CRTR [CURATOR]
Your outfit planner and digital closet on-the-go.
DETAILS
DETAILS
DETAILS
WHAT I USED
WHAT I USED
Figma
Figma
Google Suite
Google Suite
ROLE
ROLE
UX Designer
UX Designer
UX Researcher
UX Researcher
Timeline
Timeline
Jul - August 2024
Who I worked with
Who I worked with
Nikko Montealto
Project Manager
Nikko Montealto
Project Manager
Sherene Reyes
UX Researcher
Sherene Reyes
UX Researcher
What I did
What I did
Product Design
Product Design
Research & Analysis
Research & Analysis
CONTEXT
CONTEXT
CONTEXT
CRTR (pronounced Curator) is a mobile app intended to act as a digital closet, outfit planner, and e-commerce platform for fashion-forward users, which fills in the gaps of already existing closet applications on the market; a tool for those who don’t have time to shop in person and online, but are reluctant about the item being the right fit. Users can also take photos of clothes they currently own and upload them into their digital closet for styling purposes.
CRTR (pronounced Curator) is a mobile app intended to act as a digital closet, outfit planner, and e-commerce platform for fashion-forward users, which fills in the gaps of already existing closet applications on the market; a tool for those who don’t have time to shop in person and online, but are reluctant about the item being the right fit. Users can also take photos of clothes they currently own and upload them into their digital closet for styling purposes.
CRTR (pronounced Curator) is a mobile app intended to act as a digital closet, outfit planner, and e-commerce platform for fashion-forward users, which fills in the gaps of already existing closet applications on the market; a tool for those who don’t have time to shop in person and online, but are reluctant about the item being the right fit. Users can also take photos of clothes they currently own and upload them into their digital closet for styling purposes.
CHALLENGE
Fashion-forward people need an application that will allow them to visually organize their outfits, find relevant inspiration, and allow for fully flexible customization tailored to their sense of style, because the most popular closet apps on the market - despite being well-designed visually - are lacking in features that a lot of users are looking for in order to satisfy the need of personalization.
CHALLENGE
Fashion-forward people need an application that will allow them to visually organize their outfits, find relevant inspiration, and allow for fully flexible customization tailored to their sense of style, because the most popular closet apps on the market - despite being well-designed visually - are lacking in features that a lot of users are looking for in order to satisfy the need of personalization.
So, how was this addressed?
Our team carefully followed a structured approach which involved strategies surrounding research, validation, and design. Since we only consisted of three members, we collectively tackled each task on our list together - this allowed for our workflow to be significantly smoother, as we were not held up by specific roles.
We also kept in mind the goal of completing this project within the short amount of time that we were given, while also fulfilling the requirements needed and having results we were proud of which could be incorporated into our individual portfolios.
OUTCOME
Keeping into consideration the tightly allocated timeframe in which this project was to be completed, we were able to successfully craft a working prototype of CRTR that was presented to our peers; a result of an agile approach, rapid iteration, research, and validation through usability testing and feedback.
CHALLENGE
Fashion-forward people need an application that will allow them to visually organize their outfits, find relevant inspiration, and allow for fully flexible customization tailored to their sense of style, because the most popular closet apps on the market - despite being well-designed visually - are lacking in features that a lot of users are looking for in order to satisfy the need of personalization.
RESEARCH and discovery
We opted for secondary research through online articles because we were unable to venture out and seek participants for research due to other academic commitments, and the consequent short timeframe we had to work with. From our research, we learned that:
100 billion
clothing items are produced per year by clothing manufacturers.
Kathryn Horvath (2024)
40%
of clothes are rarely or completely unworn in closets.
Sabine Sommer (2021).
10%
of humanity’s carbon emissions are a result of fast fashion.
Roshni Ghedia (2020).
53
new items of clothing are bought per year by Americans, which is 4x the amount than what it was in the year 2000.
Kathryn Horvath (2024).
85%
of all textiles from fashion production end up in the landfill, every year.
Roshni Ghedia (2020).
“What does this have to do with CRTR?” you might ask. Well, during our discovery phase, this data made us more aware to issues of sustainability or lack thereof surrounding fashion. We realized that an indirectly additional purpose for CRTR was to allow our target audience to contribute to sustainability by making wiser purchases when it comes to their clothing items, so that they do not become part of the demographic who collect clothes while leaving them unused.
In addition to secondary research, we also looked into products we deemed as competitors to CRTR, such as Acloset, XZcloset, and SmartCloset. In our observations, we identified:
✅ Pros:
Aesthetically pleasing designs that appeal to all users.
Relevant outfit suggestions.
Extensive customization tools.
‼️ Cons:
Lack of refined categorization.
Weak background removal features, which are arguably a key feature for outfit visualization and organization.
