THE MISSION.

WHAT IS HOLDING PEOPLE BACK FROM SHOPPING SUSTAINABLY & ETHICALLY?

The fashion industry is one of the most polluting and abusive of human rights - but what can be done? The people and things harmed don’t have the voice or power to advocate for themselves, consumers or businesses are not always immediately affected in a tangible way. I had to get to the root of understanding the behaviors and psychology behind why people shop in the first place.

THE PROBLEM.

LEARNING WHERE TO START.

Consumers are becoming aware of some of the harmful impacts of the fashion industry, they need simple ways to learn more, but don’t know where to start and feel like it’s not entirely their responsibility either. They are struggling with understanding their role and feel they shouldn’t have to give up their lifestyle to do the right thing.

UNDERSTANDING MY AUDIENCE.

EVERYTHING IS RELATIVE.

Through my research, I came to realize not everyone knew about how bad the impacts of fashion are, and if they did they felt helpless, deceived, didn’t know where to start, and ultimately things in their life were holding them back such as finances. Ultimately people make decisions based on their realities and what is known to them, and this is all relative to their individual context, impulses, and emotions.

THE SOLUTION.

MAKING INFORMED DECISIONS.

In order to move the needle towards progress sometimes you have to meet people where they are not where you want them to be.

With my solutions of combining education with incentivized actions, I hope to turn these into habitual and more conscious behavior. Every feature was created to give users the tools to make better and more informed decisions before purchase, whatever those decisions may be.

POINTS > DISCOUNTS > ACTIONS > BEHAVIOURS

FEATURES.

MEASURING SUCCESS.

CALCULATING VALUE THRESHOLDS.

In order to make a real impact, it would take careful cooperation and consideration of my stakeholders and balancing the problems with incentives, education, and brand accountability. Calculating the value threshold for these 3 branches will be the final determination of how the point system will benefit everyone.

Dig Deeper into MY PROCESS

> DISCOVER - Research & Understanding

> DEFINE - Synthesizing Research

The 3 core concepts that everything boiled down to why people shop were morals, value, and needs, all being relative to the individual.

Problem

Consumers are becoming aware of some of the harmful impacts of the fashion industry, they need simple ways to learn more but don’t know where to start and feel like it’s not entirely their responsibility either. They are struggling with understanding their role and feel they shouldn’t have to give up their lifestyle to do the right thing.

How Might We…

…incentivize consumers to integrate learning about sustainable and ethical practices as part of their lifestyle seamlessly?

…educate consumers so that they can be more intentional in their decisions so that we can work towards more ethical and sustainable outcomes?

…support consumers in sending brands a message that they need more transparency and accountability for their ethical and sustainable responsibilities?

> DESIGN - Ideation & Feature Prioritization

Initially, I started with 2 features,

1. Learn & Earn - Educational content and earning points as incentives

2. Empowered Shopping - Shopping sustainable brands to earn points as incentives and scanning products to learn about their impact.

Through my usability testing, I found that the second part of my Empowered Shopping feature really needed to stand on its own to be utilized properly and give users the best experience. So the Shop & Scan Feature was created.

3. Shop & Scan - Product tag scanner that reveals supply chain and brand transparency about a product to aid users in making informed decisions.

> DELIVER - Prototyping, Testing, & Solutions

Usability Testing

Moving from Lo-Fidelity to Hi-Fidelity I ran several usability tests that allowed me to make iterative changes and react to my user’s needs quickly, such as:

• Changing navigational flows and labels

• Restructuring content for better ease of use

• Implementing “Help” section to better clarify check out process

• Adding onboarding pages to better introduce the product and its features to the users. This proved to be very vital, as there are not many other applications similar to this on the market.

Nexts Steps

Some features and feedback that I was unable to be addressed due to time constraints, but would like to revisit are:

• Expanding the Scan & Shop feature to include a logging system and better integration to check out.

• Conduct further Usability Testing for the Empowered Shopping feature to create the most seamless experience

• Determine the point system and incentive threshold for the business model and stakeholders