thinkful ux|ui immersion — product design, user research
A mobile solution for professional tailors, and fashion designers, to book and manage clients.
After working in fashion product design and media production as a production artist for many years, I developed a first-hand understanding of the challenges and opportunities facing these user groups.
Each industry depends heavily on the contract skill of professional tailors and stitchers to design and finish brand final products for the initial product launch.
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With this knowledge, I decided to research further the challenges facing professional tailors with surveys and interviews which culminated in the design of Stitcher by Pro Tailorz; an improved client relationship management tool.
My role
Brand Design
User Research
User Interviews
User Flows
Sketching
Wire-framing
Prototyping
Visual Design
Interaction Design
User Testing
Team
Team of Me
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Tools used
Figma
Adobe Illustrator
iOS
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Timeline
6 Months
the problem​
The users(Tailors) are urban city residents and graduates of fashion design universities who often freelance as productions tailors in fashion, media production, or theater industries. Due to the limited number of full-time positions available to this user group, tailors often supplement their income with private clients from the general public seeking tailoring services including garment repairs, alterations, and customizations.
Existing methods for sourcing clients by professional tailors include word-of-mouth referrals, Craigslist posting, or Facebook advertising which have all proven ineffective and unreliable. Currently, no working solution exists that streamlines the customer relationship experience between professional tailors and their clients.
Tailors who use this app need to be able to advertise their services with a bio and portfolio, manage service requests, clearly communicate with clients, and accept on-time electronic payments. I aim to understand whom the users are by researching their problems.
the solution​
A simple and easy way for professional tailors to locate customers, negotiate service costs, receive clear communication from clients, and schedule service bookings.
the research process ​
design thinking
In the initial research state, it was important to define clearly, the challenges ahead, the potential users, and what we wanted to accomplish with the design.
To narrow down the best solutions and deliver a creative and simple solution to this problem, I used Design Thinking; a process based on user-centered solutions that are divided into 5 steps: empathize, define, ideate, prototype, and test.
In the initial research state, it was important to define clearly, the challenges ahead, the potential users, and what we wanted to accomplish with the design.
To narrow down the best solutions and deliver a creative and simple solution to this problem, I used Design Thinking; a process based on user-centered solutions that are divided into 5 steps: empathize, define, ideate, prototype, and test.
In the initial research state, it was important to define clearly, the challenges ahead, the potential users, and what we wanted to accomplish with the design.
To narrow down the best solutions and deliver a creative and simple solution to this problem, I used Design Thinking; a process based on user-centered solutions that are divided into 5 steps: empathize, define, ideate, prototype, and test.
In the initial research state, it was important to define clearly, the challenges ahead, the potential users, and what we wanted to accomplish with the design.
To narrow down the best solutions and deliver a creative and simple solution to this problem, I used Design Thinking; a process based on user-centered solutions that are divided into 5 steps: empathize, define, ideate, prototype, and test.
In the initial research state, it was important to define clearly, the challenges ahead, the potential users, and what we wanted to accomplish with the design.
To narrow down the best solutions and deliver a creative and simple solution to this problem, I used Design Thinking; a process based on user-centered solutions that are divided into 5 steps: empathize, define, ideate, prototype, and test.
In the initial research state, it was important to define clearly, the challenges ahead, the potential users, and what we wanted to accomplish with the design.
To narrow down the best solutions and deliver a creative and simple solution to this problem, I used Design Thinking; a process based on user-centered solutions that are divided into 5 steps: empathize, define, ideate, prototype, and test.
In the initial research state, it was important to define clearly, the challenges ahead, the potential users, and what we wanted to accomplish with the design.
To narrow down the best solutions and deliver a creative and simple solution to this problem, I used Design Thinking; a process based on user-centered solutions that are divided into 5 steps: empathize, define, ideate, prototype, and test.
Design thinking process
empathize
user research
To kickstart the research process, I needed to define clear goals, the challenges ahead, and how I would approach them. I created a User Research Plan and used it as a guide throughout the process.
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As a next step, I put together a survey and an interview questionnaire to gather data on my primary audience and get a better idea of their current process and some of the challenges they face while trying to hire a tailor. Here are some of the questions we asked in the survey:
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• How many years have you worked as a professional tailor?
• How do you usually locate your private clients?
• How have you previously marketed your services?
• Do you use any apps for booking clients?
empathize
what we found
100% of respondents accept private clients from outside their full-time or part-time position as professional tailors.
Sixty percent of tailors surveyed have worked in the professional tailoring industry for more than 10 years.
More than 50% of tailors surveyed accept more than 20 private clients per year for garment alterations, customization, and repairs.
empathize
the competition
During my research for possible competitors, I was unable to find any existing solution in the USA for the pain points found during my research. The only solutions I discovered were difficult-to-find FB and craigslist.org groups and the currier app Task Rabbit. Neither solution targeted the specific pain points of my researched user group.
define
who are the users
From the information gathered, I created a persona of a potential user of the product. I assigned this persona with a user story to further represent the needs and aspirations of the users.
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Charlene is the persona created to highlight our user's motivations, needs, pain points, and scenarios as well as analyze their behavioral attributes.
ideate
pen(cil) to paper
Before I began to design the look of the application I needed to determine the user flow to guide the experience. Considering the user pain points and a task-based scenario, I quickly put down some rough sketches of the flow.
The solution proposed focuses in two main goals:
• Organization: Make it easier for users to find the best tailor for their project.
• Easy discovery: Make it easier for users to find get all the relevant service categories.
User flow diagram displaying steps a user takes to hire a tailor.
Paper Wireframes screens before testing and iteration.
In attempts to validate my design decisions and the flow and functionality of the solution, I used the paper wireframes to test with some of the users that I engaged with throughout the process, I discovered the following:
Cons:
• “What if I want to communicate with the client before accepting booking request ?”
• “What if I'm uncomfortable sharing my tax information ”
Pros:
• “Overall this is looking really good. I get a good sense here of how the app will be laid out and how you're planning to organize information and functionality.”
• “The experience is simple and easy”
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Design Iteration
After doing some user testing with the wireframes, and gathering feedback, I made some adjustments to the design to be more streamlined and user-friendly. These adjustments included:
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• Giving the user bite-sized but expandable information about required input information before accessing the app.
