Week 12: Finale
I can honestly say that the last 12 weeks have gone so fast, like a rollercoaster…up and down - and very fast. I have really enjoyed this first module. I wasn’t sure what I expected when I started the course (it seems like such a long time ago now), however I feel like Development Practice was a fantastic module to kick-start my studies.
Lockdown created space in my mind to think about the future career plans. I knew it was a good moment in my life to study and learn new skills and gain new qualifications. I decided to enrol on this course because whilst It felt like a new tangent, I knew that I could harness the knowledge and experience I’ve gained throughout my life, particularly in the fashion industry. I aim to focus my studies in this area, specifically bridging the gap between the online and physical fashion retail world.
Coming from a background where I designed physical artefacts, I must say I was slightly intimated by the idea of the focus being aimed squarely at the online user experience. Will I have to design only apps? Do I need coding skills? What if I get found out? These were very much my initial (probably irrational) fears. Followed closely by the sudden realisation it had been over ten years since I had written an academic essay and I had never written for a blog before. I knew that many of my peers already worked in the field of UX and I felt a little intimidated.
Creative Reflective Journal
Throughout this module I have written weekly blog posts to discuss my understanding of the weekly topic and to reflect upon my not only my current learning experience, but also on how my studies can relate back to my previous career in fashion. I found it was a great way to keep my thoughts, understanding and work in one place. I can look back at the journal at any time and see how far I’ve developed, as well as boost confidence in my abilities.
On reflection, I spent a lot of time at the beginning worrying about the creation of the blog - mainly which platform to use and how to structure the pages. I have another website that I use for my fashion career, and I was tempted to incorporate my CRJ into that site at first. I eventually decided against this and thought it best to create a new blog site that would be a UX extension of my Yo Patchy! brand.
I would like to say that I wrote my posts weekly, directly after challenge activities, study pods or reading. I didn’t always, and moving forwards I would really like to get into the routine of writing an initial post at the point of study followed by a reflective post later.
Course Structure
I felt that the structure of the course was really well balanced. It took me a few weeks to understand the weekly patterns of releasing the following weeks materials and study pods. I had some personal issues around the middle of the course, with some family members falling sick, which impacted my ability to focus as much as I would have like to. I did get behind by a few weeks too, which led to a feeling of anxiety as I knew the course was moving at a steady weekly pace.
I think the topics covered were very useful and wide reaching - and the order of them made for a natural progression of topics. I really enjoyed the combination of videos alongside weekly reading lists, this made it quite easy to navigate backwards in later weeks if I felt like I needed to recap anything.
I was quite nervous about Study Pods if i’m being honest. This wasn’t down to a fear of public speaking, I have presented to large audiences many times. It was more the fear of looking like I don’t belong or that I don’t understand things as well as others. This was of course, completely unnecessary as my tutors and peers made me feel very welcome. I put this down to me being a newbie to UX.
Work v. Study Challenges
The biggest challenge I faced was fitting my study in alongside my full-time job. I work in a very stressful and busy online retail business at the moment. As we all know, online retail boomed at the start of the pandemic and never really settled back to ‘normal’. I have have often had to work very long hours and this has left me quite tired by the time I get home each evening. In some ways I wish I hadn’t mentioned that I had started a Masters degree, as I feel like since I began the course, I have been continually given extra work to do and holidays that I had requested in order to study were cancelled at short notice.
As I move into the next module, I am beginning to look for my first position in UX. I have updated my CV and have written speculative letters of introduction that I will send to some recruitment companies. I think it would be beneficial for me to be working in the UX industry soon, even as a Junior position. I can use the new skills I learn on the course in a real world environment.
Final Major Project
I have always had a clear vision of the type of UX work I would like to carry out in the future. I have a strong background as a designer in the fashion industry. I design and develop products that people can wear. It’s such an exciting career and it always brings me joy when I see the product of my hard work. The last few years I have seen many changes to the high street, as customers swap the physical store for the convenience of online retail. This shift massively increased during the pandemic, but of course this was not the fault of the stores.
I think it is a very exciting time for the fashion industry, and whilst many argue that the online experience should be more personal and localised, drawing influence from the high street experience, I would also argue that physical stores could (and must) evolve by embracing elements from the online store that we the user find so convenient. I believe this evolution is necessary in order to retain interest in the high street.
Amazon took UX concepts from their online store into their first physical bookstore, and I was excited to discover than some high-profile luxury fashion brands were following suit to integrate offline and online shopping experiences to enhance the customer journey.
Tech company Oaklabs created a touch screen interactive mirror which enables the customer to check stock level, request sizes and see suggested looks, all from the changing room. Ralph Lauren have already implemented this technology and other brands are increasingly working with tech companies to embrace UX concepts.
According to research carried out by students of the Fashion Institute of Technology in 2015, “bricks-and-mortar retail must rethink and reinvent its four key elements: assortment, service, navigation and product”
Isabelle Harvie-Watt, Global CEO of Havas LuxHub says, “Brands, particularly the traditional luxury fashion brands, need to shift their focus to their customers and on how to engage them. They need to know their data; they need to understand their customer; they need to be global yet increasingly local and personalized in their approach; they need to become much more digital but at the same time experiential."
I have approached a fashion brand called Finisterre. They are based in Cornwall and I have worked with them previously as a freelance designer. Whilst I am not quite sure yet what I will produce for them (mainly because I don’t want to limit myself at this point). I will propose that I create an artefact that is very brand specific, that can be used to merge the their online presence with their physical stores. Finisterre is such a great brand, and they have themselves pioneered production methods to be eco-friendly and fully sustainable. They have also engineered packaging that dissolves in water instead of polluting the earth. Whilst it is still very early days, I know they will be a very receptive company to work with.
Future Reading List
Here are some articles, case studies and books that I intend to read over the coming months that will enrich my knowledge UX and Fashion Brand Strategy. I’ve also included SCRUM Project Management as I believe this would be useful to improve my project management skills in the future.
Approaching UX design with a fashion designers eye by Regine Gilbert, Ralph Lauren
The Future of Luxury Retail Bricks-and-Mortar – Case Study, FIT, 2015
Can UX designers learn from the fashion industry? [online]
The Luxury Strategy: Break the Rules of Marketing to Build Luxury Brands by Jean-Noël Kapferer
Luxury Online: Styles, Systems, Strategies by Uche Okonkwo
The Management of Luxury: A Practitioner's Handbook by Benjamin Berghaus, Gunter Muller-Stewens, and Sven Reincke
Trading Up: Why Consumers Want New Luxury Goods--and How Companies Create Them by Michaels Silverstein, Neil Fiske, and John Butman.
Rethinking Luxury: How to Market Exclusive Products in an Ever-Changing Environment by Luxury Essentials: Essential Insights and Strategies to Manage Luxury Products Martin Wittig, Fabian Sommerrock, and Markus Albers.
Scrum Project Management by Kim Pries.
References
HARVIE-WATT, Isabel. ‘The Global Luxury Customer Journey’ [online] Accessed 23rd August <https://www.havasluxhub.com/the-global-luxury-customer-journey/>
Bibliography
FASHION INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY. 2015 [case study] ‘The Future of Luxury Retail Bricks and Mortar’