Overview

LOOP's story begins with something we've all experienced: moving. As a digital nomad who's lived in Singapore, Shanghai, and Barcelona, I get the challenges firsthand. Recognizing that moving is a universal experience, I set out to understand it better. What did I learn? Moving isn't just about packing and unpacking; it's about sorting through our lives, with clothes often at the center of it all.

People are conscious of environmental concerns but they're stuck when it comes to how to pitch in. The current available donation process is overly complex and challenging. People desire a straightforward and uncomplicated way to support their community's green initiatives.

Problem

Understanding:

Visualize the emotional journey

I used experience mapping techniques to create a visual journey of persona, covering all the different interactions during the move and map out the emotions the persona went through. This made it clear where our users were running into issues and help me pinpoint where I should concentrate on: Don’t know how to pack and found it’s very time-consuming and realised need to get rid of a lot of stuff.

Why clothes?

“Up to 100 billion garments are produced by the fashion industry every year. And each year, as much as 92 million tons of clothing ends up in landfills. Only 20% of textiles are collected for reuse or recycling globally.”
Global Fashion Industry Waste, Apr 11, 2023

Satellite images show a mountain of unsold fast fashion in the Chilean mountains (Jam Press/SkyFi)

“Gen Z and Millennial respondents also displayed the highest consideration for sustainability, with 94% and 93% respectively, compared to 88% of Gen X shoppers and 77% of Baby Boomers.”

Young people in China embrace 'stooping' culture of turning rubbish into treasure. Mikiko Chen (27 yrs old) attaches stickers of eyes to things she discovers on the streets.

I've chosen to focus on users between the ages of 25 to 35, as they represent a group of environmentally conscious consumers who prioritize value in their purchases.

Context:Target users

Researching what the world say

I recruited 6 participants who match the target demographics. This helped me gain deeper insights into their needs and aspirations. I have gained the following insights:

• 99% of our user interviews, people get rid of stuff when they're preparing for a move.

• 37.5% of users have habits in seasonal or monthly decluttering.

• 50% of users tend to pass on belongings to acquaintances before considering selling or donating items.

User empathy

After I had a better understanding of my users and their needs, I designated personas types to guide design decision. Our persona hypothesis consisted of 2 archetypes which I made sure I keep checking in them at every milestone. I also identified two use case scenarios that strongly resonate with my personas.

Use Case 1: Carmen's Commute Struggle

Use Case 2: Sarah's Moving Dilemma

Sarah is in the process of moving to a new apartment and has come to the realization that she has accumulated a lot of unnecessary items that need to be disposed of.

Carmen recently transitioned to a new role within the company and discovered that he no longer requires his bike for his daily commute.

The vision:

As I am shaping the user experience and designing the interface, what kept popping up are the research data, the scenario of use case, and my understanding of users’ mental. The users are looking for a smooth and easy donation process and are excited about the perks that come with contributing.

A delightful clothing donation experience

Idea wall and solution:

Unlock rewards of simple donation

By asking the question, "How might we create a system that motivates young people to recycle?" I used different colors to organize my thoughts. I considered who is addressing a similar issue, how they are approaching it, and brainstorm my ideas with creative constraints to arrive at a solution.

Wireframe:

The initial concept of the user experience during the donation process on app:

Desktop experience for homepage and about page.

Brand and experience requirements

Understanding user needs and identifying key problems helps shape a clear vision of how users envision the product's experience and personality. This guides the overall artistic direction and brand values, such as Sustainability, Craftsmanship, Welcoming, Fun, and Sharing. The future of fashion should be circular, the brand name "LOOP" represents the mission to extend fashion's lifespan, threading together sustainability and style for a timeless journey.

Structuring the experience with mental models

Building upon the research insights and brainstorming, I identified user tasks, organized them into content and features. I considered user activities and opportunities, then structured these insights into a sitemap, aligning with personas, technical constraints, and business goals.

I defined the primary pathways our personas would explore through the LOOP platform. Several key user journeys are created for particular scenario, the opportunities they present, and how elements manifesting themselves in the interface would help to support the users. The core flow centers around clothing donations.

Key flow 1: Donating the clothing
Key flow 2: Selling an item on the LOOP marketplace

Donation at your finger tips

The solution is aimed to empower users by providing options to select the types of rewards they desired and the specific platforms where they wanted to donate their clothes.

Retaining user engagement:

To ensure users return to the correct screen to check their rewards, I take into users’ behaviour in considerations that users need to be reminded with push notifications on mobile application. To create a seamless experience on the desktop, sending notification emails to inform users about their rewards is a necessary practice.

• Prompt users to check the vouchers with the notification

• Users can direct to the reward screen with a single click

Reward program

Provide users with various incentive programs

A seamless shopping experience

LOOP's mission is to create sustainable fashion from recycled materials in collaboration with young designers for an enjoyable shopping experience.

Usability testing

The iteration complied 8 users insights with the research data of 3 main tasks which are donating the clothing (62.5% Direct success), collecting the rewards(85.7% Direct success), and purchasing an item (100% Direct success). The following feedback are what I received:

Iteration

So returning to the drawing board. During the iterative process,
I confronted the following needs:

• Allow multiple selection options

• Evaluate the value of rewards

• Keep users informed with status updates

• Incorporate the logistics experience

Key takeaway

There are some areas I would do differently next time:

• Run moderated qualitative usability tests to point out what exact problems user encountered.

• Perform A/B testing to determine the more effective option.

• Expand user outreach for interviews and testing.