UI/UX Case Study Threads & Beads

Threads & Beads

As a UX Researcher in this systems design project, I understood the project's needs and successfully developed a scalable and effective solution that met the organization's requirements. Designed a digital solution that replaced the manual paper-based methods for data capture.

Role

Project Lead

Timeline

Aug-Dec 2022

Skills

System Analysis

UX Research

UI Design

Database Management

Tools

Figma

Draw.io

PROJECT OVERVIEW

Threads & Beads (T&B) is a women's clothing boutique based in Coimbatore, India. They specialize in making bespoke and made-to-order garments for women of all ages. Currently, T&B collects, stores, and manages customer data manually using paper-based methods. The data captured includes but is not limited to, name, address, contact information, references, body measurements, and anticipated delivery dates. During garment production, the designer manually calculates the final garment dimensions based on each customer’s body measurements.

Designers rely on their instincts for the calculation as there is no formal method of measurement computation. This results in inconsistencies in the production process leading to additional adjustments during the fitting sessions. Thus, causing needless rework, lower production volume, customer satisfaction, and revenue.

Business Requirements

A business requirement is a specific need or condition that a project or system must satisfy to achieve its objectives and provide value to stakeholders.

01.

Convert existing customer records into digital format.

02.

Provide a digital platform that replaces the manual paper-based methods for data capture.

03.

Automate calculation of the garment measurements based on current and historical customer data.

04.

Predict customer measurements/fit based on historical data.

Business Value

The highest priority is to implement an automated system that calculates final garment dimensions for customers. An automated system can minimize errors, leading to consumer satisfaction since garment redesign and remake iterations will be reduced. The current system will also be shifted to a digital database, displaying the customer history in one click.

During the peak wedding season in South India, it is difficult to commit to high volumes of orders with the current mode of operations. With an automated system, the boutique can take up more orders, thereby increasing the company's overall revenue.

The implementation of this new system will result in the following benefits for T&B.

Increased Operational Efficiency

30% of current production efforts are spent in unnecessary rework due to inconsistent calculations.

Increased Sustainability

15% of the fabric is wasted due to oversized measurements

Increased Customer Satisfaction

Customer churn is at 15% everytime there is a major rework due to miscalculations.

The new system anticipates to increase the revenue by 34%, reduce customer churn to 5% and reduce fabric wastage by 9%.

HOW DID WE GET HERE? LET'S REVISIT THE PROCESS...

Research

Ideate

Prototype

Develop

Test

THE PROBLEM ?

DATA COLLECTED

Name
Address & contact References
Body measurements, Delivery dates.

During garment production, the designer manually calculates the final garment dimensions based on each customer’s body measurements.

Designers rely on their instincts for the calculation as there is no formal method of measurement computation.

This results in inconsistencies in the production process leading to additional adjustments during the fitting sessions.

This causes needless rework, lower production volume, customer satisfaction, and revenue. It would be beneficial for T&B to implement a system that would eliminate inconsistencies, eliminate human error, improve customer satisfaction, and increase revenue.

1/ Use Cases

The diagram shown in figure 1 illustrates the chain of use cases with boundaries present in this document. The use cases work as a chain since each use case goes one after the other. Additionally, in most use cases, the postcondition for one is the precondition for the next.

Pre-condition

Post-condition

Create new customer order

Pre-condition

Designing customized outfit

Post-condition

Pre-condition

Sewing the outfit

Post-condition

Pre-condition

Fittings of the garment

Post-condition

Delivering the order

Here are five use cases that describe the main tasks users must accomplish using the Threads & Beads (T&B) system. These use cases aim to understand how users view the process to ensure that the new system explicitly incorporates their insights within the design.

Create new customer orders: This is the first step customers must accomplish in order to purchase a T&B outfit: place an order for a new garment.

Designing customized outfits: The designer sketches the outfit, and the Founder finalizes it.

Sewing the outfit: A seamster is assigned an order by providing him with the precut fabric, final garment measurements, and design/pattern decided by the customer. The seamster then sews the garment to completion, which is quality checked by the designer.

Fittings of the garment: Once the garment is ready, the designer first checks the outfit's readiness. The designer approves the outfit sewed by the seamster and schedules a meeting with the customer for the outfit trial. Post-trial, the customer either approves it or requests alterations.

Delivering the orders: The outfit must be delivered after the customer and the founder approval the final garment.

View more details here...

2/ Interviews

The interview was done with the founder, the designer, and the customer to understand all business perspectives.

Founder of Threads & Beads

01. Purpose of Interview

01. Understand overall business processes.

02. Identify the pain points of the current system.

02. Questions asked

1) What happens when a new customer comes to T&B to place an order?

2) How different is the new customer process from an existing customer?

3) Do you oversee the production process directly?

4) Do you handle the paper-based database on a daily basis?

5) What happens when a customer is unsatisfied with the final outfit?

03. Summary of Interview

The founder is actively involved in customer intake, the design process (for occasional outfits), and delivery.

The two biggest problems with the current system are:

01. The miscalculation of final garment measurements (This happens when the designer is unaware of the customers’ measurement history).

02. T&B does not have an efficient system for communication of design and pattern to the production team (The details discussed with the customers are often missed).

Designer at Threads & Beads

01. Purpose of Interview

Understand the designing and production process.

Determine information required for the future system.

02. Questions asked

03. Summary of Interview

The current system keeps only up-to-date data of customers, and the designers cannot look through archived data due to time constraints on each order.

The designs are verbally communicated to the seamster (the seamster often forgets or misunderstands the details).

