Patagonia is an outdoor clothing and equipment company that focuses on being sustainable and environmentally conscious. Founded in 1973, Patagonia has quickly become a market leader in providing the most sustainable and durable outdoor apparel.
Roles
Content Strategy
Copywriting
Interaction Design
User Research
Visual Design
Tools
Figma
Adobe After Effects
Over the course of 5 weeks, I helped design a digital intervention for Patagonia. For this senior-level experience design course, in a design team of 5, we were tasked with proposing an experience for a client that could help solve a business problem, whilst still aligning with the client’s brand pillars.
My primary roles for this project consisted of conducting research to identify opportunities, designing and implementing interactions, content strategy, and performing quality checks on all deliverables to ensure a high-level of production.
Client
Patagonia is an outdoor clothing and equipment company that focuses on being sustainable and environmentally conscious. Founded in 1973, Patagonia has quickly become a market leader in providing the most sustainable and durable outdoor apparel.
The brand is grounded in many different pillars. However, the most prominent pillar the brand is established around is caring for the earth.
Environmental activism has been embedded in Patagonia’s DNA since it was founded. Patagonia is transparent in its sourcing practices, uses eco-friendly materials, and gives back to restoring the natural environment. They aim to educate consumers in any way when interacting with the brand.
Business Problem
Through initial secondary research, we discovered that some consumers cannot justify the high price point of certain Patagonia products. As Patagonia aims to create more environmentally conscious consumers, their efforts are hindered by pricing out certain demographics.
Research & Insights
After analyzing the business problem from different perspectives through secondary research, we identified a possible opportunity through Patagonia’s Worn Wear program. The program aims to extend the lifecycle of Patagonia products by offering customers the opportunity to buy and sell second-hand Patagonia items at a lower price point.
The program is challenging to discover as it lives as a separate entity from the main Patagonia website. Furthermore, there is little mention of the program on the main website.
In order to gain further insights around this potential opportunity, our team decided to conduct primary research in the form of surveys. In total, we had over 200+ survey respondents through Reddit, LinkedIn, and other social media outlets. The surveys allowed us to identify 3 key insights:
77% of survey respondents said that quality is one of the most critical factors when shopping for their outdoor products.
88% of our survey respondents who had heard of Patagonia, did not know about Patagonia’s Worn Wear program.
“I would like to know how long the product was used, whether or not it's in good condition.” - Second-hand shopper, Age 18-24
Initial Framing
Based on our key insights and findings, we identified an opportunity to better surface Patagonia’s Worn Wear program in order to make high-quality Patagonia products more accessible to a wider demographic of consumers. With the goal of increasing engagement with the brand, and tying into the brand pillar of introducing customers to a more environmentally conscious lifestyle.
Currently, we see a missed opportunity with the discovery and shopping experience of the Worn Wear program.
In the current Patagonia site design, it is difficult for customers to discover the Worn Wear site as there is limited mention of the program. One possible way of discovering the Worn Wear site is through the complex navigational menu.
Based on our research shoppers consider quality and condition the most important factors when shopping for pre-owned items. However, the quality and condition of Worn Wear items are not presented in detail and are not prominent enough.
Target Audience
From our research, we identified a target audience of an Eco-Conscious Frugalist. These people have heard of Patagonia and agree with their environmental mission, but have not made a purchase due to price.
We see the most potential with this group, as for them purchasing an outdoor product is like an investment. They would be the most willing to put in work to get the most value out of their product.
For the Eco-Conscious Frugalist, there is an early exit point within in shopping experience of Patagonia. Our intervention will aim to extend this experience by leveraging Worn Wear and targeting the discover and browse events of Worn Wear. We also needed to consider the post-purchase experience of providing these customers resources to get the most out of their purchase.
Content Strategy
During the pre-purchase experience, we aimed to leverage the Worn Wear program by surfacing the memorable aspects behind every pre-owned product. Removing the hesitations of purchasing second-hand and creating a personal connection to the product and the brand’s environmental mission.
