Basel
Reimagining the try-on experience at a boutique clothing store
Basel is a concept for a boutique clothing store that reimagines the try-on experience. It combines the convenience of online shopping with the tactile joy of in-store experiences.
As a lead UX designer on this project, I led the creation of a self-guided, art gallery-inspired shopping experience that not only solves common retail pain points but elevates the entire concept of trying on clothes.
Notable distributions
Concept Development
I collaborated with the team to conduct and lead key evaluative studies, ensuring a user-centered design approach throughout the project.
Complete UX/UI Design
I created a whole design system including a visual guide and information architecture.
High Fidelity Prototyping
I was responsible for creating the screens, visual language, and interactions for mobile and iPad screens.
Team
Jiho Kim(Lead Designer)
2 UX Researchers
2 Designers
Duration
2 months
Tools
Figma
Duration
Literature Review
Qualitative Interviews
Rapid Ideation
Rapid Prototyping
Evaluative Research
Design outcome
Basel
Reimagining the Try-On Experience at an Art Gallery-Themed Clothing Store
The challenge
"I love shopping, but I hate the hassle"
said Sarah, one of our research participants. This sentiment echoed across our user studies, highlighting a paradox in modern retail:
67% of in-store try-ons result in a purchase, yet many customers avoid fitting rooms due to long waits and frustration.
Online shopping offers convenience but lacks the tactile experience crucial for clothing purchases.
Our challenge was clear…
How might we redesign the clothing try-on experience to balance empowerment, pleasure, and self-reflection?
Research
Curating the problems
To truly understand our users, we immersed ourselves in their world:
Fly on the Wall
observations at 4 retail stores
Next Year’s Headlines
with 4 employees and 3 customers
Focus Group interview
with 2 college students (male and female)
What did we find?
From these sources, we compiled findings about both customers and staff.
01
Staff desire to offer personalized assistance but are often constrained by time and resources.
02
Customers crave a balanced sensory experience, avoiding overstimulating environments.
03
The disconnect between fitting room and real-world appearance leads to returns and dissatisfaction.
Ideation
From Wild Ideas to Workable Solutions
Based on insights, our team started an intensive ideation phase. I facilitated brainstorming sessions that generated over 100 ideas, which we then synthesized through multiple rounds of voting and discussion.
Affinity mapping from our figjam
Going from 90 ideas to 2
After having multiple rounds, two concepts rose to the top:
01
A digital wishlist that bridges online browsing with in-store experiences
02
An art installation-inspired store layout for a more immersive, aesthetic experience
How did we downselect to 1?
One way that helped guide our down-selection process was by generating 5 insights-driven design principles. I facilitated discussions to define our design principles.
efficient and joyful for everyone
encourage product retention
foster confidence through self-reflection
elicit a deeper connection to the product story
All this boils down to combining the two ideas…
Individually, we believed each scenario to lack potential as a standalone project. Together, we anticipated their integration could potentiate something innovative within the retail sector.
Foundationally, they both derived from important aspects of our research.
Design
Building out the foundations
Customer journey mapping
I created a CX journey map to visualize the experience of a museum visitor, which helped realize the greatest opportunity for the product.
Organizing four user flows
I created a CX journey map to visualize the experience of a museum visitor, which helped realize the greatest opportunity for the product.
Organizing four user flows
I created a CX journey map to visualize the experience of a museum visitor, which helped realize the greatest opportunity for the product.
Organizing four user flows
I created a CX journey map to visualize the experience of a museum visitor, which helped realize the greatest opportunity for the product.
Organizing four user flows
I created a CX journey map to visualize the experience of a museum visitor, which helped realize the greatest opportunity for the product.
User testing
Bringing Basel to Life
With our concept taking shape, it was time to make it tangible. We transformed a teammate's apartment lounge into a makeshift Basel boutique. Portable hangers became our "magic closet," iPads our interface to the digital world.
Scenario 1: At-Home
During these sessions, participants were encouraged to verbalize their impressions, thoughts, and experiences while viewing the prototypes in the 3D environment.
Task
“One day, you come across a post on your friend Joho’s Instagram about Basel, a fitting room only experience ...Intrigued, you decide to give Basel a try!”
Scenario 2: At-Basel
Participants were given two specific tasks to complete:
Check-in process
Settings in the Fitting Room
“Magic Closet” feature -
Post-Interview
After going through the experience prototype, we had a 15-minute post-test interview session with each participant.
Q1
Q2
What worked?
Room for Improvement
iteration
Getting closer to the desire outcome
“Abandon the walk-out checkout experience and incorporate human interaction elements through style curators”
Our thematic analysis from notion
Takeaways
Realistic representation (e.g., texture and color) matters to perceiving 3D models in the XR environment.
Size demonstration with numerical value helps users’ understanding.
Users use mobile-based interactions such as swiping to control XR elements.
Due to the field of view, the center objects are noticed faster than the outer ones.