Ideation
With sufficient data from research, we started to brainstorm and flush out our features for CRTR and how they would operate. We approached this task using the MoSCoW method.
We were able to provide justification for each of these features as they were crucial to the purpose of the solution we were designing, and they were backed by the research we had conducted. Once these were agreed upon, we began to sketch out wireframes and built a basic brand identity to act as the foundation of what CRTR would look like, and gradually built our prototypes around them.
constraints
Getting lost in Ideas
All Hands on Deck
Getting lost in Ideas
All Hands on Deck
Crafting the experience
To wrap up our ideation phase, we conducted usability tests with our peers. With the feedback we received, we were able to further polish the work we did on the high-fidelity iterations.
I was largely responsible for contributing to our UI kit and rough design system by designing the elements we would be using, namely the dropdown components, buttons, the sidebar menu, and the bottom navigation bar.
As previously mentioned in the ideation section, the users would be able to switch between the standard home page view (middle) and the VPP view (right).
This separated the data to make it distinguishable, while allowing for the real-time observation of both financial savings and energy distribution data without having to navigate to a different page on the app, which would lengthen the user flow.
The final solution
After three phases, our team was successful in designing a solution for the problem through the form of CRTR in its high-fidelity state, with the key features we highlighted being prominent as users navigate through the app. This ultimately fulfilled the requirements and tasks imposed upon us for this project.
OUTCOME
Keeping into consideration the tightly allocated timeframe in which this project was to be completed, we were able to successfully craft a working prototype of CRTR that was presented to our peers; a result of an agile approach, rapid iteration, research, and validation through usability testing and feedback.
WHERE DID WE START?
Before narrowing down our direction or beginning on any of our designs, we first sought out data that would validate the need for us to create CRTR as a product. Without validation, we would have had to return back to square one and re-evaluate the relevancy of the problem we identified, if not the problem itself overall.
So, how was this addressed?
Our team carefully followed a structured approach which involved strategies surrounding research, validation, and design. Since we only consisted of three members, we collectively tackled each task on our list together - this allowed for our workflow to be significantly smoother, as we were not held up by specific roles.
We also kept in mind the goal of completing this project within the short amount of time that we were given, while also fulfilling the requirements needed and having results we were proud of which could be incorporated into our individual portfolios.
Ideation
With sufficient data from research, we started to brainstorm and flush out our features for CRTR and how they would operate. We approached this task using the MoSCoW method.
We were able to provide justification for each of these features as they were crucial to the purpose of the solution we were designing, and they were backed by the research we had conducted. Once these were agreed upon, we began to sketch out wireframes and built a basic brand identity to act as the foundation of what CRTR would look like, and gradually built our prototypes around them.
OUTCOME
Keeping into consideration the tightly allocated timeframe in which this project was to be completed, we were able to successfully craft a working prototype of CRTR that was presented to our peers; a result of an agile approach, rapid iteration, research, and validation through usability testing and feedback.
The final solution
After three phases, our team was successful in designing a solution for the problem through the form of CRTR in its high-fidelity state, with the key features we highlighted being prominent as users navigate through the app. This ultimately fulfilled the requirements and tasks imposed upon us for this project.
RETROSPECTIVE
TAKEAWAYS 🎯
Baby Steps
More than We could Chew
It's all Fun and Games
Baby Steps
More than We could Chew
It's all Fun and Games
constraints
Getting lost in Ideas
All Hands on Deck
Getting lost in Ideas
All Hands on Deck
Crafting the experience
To wrap up our ideation phase, we conducted usability tests with our peers. With the feedback we received, we were able to further polish the work we did on the high-fidelity iterations.
I was largely responsible for contributing to our UI kit and rough design system by designing the elements we would be using, namely the dropdown components, buttons, the sidebar menu, and the bottom navigation bar.
As previously mentioned in the ideation section, the users would be able to switch between the standard home page view (middle) and the VPP view (right).
This separated the data to make it distinguishable, while allowing for the real-time observation of both financial savings and energy distribution data without having to navigate to a different page on the app, which would lengthen the user flow.
WHERE DID WE START?
Before narrowing down our direction or beginning on any of our designs, we first sought out data that would validate the need for us to create CRTR as a product. Without validation, we would have had to return back to square one and re-evaluate the relevancy of the problem we identified, if not the problem itself overall.
RESEARCH and discovery
We opted for secondary research through online articles because we were unable to venture out and seek participants for research due to other academic commitments, and the consequent short timeframe we had to work with. From our research, we learned that:
100 billion
clothing items are produced per year by clothing manufacturers.
Kathryn Horvath (2024)
40%
of clothes are rarely or completely unworn in closets.
Sabine Sommer (2021).
10%
of humanity’s carbon emissions are a result of fast fashion.
Roshni Ghedia (2020).
53
new items of clothing are bought per year by Americans, which is 4x the amount than what it was in the year 2000.
