Styell is a project I'm working on right now with a friend. I love shopping for clothes and often times I shop online because it's hard to find stuff I like in malls. However, the problem with shopping online is that retail websites ignore the needs of the customer. Websites don't know your gender or clothing preferences, so you have to dig through the website to find what you want just like you do in real life.
Online shopping lacks a personalized experience. The reason why Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest are such great apps - they're personalized. The people and topics we follow become the only way to cut through the intense and growing quantity and complexity of data and content in the world.
I'm not following the traditional process of conducting user interviews and research while doing this project. For one, it can get formulaic, you can become swayed by user bias during research and you can lose sight of what matters - building something that solves a problem and provides value. I'm following the advice of Codecademy's CEO, Zach Sims.
"It's much easier to build for yourself. You know what works and what doesn't."
Problem
Online clothing retailers ignore needs of the shopper.
