Forma
·
2021
·
Case Study
Forma Closet
Forma Closet
Forma sat at the intersection of fashion and computer vision, allowing users to virtually try on clothing - kind of like a modern version of Cher's closet from the cult classic, Clueless.
When I joined in the summer of 2020, Forma’s B2B product had found its footing in e-commerce, increasing conversion by allowing shoppers to try on clothing before they checked out. While that product was humming along, the team had set their sights on a potential consumer application of the Try On technology.
Role
Staff Product Designer
Product Design
Product Strategy
Research
Prototyping
Ads
How it started
Forma's consumer ambitions began as a fashion discovery and shopping app. The team believed they could aggregate fashion content from popular brands, celebrities, etc. into a single destination and use the Try On technology to encourage purchases.
When I joined, the first version of this concept had launched, allowing users to browse, try on, shop, and save looks.
Customizing a look in Madewell's lookbook
How it started
Forma's consumer ambitions began as a fashion discovery and shopping app. The team believed they could aggregate fashion content from popular brands, celebrities, etc. into a single destination and use the Try On technology to encourage purchases.
When I joined, the first version of this concept had launched, allowing users to browse, try on, shop, and save looks.
Customizing a look in Madewell's lookbook
How it started
Forma's consumer ambitions began as a fashion discovery and shopping app. The team believed they could aggregate fashion content from popular brands, celebrities, etc. into a single destination and use the Try On technology to encourage purchases.
When I joined, the first version of this concept had launched, allowing users to browse, try on, shop, and save looks.
Customizing a look in Madewell's lookbook
Why won’t they come back?
Our initial challenge was retention. Data showed users would sign up, add a photo of themselves to try on outfits, and spend the next 15 - 30 min exploring the app but very few would come back for a second session.
Opportunities for user feedback were unfortunately limited, making it difficult to pinpoint what wasn't resonating. We leveraged the insights we were able to gather to create a list of hypotheses which we then rapidly built features around to validate.
Why won’t they come back?
Our initial challenge was retention. Data showed users would sign up, add a photo of themselves to try on outfits, and spend the next 15 - 30 min exploring the app but very few would come back for a second session.
Opportunities for user feedback were unfortunately limited, making it difficult to pinpoint what wasn't resonating. We leveraged the insights we were able to gather to create a list of hypotheses which we then rapidly built features around to validate.
Why won’t they come back?
Our initial challenge was retention. Data showed users would sign up, add a photo of themselves to try on outfits, and spend the next 15 - 30 min exploring the app but very few would come back for a second session.
Opportunities for user feedback were unfortunately limited, making it difficult to pinpoint what wasn't resonating. We leveraged the insights we were able to gather to create a list of hypotheses which we then rapidly built features around to validate.
Robust search to allow users to find exactly what they're looking for
Robust search to allow users to find exactly what they're looking for
Allow users to save looks to lookbooks to refer back to later
Allow users to save looks to lookbooks to refer back to later
Weekly livestreams with a stylist to test new content types
Weekly livestreams with a stylist to test new content types
Enable commenting on looks and seed them with comments from our stylists
Enable commenting on looks and seed them with comments from our stylists
Dynamic content on the home page that adjusts to user's tastes as they browse
Dynamic content on the home page that adjusts to user's tastes as they browse
I began toying with the concept of Forma as a digital closet
Strategic pivot
While we ran those experiments, I began toying with the concept of Forma as a digital closet where users would upload their own clothes and try on looks in their wardrobe. I pitched this idea to the team and it was received enthusiastically, but they were understandably a little hesitant to change gears after investing so much in our current strategy.
I went ahead and conducted a research study to get insights into how valuable people found our Try On technology, their shopping and outfit creation habits, and their potential interest in this new utility app concept, hoping to validate the pivot's viability and uncover other potential applications for our technology. The research was pretty conclusive, with the most salient findings being…
Strategic pivot
While we ran those experiments, I began toying with the concept of Forma as a digital closet where users would upload their own clothes and try on looks in their wardrobe. I pitched this idea to the team and it was received enthusiastically, but they were understandably a little hesitant to change gears after investing so much in our current strategy.
I went ahead and conducted a research study to get insights into how valuable people found our Try On technology, their shopping and outfit creation habits, and their potential interest in this new utility app concept, hoping to validate the pivot's viability and uncover other potential applications for our technology. The research was pretty conclusive, with the most salient findings being…
Strategic pivot
While we ran those experiments, I began toying with the concept of Forma as a digital closet where users would upload their own clothes and try on looks in their wardrobe. I pitched this idea to the team and it was received enthusiastically, but they were understandably a little hesitant to change gears after investing so much in our current strategy.
I went ahead and conducted a research study to get insights into how valuable people found our Try On technology, their shopping and outfit creation habits, and their potential interest in this new utility app concept, hoping to validate the pivot's viability and uncover other potential applications for our technology. The research was pretty conclusive, with the most salient findings being…
Forma Closet
With everyone now on board, I got to work redesigning. With this new direction, it felt like all the pieces were finally falling into place. The outfits users styled would be ones they could actually enjoy in the real world. They could take an item they found online and see how it worked with the pieces they already owned. We could integrate with calendar and weather services to help users plan better, use data to encourage them utilize more of what they owned, and allow friends to create outfits together using each other's closets. And best of all, it had the potential to solve for a daily use case that users found valuable.