Kathryn Horvath (2024).
85%
of all textiles from fashion production end up in the landfill, every year.
Roshni Ghedia (2020).
“What does this have to do with CRTR?” you might ask. Well, during our discovery phase, this data made us more aware to issues of sustainability or lack thereof surrounding fashion. We realized that an indirectly additional purpose for CRTR was to allow our target audience to contribute to sustainability by making wiser purchases when it comes to their clothing items, so that they do not become part of the demographic who collect clothes while leaving them unused.
In addition to secondary research, we also looked into products we deemed as competitors to CRTR, such as Acloset, XZcloset, and SmartCloset. In our observations, we identified:
✅ Pros:
Aesthetically pleasing designs that appeal to all users.
Relevant outfit suggestions.
Extensive customization tools.
‼️ Cons:
Lack of refined categorization.
Weak background removal features, which are arguably a key feature for outfit visualization and organization.
Ideation
With sufficient data from research, we started to brainstorm and flush out our features for CRTR and how they would operate. We approached this task using the MoSCoW method.
We were able to provide justification for each of these features as they were crucial to the purpose of the solution we were designing, and they were backed by the research we had conducted. Once these were agreed upon, we began to sketch out wireframes and built a basic brand identity to act as the foundation of what CRTR would look like, and gradually built our prototypes around them.
constraints
Getting lost in Ideas
All Hands on Deck
Crafting the experience
To wrap up our ideation phase, we conducted usability tests with our peers. With the feedback we received, we were able to further polish the work we did on the high-fidelity iterations.
I was largely responsible for contributing to our UI kit and rough design system by designing the elements we would be using, namely the dropdown components, buttons, the sidebar menu, and the bottom navigation bar.
As previously mentioned in the ideation section, the users would be able to switch between the standard home page view (middle) and the VPP view (right).
This separated the data to make it distinguishable, while allowing for the real-time observation of both financial savings and energy distribution data without having to navigate to a different page on the app, which would lengthen the user flow.
The final solution
After three phases, our team was successful in designing a solution for the problem through the form of CRTR in its high-fidelity state, with the key features we highlighted being prominent as users navigate through the app. This ultimately fulfilled the requirements and tasks imposed upon us for this project.
RETROSPECTIVE
TAKEAWAYS 🎯
Baby Steps
More than We could Chew
It's all Fun and Games
So, how was this addressed?
Our team carefully followed a structured approach which involved strategies surrounding research, validation, and design. Since we only consisted of three members, we collectively tackled each task on our list together - this allowed for our workflow to be significantly smoother, as we were not held up by specific roles.
We also kept in mind the goal of completing this project within the short amount of time that we were given, while also fulfilling the requirements needed and having results we were proud of which could be incorporated into our individual portfolios.
RESEARCH and discovery
We opted for secondary research through online articles because we were unable to venture out and seek participants for research due to other academic commitments, and the consequent short timeframe we had to work with. From our research, we learned that:
100 billion
clothing items are produced per year by clothing manufacturers.
Kathryn Horvath (2024)
40%
of clothes are rarely or completely unworn in closets.
Sabine Sommer (2021).
10%
of humanity’s carbon emissions are a result of fast fashion.
Roshni Ghedia (2020).
53
new items of clothing are bought per year by Americans, which is 4x the amount than what it was in the year 2000.
Kathryn Horvath (2024).
85%
of all textiles from fashion production end up in the landfill, every year.
Roshni Ghedia (2020).
“What does this have to do with CRTR?” you might ask. Well, during our discovery phase, this data made us more aware to issues of sustainability or lack thereof surrounding fashion. We realized that an indirectly additional purpose for CRTR was to allow our target audience to contribute to sustainability by making wiser purchases when it comes to their clothing items, so that they do not become part of the demographic who collect clothes while leaving them unused.
In addition to secondary research, we also looked into products we deemed as competitors to CRTR, such as Acloset, XZcloset, and SmartCloset. In our observations, we identified:
✅ Pros:
Aesthetically pleasing designs that appeal to all users.
Relevant outfit suggestions.
Extensive customization tools.
‼️ Cons:
Lack of refined categorization.
Weak background removal features, which are arguably a key feature for outfit visualization and organization.
CRTR [CURATOR]
Your outfit planner and digital closet on-the-go.
CRTR [CURATOR]
Your outfit planner and digital closet on-the-go.
WHERE DID WE START?
Before narrowing down our direction or beginning on any of our designs, we first sought out data that would validate the need for us to create CRTR as a product. Without validation, we would have had to return back to square one and re-evaluate the relevancy of the problem we identified, if not the problem itself overall.
RETROSPECTIVE
Baby Steps
More than We could Chew
It's all Fun and Games
Baby Steps
More than We could Chew
It's all Fun and Games