LEVIS.COM IMAGE COLLAGE USER RESEARCH STUDY Becca Scollan Malia Nagle Cynthia York Research Methods for Interaction Design w/dr. Kathryn Summers School of Information Arts & Technologies University of Baltimore March 2008
TABLE OF CONTENTS 1..Executive Summary 2..Methodology 3 13..Themes 3..Transformation 8..Support my Unique Needs 11 Youth 13 Trust/Security 15.Design Implications 17.Appendix: Users 18 25..Appendix: Image Collages 18.Giordana 22.Sarah 24.Thao 26.Melissa
SUMMARY Levis, the prominent, well known and loved fashion denim company in the United States, is looking to improve customer satisfaction and user experience on their website. One of the challenges Levis faces in this endeavor is expanding its customer base without alienating its most loyal customers. To begin to understand some of the most effective ways in which to do this, the image collage user research method was engaged to find what matters most to consumers while purchasing clothing online. Four twenty something women with a strong sense of fashion identity were interviewed to uncover core motivations of potential Levis customers. The four themes repeated throughout the interviews provide insight into how Levis can construct information and interaction on their website. TRANSFORMATION Women actively seek to transform themselves from the ho hum of everyday to more desirable, exciting states like sexy or glamorous. Fashion is one of the primary means for achieving such desired states. MY UNIQUE NEEDS ARE WHAT MATTERS Women are concerned about their own needs and body types when shopping for clothes online. Disruptions to this might make them feel insecure, making their online experience a negative one. YOUTH Women have many positive, youthful associations with denim. TRUST Women want to feel protected and safe in both their brand decision and online shopping experience. LEVIS. COM IMAGE COLLAGE STUDY // 1
IMAGE COLLAGE METHOD The image collaging method pulls consumers' unconscious thoughts and feelings out into the open by using compelling imagery to explore memories and emotions. The process helps to identify and uncover drivers of human behavior and surface latent or unknown needs. Users' inability to clearly articulate their own requirements is a leading cause of interaction design failure. Four young women participated in the levis.com image collaging sessions at the University of Baltimore in March, 2008. During the sessions, the participants were told that an online retailer, levis.com, was creating new ways to make the online experience of purchasing clothing easier and friendlier. Participants were presented with 100 color images to collage onto a large sheet of paper. They were advised that the images were metaphorical and meant to represent qualities that a web site should or should not have, not literal images that would appear on the site. They were asked to select images of how they would want to experience purchasing clothes on levis.com. Participants were asked to create a "collage" by selecting four images that reflected: Characteristics they want the site to possess Ways they want to be approached by the site's content Participants also selected two images that reflected: Characteristics they do NOT want the site to possess Ways they do NOT want to be approached by the site's content Participants were instructed to attach the selected images to a template and to write a brief explanation about why they selected each image and what it represents to them. Each was given 15 minutes to complete this exercise without interruption from the moderators. Two moderators were present during each session to conduct the interview and observe. After each participant completed their collage, they were asked a series of questions. The interviews were divided into two sections: Participants were asked to describe each image selected and why they chose that particular image. Participants were asked to describe any stories, feelings or emotions in relation to each image. LEVIS. COM IMAGE COLLAGE STUDY // 2
TRANSFORMATION The women interviewed all found fashion as a means towards achieving positive emotions, such as feeling empowered, sexy or attractive. The interviews suggest that fashion is a means to which women feel they can transform themselves from the everyday to desired special and unique emotional states. Allusions to motion or energy were repeated, implying that the desire for transformation is an active search. The transformation is also one that has limitations. One participant, in pointing out her desire to feel "with it," noted the need to feel accepted and in the norm. While she wanted to feel fashionable and edgy, she also has a need to feel safe and acceptable in regards to mainstream fashion. The same participant also explained how she uses online shopping to feel connected, which can also be considered a positive emotional state actively sought. TRANSFORMATION: VIBRANT & ENERGIZED Participants used active, energetic language to describe positive attributes, while negative emotions around the subject were described with words such as stuck or caught. Such active imagery in their wording underscores the act (i.e., action) of transformation. For example, two participants referred to finding an article of clothing they liked as a "score," an active word that implies seeking or catching. Another participant was attracted to imagery that is colorful, interactive and "kind of magnetic." (Giordana) (Melissa) LEVIS. COM IMAGE COLLAGE STUDY // 3
"It also represents me being stuck or not having all the tools I need to get to a goal." (Giordana) "I don t want to see racks and racks of random clothes and white walls and tan carpeting. I think that s very institutional and kind of alienating" (Giordana) LEVIS. COM IMAGE COLLAGE STUDY // 4