Forma Closet
With everyone now on board, I got to work redesigning. With this new direction, it felt like all the pieces were finally falling into place. The outfits users styled would be ones they could actually enjoy in the real world. They could take an item they found online and see how it worked with the pieces they already owned. We could integrate with calendar and weather services to help users plan better, use data to encourage them utilize more of what they owned, and allow friends to create outfits together using each other's closets. And best of all, it had the potential to solve for a daily use case that users found valuable.
Forma Closet
With everyone now on board, I got to work redesigning. With this new direction, it felt like all the pieces were finally falling into place. The outfits users styled would be ones they could actually enjoy in the real world. They could take an item they found online and see how it worked with the pieces they already owned. We could integrate with calendar and weather services to help users plan better, use data to encourage them utilize more of what they owned, and allow friends to create outfits together using each other's closets. And best of all, it had the potential to solve for a daily use case that users found valuable.
App Store video I created for the relaunch of the app
App Store video I created for the relaunch of the app
Adding item to closet from the web
Adding item to closet from the web
Add item details for better closet management
Add item details for better closet management
Digital closet
Digital closet
Dressing room with recommendations
Dressing room with recommendations
Mannequin Try On
Mannequin Try On
Try On with user's photo
Try On with user's photo
How might we encourage users to add more items to their closet?
Unlocking the flywheel
We knew going into this redesign that encouraging users to add items into their digital closet would be a major hurdle. The current process allowed them to add by photo, web, or our library but those options took a decent amount of effort. What we found was that while users were adding items, they weren't adding enough items in enough categories (shirts, pants, etc.) to create complete outfits. How might we encourage users to add more items to their closet?
Any given closet consists of a variety of clothing. Your favorite jacket, a new dress, the sweater your grandmother knitted you for the holidays that you never wear. Among all of those items are basic, foundational items - black jeans, a white t-shirt, etc. If we could help users add these basic items to their digital closet, we hypothesized that the time to creating their first outfit and reaching their "aha" moment would be a lot sooner.
Unlocking the flywheel
We knew going into this redesign that encouraging users to add items into their digital closet would be a major hurdle. The current process allowed them to add by photo, web, or our library but those options took a decent amount of effort. What we found was that while users were adding items, they weren't adding enough items in enough categories (shirts, pants, etc.) to create complete outfits. How might we encourage users to add more items to their closet?
Any given closet consists of a variety of clothing. Your favorite jacket, a new dress, the sweater your grandmother knitted you for the holidays that you never wear. Among all of those items are basic, foundational items - black jeans, a white t-shirt, etc. If we could help users add these basic items to their digital closet, we hypothesized that the time to creating their first outfit and reaching their "aha" moment would be a lot sooner.
Unlocking the flywheel
We knew going into this redesign that encouraging users to add items into their digital closet would be a major hurdle. The current process allowed them to add by photo, web, or our library but those options took a decent amount of effort. What we found was that while users were adding items, they weren't adding enough items in enough categories (shirts, pants, etc.) to create complete outfits. How might we encourage users to add more items to their closet?
Any given closet consists of a variety of clothing. Your favorite jacket, a new dress, the sweater your grandmother knitted you for the holidays that you never wear. Among all of those items are basic, foundational items - black jeans, a white t-shirt, etc. If we could help users add these basic items to their digital closet, we hypothesized that the time to creating their first outfit and reaching their "aha" moment would be a lot sooner.
Encourage user to add basic items to their closet in onboarding
Encourage user to add basic items to their closet in onboarding
User can dive deeper to find an item that is closer to what they own
User can dive deeper to find an item that is closer to what they own
Allow user to add basic items in closet as well
Allow user to add basic items in closet as well
And we were right! With this change, we'd unlocked a flywheel. Users would onboard by adding these basic items to their closet and were immediately able to start creating and trying on looks. This encouraged them to add more items to their closet, which in turn led to more looks and try ons!
And we were right! With this change, we'd unlocked a flywheel. Users would onboard by adding these basic items to their closet and were immediately able to start creating and trying on looks. This encouraged them to add more items to their closet, which in turn led to more looks and try ons!
And we were right! With this change, we'd unlocked a flywheel. Users would onboard by adding these basic items to their closet and were immediately able to start creating and trying on looks. This encouraged them to add more items to their closet, which in turn led to more looks and try ons!
Acquisition & beyond
In June of 2021, this project came to a sudden and bittersweet end. Forma was acquired by Snap and this project was shelved to focus on integrating our Try On experience into our new ecosystem. Though Forma as we knew it no longer existed, the insights and experiences gained through this project played a crucial role in shaping Snap's endeavors with our Try On technology.
Acquisition & beyond
In June of 2021, this project came to a sudden and bittersweet end. Forma was acquired by Snap and this project was shelved to focus on integrating our Try On experience into our new ecosystem. Though Forma as we knew it no longer existed, the insights and experiences gained through this project played a crucial role in shaping Snap's endeavors with our Try On technology.
Acquisition & beyond
In June of 2021, this project came to a sudden and bittersweet end. Forma was acquired by Snap and this project was shelved to focus on integrating our Try On experience into our new ecosystem. Though Forma as we knew it no longer existed, the insights and experiences gained through this project played a crucial role in shaping Snap's endeavors with our Try On technology.
© Nikhil Dua, 2024
© Nikhil Dua, 2024