My Role
UX Research, Strategy + Design
Tools
Sketch, Illustrator, Pen + Paper
Project Scope
2 weeks
COS is a fashion brand for women and men who want modern, functional design.
Offering reinvented classics + wardrobe essentials, they create minimalist pieces that are made to last beyond the season. Traditional methods + new techniques merge to form timeless, understated collections.
Since launching in 2007, they have opened stores worldwide in carefully considered locations, applying an architectural concept that preserves buildings’ original features whilst creating a modern, welcoming space.
Despite being a global subsidiary of H&M with 34 online markets their mobile presence is non-existent.
The web format is curated to portray an austere modern aesthetic atmosphere of the stores but they are missing a definitive opportunity that many people turn to mobile when shopping e-commerce.
The customer deserves a shop-able app that evokes the same on-brand experience that other platforms provide.
An app format is also a great transition for the coveted COS magazine which has gone from print to become online only format this past year.
As a fan of the brand I already know the customer base quite well. However I still sought out direction from 5 friends who are avid COS shoppers. I also interviewed 4 sales associates in 2 NYC locations to get their views on who the target customer is. In the end I was able to deduce these 2 main personas fit the average consumer base.
My first wireframes followed the basic narrative of other e-commerce apps like ASOS, H&M, Uniqlo.
I felt that while they get the point across and do the intended job of allowing a customer to buy an item they didn’t have the feel of what I knew COS represents to the customer. I know that adding branding will help to set it apart but I also needed the app to convey a sleeker more nuanced feeling that would make a customer want to use the app as more than just a means to shop.
Going forward I think it is important to add an instagram element to the app. Not in an obvious way but maybe allow the customer to interact more with the clothing, showing images of every day people & influencers wearing the clothes either attached to the item as “more pictures” or as it’s own scrollable screen.