Problem Statement
People have a lot of clothes in their wardrobe, but run out of ideas for outfits very quickly, which means that they have to go out and buy more clothes. Or, people may just not know what outfits to wear given their wardrobe. What if other people could suggest new outfit ideas using existing items in the wardrobe? The goal of PK3k is to make uploading wardrobe items simple for the wardrobe owner and to make designing outfits easy for the outfit designers.
Challenges
Possible challenges include:
- Implementation of the interface for outfit designers (Should be intuitive; how do we make the wardrobe items easily searchable and how do we group them?)
- Implementation of the wardrobe uploading system (if from online sources, how do we create a good interface for users to find their specific article of clothing? If from a camera, how do we try to ensure the quality of these images and make the interface intuitive?)
User Analysis
We have determined that there are two groups of users. This analysis is based on two sets of interviews with 3 people (3 people per group).
Group 1: The Wardrobe Owners
Age: 13 - 35
Gender: N/A
Education: English literate
Abilities: Computer literate, Access to internet, Capable with a camera
Motivations: Wardrobe owners have a lot of items of clothing in their wardrobe, but have run out of ideas for outfit combinations and want suggestions for new combinations. Or, wardrobe owners may not have a full wardrobe, but are looking for outfit suggestions. They are fashion-conscious individuals, but lack the skill, confidence, or time to construct wardrobes for themselves.
Existing Approaches: Asking friends is often the first solution employed to solve this problem. We interviewed a girl named Felicity, who said that she was asked for outfit advice "on a nearly daily basis by [her] friends." The most common questions, she said, were "Do these items match?" and "What should I wear with this item?" Searching online is a second approach to solving this problem. Online systems provide external solutions (i.e., buy new clothes to finish the outfit), but these are expensive alternatives to digging through the contents of a closet for an equally effective, free alternative. If these methods fail, fallback solutions include wearing old outfits to get by, or buying new clothes.
Advantages of our Approach: PK3k provides a clear, concise environment where users can upload their wardrobe via pictures and ask for help asynchronously. Their friends will have easy access to the whole wardrobe, helping them provide better, more informed advice. The Internet searches that yielded lots of new items to buy is replaced by options the users already own (though suggestions of additions to a lacking wardrobe can still be offered).
Conclusions from interviews with Wardrobe Owners (Interview Population: Students)
- Many users don't want to spend money buying new clothes
- "I don't want to spend any more money on clothes"
- "I like to see what outfits I can make without buying more [clothes]"
- Users often look for outfits for seasons
- "I like to find outfits for every new season"
- "My outfits tend to match which season it is"
- When asked for what a person owns, describing the whole wardrobe is daunting
- "I have jeans of all different kinds, a range of shirts from t-shirts to fancy shirts; a lot of stuff from American Eagle and Express"
- "I don't know, shirts and pants? I have a few button-down shirts."
- *Blank stare*
- Users would rather have somebody else make an outfit for them, but it may have to be someone they trust
- "I want someone else to design the outfit for me so it can be their fault if it's bad"
- "I love getting new suggestions for outfits!"
Group 2: The Outfit Designers
Age: 13 - 35
Gender: N/A
Education: English literate
Abilities: Computer literate, Access to internet, Skilled at matching clothing items together or creative minded
Motivations: Outfit designers could be individuals who want to help their friends solve problems with their outfits. Outfit designers could also be individuals looking for an opportunity to build a portfolio of outfits that they had designed. They are fashion-conscious people who want to help others, and have the confidence, skill, or creativity to build outfits and display them.
Existing Approaches: Outfit designers are either active or passive in their approach. Active designers are those designers that already work for a fashion company, actively advising customers on what to wear. This has the unwanted limitation of relying heavily on newly purchased merchandise; these designers don't work in the same restricted workspace as a person's existing wardrobe. Passive designers, meanwhile, are people like Felicity: she helps people match items in their wardrobes only when asked. She is experienced in handling a limited wardrobe, but she only works in a reactive manner - if she doesn't have time or attention to spare when the question is posed, she cannot help her friend.
Advantages of our Approach: With PK3k, the asynchronous design of question and answer will allow for passive designers to help friends on their own time, rather than acting responsively. Active users are presented with the added challenge of working with the user's wardrobe, which encourages a designer reaching for more creativity to break outside of the limited bounds of the company for which they work.
Conclusions from Interviews with Outfit Designers (Interview Population: Salespeople at Galleria)
- They need to know the occasion
- "One of the first things I do is ask what occasion the outfit is for"
- Even for the same person, different occasions call for completely different outfits (e.g. outfits for a beach vs. dance party)
- They need to know the build of the person
- "It [designing outfits] is totally different depending on the person's build. For example, a 5' 2" woman that wears a size 12 is going to look better in a flowy outfit, while a 5' 11" woman that wears the same size will be wearing more proportional outfits"
- "Designing an outfit for a 6' 5" model that wears size 0 is going to be different than designing an outfit for your every day person"
- They don't need to see the person's face (but hair color and eye colors are important)
- "I don't need to see their face"
- "The person's hair and eye colors determine what colors will look good on them."
- Personality of the person is important
- "It's all about the attitude, whether they can pull an outfit off"
- "People are all associated with a season and they tend to wear clothes that match their season"
Task Analysis
These are the tasks that represent wanted functionalities from the point of view of the user.
Major Tasks
- Upload a Wardrobe
- Goal: User would like to upload the clothing in their wardrobe in order to allow others to view the user's wardrobe and allow others to design new outfits.
- Precondition: User must have clothing and either photos on a computer or a smartphone.
- Subtasks:
- User pulls out the clothing they would like to upload (in real life)
- User takes a picture of the clothing
- User uploads the picture either through a web interface or directly from a smartphone application
- User tags information about the picture, such as what article of clothing it is.
- Request Advice and View Personal Question Results
- Goal: A user wants to request advice along the lines of "I want a beach outfit" or "I want an outfit for my interview". Then, after making this request, the user would like to view the resulting outfits that people create.
- Precondition: The user has uploaded a wardrobe and is on the website.
- Subtasks:
- User specifies and submits a request
- User is notified when another user creates an outfit in response to the request
- User views the response (along with any other responses)
- Browse Requests and Create Outfits
- Goal: User wants to take articles of clothing from another user's (or their own) wardrobe and match them together into an outfit, either because the user wants to answer a request for another user or because the user wants to play with his or her own wardrobe.
- Precondition: Target user (may be himself) has uploaded a wardrobe. User wants to create a new outfit for the target user to answer a specific request made by the user or wants to play with the items in the wardrobe.
- Subtasks:
- User browses through different requests, viewing previous responses as well
- User selects and chooses to answer a request
- User selects an category of article of clothing
- User selects a specific item of clothing in the wardrobe and adds it to the outfit
- User adds a comment to go along with the item
- User repeats the previous two or three steps to complete an outfit
- User submits the outfit with an overall comment