patternGen

PatternGen

2023

School Project

Project Overview

A new platform to democratize clothing creating for a more self sufficient and sustainable future

My Role

UX Researcher
Product Designer
Illustrator
Animator

Team

Derek Knodt
Mateo Gonzalez
‍

Tools

Figma
Miro
Illustrator
After Effects

Duration

7 Weeks

patternGen

School Project, 2023

Introduction

For this project we were prompted to create an a digital product with a focus on accessibility and create a Case Study video to explain our research, problem, and solution. With my background in Fashion, I wanted to create an application that enabled education, creation, and sharing to empower users around the globe to create their own clothing.

Problem

Making clothing is a highly gatekept and fragmented process that is incredibly difficult for beginners to learn. Many want to learn so they can reduce their environmental impact, create clothing that fits them well, and be self sufficient but give up when there is not a clear path available.

Solution

patternGen aims to be an intuitive desktop and mobile application that guides you through your journey of making stylish, custom fit clothing from beginning to end. We designed and drafted an MVP that is geared to suit individuals of all experience levels.

Co-Animator

Mateo Gonzalez

Skills

After Effects

Illustrator

Figma

UI Design

Art Direction

Case Study Process

I wanted to start this project with no assumptions so I could fully understand and address the problems learners face to propose an accessible tool.

Research

Our research began with interviewing seven individuals of different levels of experience with making clothing. From those with zero experience to those who work in fashion professionally.

Key Insight #1

Many want to make clothing because store bought clothing never fits their proportions

Key Insight #2

People want to create basics they can wear daily, even though they are cheap to purchase.

Key Insight #3

People want the skill of garment creation, but don't have clear paths available

Key Insight #4

Many give up at the pattern stage, not understanding premade patterns and not knowing how to make their own.

Key Insight #5

People want to make more sustainable choices and reduce their impact

Existing Resources

We then researched the existing resources and approaches to creating clothing, documenting the advantages and disadvantages of each option

Approach #1

Store and online bought patterns are too difficult to use for beginners, and they don’t even fit you right!

Approach #2

Casual sewers do not want to spend months to years learning how to draft patterns by hand

Approach #3

Existing software applications are meant for professionals with extensive experience hand drafting patterns, they are not accessible for beginners

MVP

From there we began drafting up an MVP, listing our core feature list and request for each distinct persona based on our interviews.

Iteration

We presented our MVP to our class and stakeholders, then revised our approach based on their feedback to create a better product.

Finalization

Based on their feedback we revised our MVP and created a Case Study video to communicate our problem, research, and product solution.

Our goal was to present our work in such a way that anyone could follow and understand what the product is, and how it works without having any prior sewing experience.