FashionBuddy

FashionBuddy is an app for getting feedback on your outfits that helps stores provide a better omni-channel customer experience and sell more.


I worked with the founder to complete customer discovery, user experience research,  develop early prototypes, and launch their MVP as a progressive web app (PWA) and later as a native app.

Discovery

Lindsey, the founder of FashionBuddy, came to me when her project was merely an idea.

After a brief consultation session she was able to go and get data to flesh out what groups might want to use her app and how.

This provided the idea to market the app as a way for brick and mortar stores to keep users engaged, and for users to gain street credentials by voting on outfits

Prototyping and Design

Within a week we fleshed out the design of the app and I built and launched a basic PWA to test the concept.
Without even creating accounts users were able to upload outfits and vote on other submissions.
This immediately illuminated some app-specific UI problems, users were having trouble not being able to see outfits side by side, and the somewhat “gendered” branding of the app confused others.

Polishing Up

After finding and meeting with some other designers interested in the app we changed the theme a few times, and tested additional solutions to the side-by-side image problem.

Once we locked down the style we wanted for the project, I fleshed out the app by creating an account system that followed users from device to device, and implementing more detailed reporting after the contests.

During this additional pilot, we also started tackling 2 additional problems, the app needed to grow 2 groups of users simultaneously to retain its value, and needed to sprinkle encouragement to keep voters engaged.

Handing Off

While working out marketing solutions with Lindsey, I also began interviewing potential team members that could work on the product side moving forward.
I started training an engineer who began implementing the scoreboard in the app, and eventually was able to hand 0ff the codebase to one of the members of a previous team I worked with who was looking for an opportunity to manage a whole product himself.

After some additional testing and debugging they were able to package the app as a native app and begin focusing on sales.

Available now at FashionBuddy!