1) What is the design process currently followed at T&B?

2) How are the design ideas and sketches communicated to the production team?

3) Who is involved in the production process? What is the required information?

4) How is the final measurement calculation done?

5) Describe the Fitting process.

Customer of Threads & Beads

01. Purpose of Interview

Understand the customer satisfaction factor.

Identify pain points (if any).

02. Questions asked

1) How long have you been going to T&B?

2) What is the best feature of T&B?

3) What do you think T&B can do to improve?

4) What does customer satisfaction mean to you?

5) How would you rate T&B in terms of customer satisfaction on a scale of 1-10? (10 being exemplary service and product).

03. Summary of Interview

Communicating with the founder when visiting T&B is important.

For occasional outfits, the customers are happy to do up to 3 fitting sessions

For casual outfits, customers expect the outfit to be perfect during the first fitting.

3/ Functional Requirements

1. Garment Sales Management

2. Garment Alteration Management

1.1 The system will enable garment sales order creation.

1.2 The system will store customer information.

1.3 The system will determine if the fabric is in stock.

2.1 The system will notify the seamster if the alterations are required by the customer.

2.2 The system will inform the designer once the alteration has been completed.

Proposed Solution:
Customized System for T&B

CENTRALIZED DATABASE

Handles information regarding new and old customer orders.
Automates measurement calculations.
Displays garment design visual details.
Prepares invoices.
Accessible only to T&B employees, not customers.

MEASUREMENT CALCULATIONS

Uses historical customer information and body measurements for regular customers.
For new customers, calculates measurements using only body dimensions through machine learning.

BENEFITS

Removes inconsistencies caused by human errors.
Reduces the number of fitting sessions.
Improves customer satisfaction.
Enhances revenue.

4/ Diagrams

The Level 0 DATA FLOW DIAGRAM provides information on the internal workings of the system and illustrates how data flows from one process to another.

THE CUSTOMER is a human entity separated by a dotted line in the diagram. New customers enter their information via an input form presented to them when they come in to place a new order.

In the next step, the founder adds the order details - a type of outfit, outfit reference that the customer brings in, delivery date, and advance payments in the customer’s profile.

After this, the designer takes the body measurements and the Founder adds them to the system via an input form.

THE SEAMSTER will sew the garment after receiving the order summary detail, body measurements, and garment design detail after completion of the garment seamster will inform the designer verbally then the designer will inform the customer about the garment.

The customer proceeds for trials of the garment if there are any modifications or alterations the seamster gets notified about the changes and the seamster proceeds for modification of the garment.

THE DESIGNER is a human entity, hence separated with a dotted line in the diagram. The designer discusses with the customer for his/her references to sketch the outfit.

The designer will take the customer references and finalize the design. After finalizing the design, the designer will proceed to the next step i.e. if the customer is new, the designer will take the body measurements and send them to the seamster along with the order summary detail.

Click here to see more diagrams...

1. INTERACTION DESIGN RULES

VISIBILITY

Ensures the design is simple to understand.
Achieves all requested functionality.
Makes it easier for users to comprehend what to do next.

CONSISTENCY

Ensures all elements within the interface are alike.
Users spend more time on the main functionality rather than learning how to use the interface.
Same typeface and color used throughout the interface.
Different fonts used to emphasize important information.

COLUMN GRIDS

Improves visibility of the information.
Enhances consistency in displaying information.
Maintains the platform's organization.

2. USABILITY GOALS

LEARNABILITY

Measures how easy a system is to learn or the time taken to learn a task.
Simple layout makes navigation easy to understand and user-friendly.
Menu and secondary buttons have icons for easy identification and learning.

MEMORABILITY

Measures how easy it is to remember how to use the system once learned.
Users find the system easy to interact with post necessary training due to its simplicity and good learnability.
Consistent design elements enhance memorability:
- Placement of the search bar, buttons, and menu panel on the left.
- Visibility of important information in the central panel on all screens.

SCREEN DESIGNS

01: Dashboard

The dashboard is the first screen the user (founder or designer) views upon logging into the system. The menu panel on the left lets users navigate the system with ease and log out of the system after use for security. The central panel of the dashboard gives an overall view of the critical stats such as Income, Expenses, and Orders, helping users keep track of T&B’s daily activities. Below the stats widget is the list of orders currently being processed by T&B. The header of the central panel shows today’s date and houses the CTAs to add a new customer or order. The panel on the right has the search bar on the header. The search inputs include search by name or search by invoice number. The calendar that shows the user’s appointments is added to the right panel, and new appointments can be added by clicking on the date. The customer information and reason for the visit are mentioned to allocate internal resources efficiently. The calendar can also toggle to show upcoming deliveries by date.

02: Measurement Log

The measurement log screen is the input screen where the user adds the customer’s body measurements - which are manually taken by the designer. This page is navigated through the customer profile menu item present in the list of menus on the left side. A customer’s profile can also be searched specifically from the search bar. The design sketch is uploaded on the right side for the seamster’s reference. The body measurements from here are fed into the algorithm that runs in the backend, and the final measurements are displayed on the next page.

03: Calculated Measurements

The measurement calculation screen is the output of the previous screen, i.e., the Measurement Log. Here, the calculated measurements are displayed on the screen; the calculation happens in the backend. The designer or founder can take a printout of the calculated measurements, design references, and notes, which will be handed over to the seamster. The screen also allows the user to save the details and take action sometime later. The users can also go back to edit the measurements if needed via the “Measurement Log” button.