UX Research

Interaction Design

Usability Testing

Visual Design

Prototyping

SustainIT

A conceptual app designed to combat fast fashion by giving consumers the tools to donate, resell, and discover sustainable alternatives.

    ROLE
    UX Designer + Researcher
  
    TEAM
    Blair Fields, Meera Amin, Mia Schaftel, Rachel Thomas

    TIMELINE
    Sept - Nov 2022

    Fast
    fashion
    contributes
    to
    significant
    environmental
    and
    ethical
    challenges,
    including
    overproduction,
    harmful
    materials,
    and
    unfair
    labor
    practices.
    SustainIt
    is
    a
    concept
    platform
    designed
    for
    environmentally
    conscious
    consumers
    who
    want
    to
    shop
    more
    sustainably
    but
    are
    often
    constrained
    by
    time,
    convenience,
    and
    lack
    of
    accessible
    alternatives.
  

    The
    goal
    was
    to
    design
    a
    sustainable
    shopping
    experience
    that
    makes
    it
    easier
    for
    users
    to
    discover
    and
    choose
    ethical
    fashion
    options
    without
    sacrificing
    convenience
    or
    usability.
  

    Working
    alongside
    four
    teammates,
    I
    co-led
    research,
    ideation,
    and
    design
    across
    the
    full
    project
    lifecycle,
    from
    competitive
    analysis
    and
    concept
    development
    through
    to
    the
    final
    prototype.
  

[ Research ]

Evaluating existing solutions and fashion consumers to understand barriers to sustainable shopping

We analyzed existing digital platforms addressing fast fashion to identify current solutions and uncover design opportunities for features that could drive real behavior change.

Through interviews with 12 fashion consumers, we explored shopping behaviors, experiences with secondhand reselling, and the motivations and barriers behind sustainable brand choices.

"Trends change so quickly it's cool to see new products and style is always changing and so I want to keep up."

"I usually just go to the stores I know or are close by because I don't have the time and it's easier than searching for better quality."

"I will buy lower quality, cheap clothes if they're trendy because I know they will go out of style soon."

Research revealed four key insights

      / 01
      Trend-driven consumption
      The rapid pace of fashion trends pushes consumers to continuously buy new. Staying current feels more urgent than shopping sustainably.
    

      / 02
      Balancing cost and quality
      Consumers are willing to invest in timeless pieces but accept lower quality for trendy, inexpensive items. Price remains a primary driver.
    

      / 03
      Convenience drives behavior
      Even consumers who want to donate or resell often default to fast fashion because sustainable options feel harder and more time-consuming.
    

      / 04
      Demand for a single platform
      No existing platform combines sustainable discovery, reselling, and donation in one place. That gap is the opportunity.
    

[ Challenge ]

How might we empower consumers with the knowledge and tools to make sustainable fashion choices?

[ ideation ]

Turned research themes into personas and explored solutions through storyboards

Four research themes informed four personas, each reflecting different motivations, frustrations, and relationships with sustainable fashion.

After sketching, we developed storyboards for two primary personas per audience group.

These focused on addressing two critical pain points: streamlining the donation and reselling process and easing the discovery of sustainable alternatives to fast fashion brands.

[ User Flows ]

Mapped the optimal path through core user journeys

Building on ideation, we created a user flow diagram to map the optimal experience and define key features and actions.

[ interaction Design ]

Translated the user flow into mid-fidelity wireframes focused on usability and content organization.

[ Usability Testing ]

Iterated on the design after prototype testing

/ 01

Streamlined navigation

Users struggled to return to the homepage and felt the header took up too much screen space. We removed the fixed header and integrated a prominent home button into the navigation menu.

/ 02

Clarifying the alternatives feature

The label "Alternatives" in the main navigation caused confusion. We relocated the feature to the Shop section and renamed it Likes, making it a more intuitive part of the personalized experience.

Final experience

/ 01

Seamless reselling

Users can easily connect with nearby sellers or explore online resale platforms, streamlining the secondhand selling process.

/ 02

Sustainable brand discovery

Users can discover eco-friendly alternatives to their favorite brands, making sustainable switching feel easy and relevant.

/ 03

Convenient donation

Users can find nearby donation centers, shelters, and non-profits to drop off used clothing which removes the friction from doing something good.

/ 04

Personalized experience

Users select preferences on setup to receive curated, tailored guidance for sustainable shopping that fits their lifestyle.

Takeaways

      Validate before you design
      Early interviews surfaced assumptions we would have built into the product without questioning. The competitive analysis also revealed a market gap we hadn't expected which shaped the entire concept.
    
      Convenience is the real competitor
      Fast fashion wins because it's easy, and every design decision had to be evaluated against that. If SustainIt wasn't meaningfully faster or simpler than the standard, users would default back to what they knew.
    
      Rename before you redesign
      The "Alternatives" navigation issue taught me that language problems often look like UX problems. Before changing a layout or flow, it's worth asking whether the confusion is in the words rather than the structure.
    
      Team research needs a shared framework
      With five researchers conducting interviews, synthesizing insights consistently was harder than expected. Establishing a shared tagging and affinity system earlier would have saved significant time during analysis.

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