Plume

Weather and the Wear
Dressing the right way for the weather can be complicated when everyone experiences weather differently. The solution is often to bring along an extra jacket or umbrella, in case you need it, but with young adults always on the move with limited carrying capacity, there is an opportunity to lighten the load.

User Research
I spoke to two young adults, ages between 18-24, about their daily dressing challenges. Here’s what I learned!
No personal cars and textbook-heavy bags means carrying extra items is a physical burden. It’s confusing trying to figure out how daily weather details, such as wind and humidity, will affect how hot or cold they’ll feel. Family and online advice about what to wear isn’t usually accurate for the person asking. Parents seem to feel colder more often. Current solutions require cross-checking multiple platforms for information.

Practicality and Complexity
With newfound insights, the initial product in mind was an application that would respond to daily user feedback about the weather, and what they chose to wear that day.

A list was made of functions and solutions to various problems, of which the most feasible ones were chosen. The goal was to have a product that displayed a simple weather forecast, suggested an outfit for the day, and allowed for users to respond to the day’s weather and outfit.

An early version of the wireframes proved to be an information overload. The idea had practicality in mind, but the resulting flow was too much for a quick read in the morning.

The original style in mind was lacking in character, feeling bland and generic when combined with the early user flow. At this point, I fell into a design block, trying to figure out a balance between information, convenience, and style.

Injecting Personality Into the Product
In order to bring more personality into the design, it was necessary to conjure up a solid brand image. This way, the product could be as visually attractive as it was functional to the users.

The word plume was chosen as it represented both fashion, through the colorful array of bird feathers, and weather, with the clouds in the sky. Choices of color, type, and illustration style were all made to feel playful and clean.

With the new direction, the overall user flow was simplified to prioritize ease of use. The home screen would feature an illustration that reflected activities one could do in the weather.

It’s All a Balancing Act
Throughout this project, I found myself stumbling multiple times, thinking that I always had to be moving ahead. However, it’s never just a straight line forward. In order to design a product that satisfies a user’s wants and needs, it’s necessary to keep revising, testing, and revising again to make sure everything joins together. Sometimes, working backwards can propel a project forward!