TRANSFORMATION: EMPOWERED Two of the participants associated fashion, as well as jeans, with a feeling of empowerment. Empowerment was related to the ability to do something out of the norm and feeling accepted while doing so. In both instances, clothing was the means to that feeling. "[despite feeling a sense of] I shouldn't be wearing this...everyone is saying [in the gay bar] 'oh my God girl you look fierce!' that s empowering!" (Sarah) [What is stylish?] "Knowing who you are, and within that knowing how to challenge yourself, but not be so over the top so that it's abrasive or inconceivable to the eyes of others you know, be with it, but know there are certain limits when it comes to fashion, to who you are, and that's just the realities of normal society...so I definitely think knowing your place, where you are and where you're going and always just having a certain quality of yourself within that" (Sarah) "I feel like I can get this stuff done when I'm wearing jeans. I feel empowered, like I can do men's work...i just think being a woman being traditionally considered men s work is empowering and that s what I kind of get from wearing jeans I feel empowered when I can wear jeans." (Giordana) There s so much determination on behalf of the couple they re just like, f it. (Sarah) LEVIS. COM IMAGE COLLAGE STUDY // 5
TRANSFORMATION: CONFIDENT & SEXY Fashion was repeatedly connected to the confidence associated with feeling attractive throughout the participant interviews. The connection implies that women purchase clothing to attain such confidence and the resulting, positive emotions. Several participants indicated that in buying clothes online they highly anticipate how the clothes will make them feel upon receipt. One participant noted that during an online shopping experience, she thinks about future emotions, "like how an item will make [her] feel sexy." Similar thoughts were echoed in other interviews, describing anticipation around feeling pretty, cool or glamorous. "When I think of fashion, I think of something that really accentuates my femininity and I feel pretty" (Giordana) [In response to question, what is your favorite outfit?] "I strive to be glamorous...and pretty" (Melissa) [Response to what is fashionable?] I want to feel like the coolest person in the world" (Melissa) (Giordana) "my eyes are attracted to the stark image...the cinching make me feel oddly and weirdly sexy...[especially] the act of cinching and the way the waistline is formed (Sarah) LEVIS. COM IMAGE COLLAGE STUDY // 6
TRANSFORMATION: CONNECTED One participant interviewed also sought a feeling of connection in making purchases online due to some of the unique offering online shopping has to offer. She described a book purchase for her boss on Amazon.com. The book had a specific connection to his past that correlated with her own family's history, and she described the experience of purchasing the book as one that made her feel closer to him. She described the feeling as a connection, and was pleased with the memory of his very appreciative and surprised response. "When you're shopping for others in mind...i start to think about what our relationship is...whether it be my sister, mother, boyfriend...and you start to think about why they're important to you, why this particular item you might be getting for them can reflect how much you care about them..and that definitely brings up a sweetness for me" (Sarah) (Sarah) LEVIS. COM IMAGE COLLAGE STUDY // 7
SUPPORT MY UNIQUE NEEDS All of the participants interviewed expressed the desire that their online experience speak to their own personal desires and needs. The need to express their own individuality came out in wanting to see themselves reflected in their experience on the site, and the fear of being exposed as somehow different or abnormal. Participants appreciated the unique experience of shopping for clothing online as one that offered no judgments and can be tailored to what they want. Two of the participants were concerned about seeing women who looked like themselves in their online shopping experience; for it indicated that their purchase would fit and make them feel confident and sexy. One participant who is Vietnamese chose two images with Asian women without realizing her choice until half way through the interview. "I want to see myself pulling it off" (Sarah) when you see well rounded and I don t mean that in the physical necessarily, but when you see ages and groups and types of people that are sort of the everyday not to the extent that you don t want to buy the clothing but in the sense that it s not all 16 year old girls in size 2 that it s 30 year old women that are wearing really cool clothes and can still pull it off because I think and you also just get sick of looking at people like that, it s just not real (Sarah) "Staying on top of fashions staying with it, making people feel like they can achieve those looks because staying on top of fashions...is going to have those edgy qualities that you're looking for that makes you feel stylish and with it and so, if you feel like you can achieve those looks and it's reasonably priced and accessible to your size, that alone makes you feel those kind of qualities" (Sarah) "It's good to see this on an Asian model Having an Asian model, such as the Japanese makeup line uses Japanese models lets you know they have products specifically for Asian skin. (Thao) One participant was especially concerned when her clothing size was not available or the clothing didn't fit upon receipt. She took these experiences very personally, feeling like there might be something wrong or different about her. She went as far as to say that not seeing her body type and unique needs made her feel "abnormal" or "physically distorted." LEVIS. COM IMAGE COLLAGE STUDY // 8
When you're shopping and you find something really great and you're so excited about it and you go to get the size and you click and it s like sorry we don t have that size and then you start feeling like, especially being tall or being large, or whatever it is, you start to think why don t they have my size and you start to think, abnormally like is there something wrong with me, you start to question (Sarah) [A negative online shopping experience] "It always has to do with clothes [describing the experience of clothes not fitting] oh I think I've lost some weight...i'm gonna get them a size below, and you get them, and can barely squeeze them on, and I have a pair in the closet now I keep them I'm thinking I'll lose the weight, I'll fit into them one day" (Sarah) (Sarah) The unique experience of shopping online rather than in a physical store was important to two of the participants in that this experience offers no judgments. It revolves around their own time and has the ability to offer an experience tailored to their own needs. "Shopping in stores, I'm so less likely to let myself feel all these things [referring to positive images]...because it's the dodging through people, sifting through clothes, waiting in line for a dressing room...you're not really taking in all the things that you can potentially be feeling in your shopping experience...personally I think I gain more like, my own involvement in the experience when its online because it s on my own time, I can save it and come back to it, I can get those things I wouldn't normally get, I could get sizes I may not be comfortable getting you don't want to be questioned at the counter...if you're going to a store you wouldn't normally...there's a certain sensitivity with that I don't feel as open to feel all these [positive] things" (Sarah) Well first of all I would want them to be very much do it yourself. I d want them to let me almost I won t say design my jeans but would let me choose the attributes I look for so I look for if I m looking for slim fitting jeans with a low waist wash and I would want that series of attributes then tell me which jeans fit those attributes (Giordana) LEVIS. COM IMAGE COLLAGE STUDY // 9
"something that I can t do anywhere else" (Giordana) LEVIS. COM IMAGE COLLAGE STUDY // 10
CAREFREE Positive associations between jeans, youth and comfort were repeated in interviews in both image choice and personal stories. Associations to youth and childhood also brought up feelings such as carefree, fun and relaxed. "There s a joy in jeans" (Sarah) "I feel like when I get to wear jeans that I am my age I'm not the 10 years older that I feel like when I'm in business casual...it's not the same as wearing a pair of flare jeans and a nice shirt" (Sarah) "And not all fashion but I associate these jeans with childhood and happy stuff and that kind of emotional tie in would be beneficial on a website fun, carefree, not at all stressful, kind of relaxed." (Giordana) "I remember when I was in high school, 14 or 15 I was really into vintage clothes and there was a local thrift shop right near my house and I would always come home from school, the thrift shop closes at 4, and I could really only get there if when I got home from school I went there right away, and I remember I went through a period, they had jeans for like $2 because it was like jeans from the seventies, and I remembers I would buy up all these jeans and I would make things out of them, I would cut them off and make jeans shorts, or jean skorts whatever it was so that just reminded me of being Jeans are such a good tool. You can make anything from jeans. They are comfortable and I used to at that time in my life I would buy really big jeans, not the kind that would fall off me but baggy jeans and I would wear boxer shorts under my jeans." (Giordana) "Whenever we have denim day [at work] it's like, woo hoo!" (Sarah) (Giordana) (Thao) LEVIS. COM IMAGE COLLAGE STUDY // 11
(Sarah) makes me feel silly and young (Sarah) LEVIS. COM IMAGE COLLAGE STUDY // 12
TRUST/ SECURITY Concerns around trust and security were repeated in regards to both purchasing clothing and shopping online. Participants were looking for either some form of familiarity, such as a trusted brand or a referral from a friend, or feelings of comfort and protection. Participants were wary of the consequences of a website they did not trust, especially the inconvenience around returning items that don't fit. Knowing it will fit I'd buy if I already owned a pair I shop on L.L. Bean when I'm not concerned with stuff fitting, jackets, etc. (Giordana) It s such a pain in the ass [if it doesn t fit] it takes the convenience out of shopping online (Sarah) "I hate sending things back going to the post office it's inconvenient" (Sarah) And, from an online shopping perspective, I don t like to feel like I m rushed, purchasing the last item left. When I m online, I don t like competing against other people for a product. (Giordana) I guess on the back I want anytime am shopping online or purchasing I want to feel secure, not like am being cheated and that has to do also with pricing. (Giordana) If a friend recommended it, I would buy it. (Thao) "The thing that stresses me out it that I always feel I have to beat that other person out to get that last box, or I will not be able to put my furniture together and I hate that feeling." (Giordana) "It made me feel like someone s watching out for me, protecting me" (Giordana) (Thao) (Melissa) LEVIS. COM IMAGE COLLAGE STUDY // 13
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DESIGN IMPLICATIONS Levis can use the four discovered themes along with what is unique to the internet to construct an architecture that reflects customer core motivations. Create an information architecture that uses language that emphasizes how clothing will look and feel. The web is a textual medium, and language creates the structure of a website. Use text that appeals to how women want to feel through fashion to not only describe products, but organize the content itself. Doing this will emphasize the transformative aspects of fashion. Get to know your customers (whether or not you know them). Learn who customers are, either individually through a membership or through common decisions and behaviors using analytics, and cater their online experience and interaction around their personal preferences. Make the experience unique to who they are and what they want when shopping online. Support positive feelings and anticipation in the checkout process. Consider the interaction of using the check out akin to dealing with a trusted, known salesperson. The interaction should be quick, easy, comfortable, and have a sense of what they individually want at this stage of the experience. Provide instant feedback around package receipt and returns. Without being obtrusive, build up excitement for a new pair of jeans through email feedback to the customer after purchase is made. Tailor communications to who they are and focus on the transformative aspects of fashion. Ease fears about returns and fitting by providing easy access to return policies through multiple channels. LEVIS. COM IMAGE COLLAGE STUDY // 15
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APPENDIX: USER DEMOGRAPHIC INFORMATION Giordana female 28 Communications & Marketing Specialist Sarah female 25 Administrative Assistant Thao female 21 Student Melissa female 25 Web Designer LEVIS. COM IMAGE COLLAGE STUDY // 17