The feasibility of this was based on information that Patagonia was already collecting during the trade-in process. Our intervention would extend this to allow for more information to be provided.
Design Sprint
To ideate on potential forms, we launched into a 5-day design sprint which resulted in a medium-high fidelity prototype ready for user testing.
Ultimately, we landed on a re-design of the Worn Wear site where customers would have more transparency behind the second-hand item they were purchasing. This would be achieved by taking customers through an immersive journey of the products life-cycle from its previous owners.
Additionally, we designed more touchpoints into the external Worn Wear site in order to make it more prominent for customers visiting Patagonia.
Near the end of the 5-day sprint, we aimed to validate our concept through testing with 6 participants who fit our target audience of people who had heard of Patagonia but had not made a purchase due to price. The testing was designed to measure the desirability of the intervention and whether the hesitations of purchasing pre-owned items were removed. The user testing allowed us to move forward with 2 key insights:
The most crucial factor for someone to consider if they want to purchase the product is the quality. Through our limited user testing, we identified the story aspect of our prototype to be interesting but too aspirational. While the story attempts to make an emotional connection, we observed from our findings that it'd be better if the story could prove the jacket's durability or cleanliness.
The issue of discovering the Worn Wear items was still not addressed. Our participants were confused as to why these products were on a separate external website from new Patagonia items. Introducing doubts to whether Worn Wear products were as good as new Patagonia products.
Final Solution
Design Decisions
Insight: Consumers cannot justify the high price point of certain Patagonia products. In addition, consumers are unaware that Patagonia has a program that offers pre-owned items at a lower price point.
Design Approach: By merging the Worn Wear products with the new products, it puts Worn Wear items on the same level. Customers are then able to view the contrast in prices of new and Worn Wear items side-by-side.
Insight: Shoppers require more information when deciding to purchase pre-owned items compared to purchasing new.
Design Approach: Immersing customers in the repair process and surfacing where exactly on the product the scarred or worn areas are. Providing transparency and allowing customers to better judge the quality of the product.
Insight: Quality is the most important factor for customers when purchasing outdoor products.
Design Approach: Surfacing aftercare information provides customers the resources to keep their garment in top-quality or trade-in their garment to receive store-credit.
Value Proposition
Our proposal provides tangible, intangible, and aspirational value to both the Patagonia brand and their customers. For Patagonia, they are able to reach a wider demographic of people due to the lower price point, and help introduce customers to a more sustainable lifestyle. For the customer, they are able to purchase a high quality outdoor product at a more affordable price, and are given resources to get the most out of their product. As a result, they end up purchasing less, leading to a more environmentally sustainable lifestyle.
Reflection
As a growing designer, working on this project has been one of the most transformative learning experiences in my academic career. In large part, due to the course instructor Russell Taylor, and the vast amount of guest industry critics he introduced to us week after week. Also, this was one of the first times in my academic career where I was exposed to business and design working in tandem, and learning how experience design could be employed to help solve business problems.
One of the biggest challenges of working on this project was adjusting to Covid-19 measures as a design team. Early on in this project our team was strictly working remotely. Although the project was progressing steadily, our work flow was slow and our quality of work was being hindered. Midway through the project, our team collectively decided to begin meeting in-person. This switch from remote to in-person work was the single greatest decision that helped land this project. By switching to in-person meetings, it allowed us to get back to the roots of working as a design team. Immersing ourselves within our project by once again using whiteboards, sticky notes, and printing screenshots, gave us the ability to quickly reject bad ideas and pivot our direction.
Overall, this project was well-received as one of the top projects in class. However, taking this project further there needs to be more considerations around responsive design. Our proposal was designed strictly in desktop, as from our research we found that most online shoppers would finalize their checkout on desktop. However, we also realize that the mobile e-commerce industry is rapidly growing, and there needs to be considerations for other screen sizes for this experience.