Human-centered fashion

Abstract

Nowadays, large fashion corporations slowly adopt human centered design (HCD) process to connect with end users. For example, Levi used this design process to find out what kind of feelings that a new line of jacket should elicit in humans. And at retail sales point, the handbag iconic brand Kate Spade ideated dozens of concepts to enhance the in-store experience of guests. However, the precise process of how to integrate human-centered design process with fashion design is ambiguous. This creates challenges for fashion designers to use this process in creating new fashion items to fill in the emotional need of the millennial. In this research, I shall document in how to use the human-centered design process to hone a fashion product through a rigorous iteration process. From "need" to "wear", three products were created to solve a pain point of women, the need of carrying their heels seamlessly while communing. Five major iterations were conducted to give birth to a line of innovative products that are wearable.

Through using the HCD process, it was discovered that women had an unconscious habit of having their shoes hidden, which hindered me from further developing an accessible and convenient mean of carrying the heels. The important pivoting point of this research came after integrating the "avant garde" approach of fashion design into the product. This step brought in a new aesthetic element to tackle an initial unacceptability of emotion-based need. Mission statement and values of the product also emerge through the process. The outcome is an enhanced framework that shall come handy for designers in the fashion industry to practice social science in their inventions.