests outfits with them.
The app increases visibility of overlooked clothes and encourages rotation.
"Wow I haven’t worn this dress in forever. This combo is actually cute!"
What she sees on the mirror
Learning and growth
Good design considers emotional bandwidth
Every feature should solve a problem and respect the user’s emotional reality
Start with real behavior, then layer delight
Pinterest boards, outfit photos, and last-minute mirror checks already exist - our job was to meet users where they are
Copyright 2024 by Priyanvada Darshankar