Allbirds, Stepbirds Mobile App
Count Every Step Of Your Own
The mobile apps provide Allbird customers an interactive and enjoyable shopping experiences by extending the journey to build a connected community with displays of customer-friendly information on products and services.
Watch promo video here!
Role
Self-Directed
Duration
8 months
Project Scope
UI/UX Design
Design Process
02
01
04
03
Secondary Research
Literature Review
& Environmental Scanning
Brand Research
User Research
Data Synthesis
Empathy Map
Insights
Design Criteria
Persona
Design
UI Style Guide
Wireframes
Prototype
Walkthrough
User Testing
Final Prototype
Promotion Video
Project Background
Trend
The Pandemic & Online Shopping
Increase in online shopping due to
‘from home’ lifestyles.
(IMRG, 2022)
Opportunity to develop
the digital space
of eco-runners
Footwear Industry & Environment
Shoes emit massive amounts of CO2e.
Production demand affects 20% of the apparel industry's environmental impact.
(Future Market Insights, 2022)
The Brand - Allbirds
Allbirds is a New Zealand based eco-friendly sneaker and apparel brand.
It uses natural materials and aims to achieve 0 carbon footprint shoes.
The brand gained popularity with its Merino wool runners. The company
shows exceptional growth in the market, now valued at $1.7 billion.
Allbirds leverages social media for marketing & customer engagement.
Informative content on Instagram, X, FB, and LinkedIn about its sustainability practices and product innovations such as materials and models shares
brand values, ideas, and real-time feedback from customers.
Brand Problem
1. Weak customer engagement
Social media platforms are the
only channels for customer community
& communication
2. Need customer acquisition
Allbird needs to target a larger group of younger millennials.
Last long, high-quality shoes “require a higher level of rapid customer acquisition and audience growth” (Eyal, 2020).
Generative Question
How can I make an interactive and engaging shopping experience for
young millennial consumers?
User Research
Conducted interviews to examine sustainable shopping
behaviors, thoughts of college students in their 20s.
Most showed Intention - Action Gap (Harvard Business Review,
2019), which their beliefs in sustainability aren't put into action.
70%
responded they prefer 'ethical fashion' (fair trade, sustainable production, & animal welfare), but only
10%
of them had purchased sustainable products.
Empathy Map
I organized interviewee's responses into a map to find relationships, analyze, and interpret problems. See below for the analysis.
Analysis of Empathy Map
Emotions from Influences
-
Proud and satisfied to influence
others and get influenced -
Feel prides to make contributions
to the environmental crisis
Individuality
-
Consume and style to express their values, personality and mood.
Overwhelming information
-
Transparent info on production
& impacts are sufficient. -
Difficult to understand.
Intention - Action gap
-
Prefer ethical fashion & willing to pay premium.
-
But eco-friendly brands aren't easily accessible.
-
Lack of design options.
Online Shopping
-
Most use mobile phones to browse and purchase.
Low accessibility
-
Customers need more interaction with sustainable brands either online/offline.
Insights & Solutions
I extracted problems and insights from the analysis and derived services regarding possible solutions.
As is
1.
Heavy text info makes it difficult for customers to relate to themselves.
2.
Rewards and feedback on customers' influential behaviors motivate them.
3.
Customers need wider design options
that suit their mood & values.
To be
Visual & concise info for better comprehesion, interaction with raw materials through social media for transparent info.
Walk & Donate service that bonds customer community online, and extends engagement with healthy & influential activities
CO2e customizable runners, an interactive feature empowers customers with more personalized options.
Design Criteria
The above solutions were evaluated within set design criteria below.
Sustainable
Familiar Transparent Info
Easily accessible
A wide range of sneaker designs
Must
Influential / Shareable
Motivate their eco-conscious values
Satisfy consumers
Should
Reward customers
Reasonably priced
Mobile app
Could
Persona
The two personas represent target users, based on the user research.
Design
UI Style Guide
Allbird's unique identity is recognizable through its playful and witty contents and graphics and a serious market presence.
To reinforce customer engagement, I maintained their original cute illustrations, and funny GIFs, and enhanced the color theme to reflect cozy, light, breezy vibes. I referred to its ads to create a moodboard that resonates health, nature, and liveliness.
Logo
The logo design style of the two mobile apps is unified. It represents
the integrated system.
Color
#C9E3EF
#1BBBFF
Button & Icon
85
#FFFFBD
#FFFF7C
#FFDD7C
#E0E3B7
#B8C89B
#FFFFFF
#EDEDED
#777777
#00020D
Color
65
Type
The modernist type suit minimal concept and enhances readability.
Style
Weight
Size
Wireframes
Walkthrough
1. Customizable Runners
Immerse yourself in personalization as you
create a pair of dream runners.
Choose how much environmental footprint
to save or use, and enjoy designing options.
The checkout process with real-life examples summarizes your carbon footprint emissions, which enhances your understanding of the environmental impacts.
2. Engage With Allbirds Materials
Explore & share news about the artisans and raw materials on Instagram.
Interact to access transparent information regarding the sourcing, treatment, and production environment of the materials.
3. Walk the Talk
Stay connected with Allbirds beyond your purchase.
Tread to embrace healthier lifestyle choices for yourself and the planet! Inspire friends and family to join you in vibrant online communities even amidst pandemic restrictions.
Log In
Tutorial
Stay motivated by checking your records and tracking your progress together.
User Testing
I made improvements based on participants' negative feedbacks and their hesitations, misclicks, and lingerings obseserved during the shadow exercise.
Displayed examples help me understand numerized info
I want to use the app to design my left and right runners in different colors.
I feel stuffed during pandemic, so I like the idea that I can invite friends to exercise
1.
Complexed UI of the customizing process
Buttons are supported with titles.
It guides users to retrieve more info.
Broke apart steps to help users focus.
Before
After
2.
Does not guide user to instagram.
Product detail from 'scroll down' to 'slide right'. It improves visualization and simplifies the delivery of info.
3.
Need more explanationof features.
Tutorials are displayed after the user logs in for the first time.
Final Prototype
Every step at Allbirds from browsing and using products to its end cycle empowers customers with an experience of a sustainable practice. When they experience Allbirds, they understand sustainable consumption.
Interact with the final prototype displayed below.
Why Allbirds & Stepbirds App?
After watching the promotion video, you experience the app here!
Important Takeaways & Next steps
Time Management & Prudence
As much as it was a long term project, time management was important. It was challenging to take details on every research and design stages as I encountered many unexpected problems and changes, and had to meet my deadlines.
Solutions to Problems
Sustainable fashion was a big topic to begin with since it is one of the main social issues.
There were endless research and countless problems in discussion. I learned that it is difficult to suggest perfect solutions but there are stages towards betterment and delays of environmental impacts. I gained empathy in how others would feel about the issue, which I tried to narrow down the problems to come up with designs that approach the customers in a intimate and easier way.
The further steps of this project would be more user testing and marketing the mobile app to see the market growth.
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