CLOSET GENIE

For Closet Genie, a platform connecting various vintage and second-hand stores, a seamless and trustworthy online shopping experience was created. Designed to make it easier for young shoppers to explore multiple vintage stores in one place, the platform exclusively offers pre-loved items that have been carefully inspected for quality, condition, and authenticity by the participating stores. This ensures that every purchase is not only affordable and sustainable but also meets high-quality standards, giving shoppers confidence in their choices.

Date

Services

UX/UI design / Digital design / Graphic design / Video editing

February 2024

PROBLEM 😥

More and more young people find sustainability important when shopping at clothing and shoe stores. However, they face several obstacles when buying pre-loved items, such as unclear or missing information about the quality and condition of a product, sellers who are not always reliable or transparent, and the high risk of purchasing a counterfeit item, which is especially important for designer pieces.

SOLUTION 💡

Many of these obstacles can be eliminated if the selling party consists exclusively of trusted vintage and second-hand stores. This ensures that buyers can rely on the described quality, condition, and authenticity of the items. This is the core of Closet Genie: collaborating with vintage and second-hand stores to develop a platform that enables sustainable and affordable online shopping, with the guarantee of reliable sellers and authentic products.

PRIMARY USERS FIRST CIRCLE

The platform targets the audience of young people aged 16-25 and is designed based on their expectations and needs. The primary users are the key stakeholders and are placed in the first circle after the solution. This position highlights their crucial role in the hierarchy.

DIRECT STAKEHOLDERS SECOND CIRCLE

In the second circle after the solution, we find the direct stakeholders, which include the stores connected to the platform, namely De Ruilhoek and Bij Ons Vintage. The platform acts as an intermediary between the end users (buyers) and the affiliated stores (sellers).

INDIRECT STAKEHOLDERS THIRD CIRCLE

The third circle consists of the indirect stakeholders. This circle is currently empty (as there are no indirect stakeholders involved in the project), but it could include potential stores that would like to join the platform but have not yet been connected.

PERSONA - VINTAGE SHOPPER

Laura

Age: 25

Hobbies: Thrifting, Social Media, Sports, Sustainable lifestyle

Laura is a spontaneous young student who loves shopping in her free time. She particularly enjoys thrifting, as she calls it, which she finds a very fun activity. Thrifting is buying second-hand clothes at a low price. It is often cheaper and, in addition, more sustainable. Recently, she has been actively working on living more sustainably and making positive changes, especially when shopping.

“65% of Generation Z find sustainability important in clothing and footwear stores.”

— (Consumers Consciously Choose Sustainable Stores and Products, 2023)

“Being able to enjoy shopping while staying sustainable makes me feel completely in my element.”

— Laura

GOALS & NEEDS 💡

• Shopping affordable and quality items.

• Wanting to look and feel good.

• Acting sustainably while shopping.

PAINS 💊

• Not always reliable sellers.

• Incorrect product descriptions and specifications.

• Unclear or incorrect photos.

• No transparency about the condition of an item.

• Higher risk of buying counterfeit items.

• Unorganized and often outdated interfaces.

GAINS 👍

• Saving money by shopping pre-loved.

• Shopping from various trusted stores in one place.

• Giving clothes a second life.

• Feeling good by acting sustainable.

• Contributing to sustainability in general.

REQUIREMENTS 📋

• A platform with trusted stores and sellers.

• Clear descriptions of products, photos, and condition.

• A wide and diverse range of pre-loved items.

• An organized and easy to navigate platform.

“I prefer wearing designer items because they often have a better fit and are almost always of higher quality than fast fashion alternatives.”

— Naomi

PERSONA - PRE-LOVED DESIGNER SHOPPER

Naomi
Age: 24
Hobbies: Fashion, Design, Shopping, Traveling

Bio:
Naomi is a final-year fashion design student at AMFI and is very passionate about fashion, mainly designer items. She loves discovering new stores and enjoys the process of searching for and finding secondhand designer pieces. She tries to find as many affordable designer items as possible, but ultimately bases her choice on the quality and design of an item.

GOALS & NEEDS 💡

• Searching and shopping for secondhand designer items.

• Quality is more important than the price of an item.

• The design, quality and fit of the clothing is important.

PAINS 💊

• Quality secondhand designer items are hard to find.

• More and more people are interested in designer items, making them often more expensive.

• Shopping for designer items online is risky, and there is always the chance of buying a counterfeit item.

• Regular retail clothing often doesn’t have the quality and fit that designer clothing offers.

GAINS 👍

• Shopping for pre-loved designer items from different stores in one place.

• Finding designer items. Discovering new vintage (designer) stores.

• Creating a unique style by wearing designer clothing.

• Contributing to sustainability by shopping pre-loved.

REQUIREMENTS 📋

• A platform with secondhand designer items.

• A platform with reliable sellers.

• A platform with legitimate and official products.

WIREFRAMES - ONBOARDING

• Styles

• Gender

• Sizes

• Personal

“The idea that ‘secondhand clothing is dirty’ has been abandoned by this generation and replaced with the mindset of ‘I’m buying a premium product.’”

— (Lijbaart, 2023)

WIREFRAMES - HOMEPAGE

• Home

• Shop

• Favorites

• Events

• Account

INSPIRATION UI & STYLE 🖼️

Research has been conducted on current trends and developments in layout, design, color, and typography within the target audience. This research was carried out to guide the final choices and design of the platform's User Interface. The findings show that the use of emojis, colors such as purple, pink, and neon green, rounded corners and circles, and a focus on inclusivity and diversity in photography are very popular and are therefore also commonly used in UI’s targeted at Gen-Z.

UI ELEMENTS 🎨

To define the platform's look and feel, similar platforms targeting the same audience were analyzed, revealing key design trends. Additional research on visual trends ensured alignment with user expectations. Based on this, color palettes were tested with the target audience, forming the foundation for the style and look and feel used in the design of the different UI elements.