Ĝoja - Infusing Delight into Sustainable Fashion Practices
Skillset: Implementing theoretical research onto a tangible and user-centric product.
Duration: 6 months (Capstone Project)
How can sustainable practices be made delightful?
Delight, often underestimated in the realm of sustainability, can be a potent force for inspiring change. I undertook a creative quest inspired by Dieter Rams' design principles and intersected it with diverse research areas like emotional design, sustainability, and the value-action gap in sustainable practices.
The result? Ĝoja – a delightful guide to sustainable fashion practices.
Designing Delight with Dieter Rams' Principles
The backbone of Ĝoja is the application of Dieter Rams' principles for Good Design. This design framework stipulates that products should be innovative, useful, aesthetic, unobtrusive, thorough, honest, straightforward, understandable, long-lasting, and environmentally friendly. By adhering to these principles, Ĝoja aims to simplify the complexity of sustainability and make it accessible and enjoyable.
Theory and research
Sustainable Personas: From Abstract to Relatable
To achieve delight, I reached 7 personas and illustrated them as characters. Each representing a distinct approach to sustainable fashion, aligned with Dr. Anna Brismar's classifications. The challenge was to make these categories relatable and engaging. Using the power of visuals and aesthetics, I brought these personas to life, giving users a glimpse of who they could be on their sustainable fashion journey.
The Personality Quiz: Unleashing Delight
The backbone of Ĝoja is the application of Dieter Rams' principles for Good Design. This design framework stipulates that products should be innovative, useful, aesthetic, unobtrusive, thorough, honest, straightforward, understandable, long-lasting, and environmentally friendly. By adhering to these principles, Ĝoja aims to simplify the complexity of sustainability and make it accessible and enjoyable.
Minimizing the Value-Action Gap
Breaking down sustainability into distinct personas aligns with the value-action gap research. By offering a variety of paths rather than a single mass solution, Ĝoja ensures users find approaches that resonate with their beliefs and lifestyle. This customization encourages users to bridge the value-action gap by acting in ways that align with their values.
Design process
Usability Requirements:
-
User-Friendly Design: Ĝoja's design should prioritize user-friendliness to ensure that users find the interface intuitive and engaging.
-
Visual Aesthetics: The website should employ vibrant colors and engaging illustrations throughout its design to deliver an enjoyable user experience.
-
Navigational Clarity: The site must offer clear and easy navigation to help users move between different sections, such as the quiz, persona information, brand database, and educational resources.
-
Mobile Responsiveness: Ĝoja's design should be responsive to different devices, ensuring a consistent and pleasant user experience on both desktop and mobile platforms.
Functional Requirements:
-
Personality Quiz: The system must provide a personality quiz feature, allowing users to determine their sustainable fashion persona. The quiz should consist of 15 questions to offer a reliable result.
-
Persona Information: Users must have access to comprehensive information about the different sustainable fashion personas, including their characteristics, values, and preferred styles.
-
Brand Database: The system should include a database of sustainable fashion brands and services. Users must be able to explore these brands based on their categorized persona.
-
Educational Resources: The platform must provide a section with illustrated articles, which serve as educational resources to help users enhance their knowledge of sustainable
I kept things simple when outlining the website requirements because my research was mostly based on theory and I used the personas I created as a guide
Content and Information Requirements:
-
Quiz Content: The personality quiz must be carefully crafted, including 15 well-considered questions designed to accurately categorize users into sustainable fashion personas.
-
Persona Descriptions: The platform must provide in-depth descriptions of each sustainable fashion persona, covering their characteristics, values, and typical styles.
-
Brand Information: The brand database should offer detailed information about each brand or service, emphasizing its sustainability practices and products.
-
Educational Articles: The site's educational section should include a collection of well-illustrated articles that are both informative and engaging, enhancing users' understanding of sustainable fashion practices.
Final Designs
After creating initial wireframes in Figma, I took to creating a more high-fidelity prototype in Wix. This allowed me to do quick heuristic evaluations and iterate based on my findings. I also did some sample user testing with my friends and family.
Here are a few snapshots of the final prototype.
You can also take a deeper dive by visiting the working prototype below:
Conclusion
Lessons Learned
-
Time Management: Working on this project during the initial lockdown period taught me the importance of focusing my efforts efficiently when time is limited.
-
MVP Definition: I gained valuable insights into defining the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) and proactively anticipating potential obstacles. This helped in streamlining the design process.
-
Perfection vs. Progress: Overcoming perfectionism was a significant lesson. I realized that in the realm of digital products, launching and testing, even with small steps, is more valuable than endlessly pursuing perfection
In a world where being more sustainably concious becomes more and more crucial by the day, Designing products that bridge the value-action gap are necessary. I aim to find new ways that Goja can make Sustainability more delightful
