Style+Share+User+Needs

=Style Share: User Needs=

Step 1: Expected Users & Initial Tasks
Our project is not catered to a specific group of people with a special skill set and is not required for the operation of another service as everyone has to get dressed in the morning. It is a service that would probably be used primarily by females between 12 and 40 and males between 20 and 40. Since our team members fall into this demographic, we interviewed each other as potential users and peers to decide precisely what tasks we wanted to implement. We were able to speak to a range of potential users around the campus, from sorority girls who were very interested in fashion to males who just wanted to match when they just got out of bed. We concluded that the goal of our project is to improve the fashion experience. We decided to encompass tasks regarding the details of clothing items, shopping, matching clothing, and organizing a wardrobe.The tasks are as follows: The product could allow users to:
 * Browse through items from various stores/brands.
 * Search for clothing. Users may want to search in a variety of ways. UPC's are an option since they are the most convenient if the product has a UPC. Item type (T-shirt), item color, brand name, could also be points of interest for a user search.
 * Check whether a particular item is manufactured ethically and in an environmentally friendly manner.
 * Locate where a particular product is sold.
 * Determine the price of a particular product among various stores.
 * Compare and contrast multiple items of the same clothing type (ie. shirts).
 * See what other people think of a particular clothing item.
 * Find the appropriate size for a particular item. Manufacturer sizing charts could be sufficient.
 * Match several clothing items that could potentially be worn together.
 * Put together outfits that can be saved for future reference.
 * Compare and contrast outfits, side by side.
 * Save groups of clothing and outfits to track seasonal clothing, desired clothing, or simply hold any owned clothing the user wants to match.
 * Determine what is popular in their geographic location.
 * Receive fashion ideas and advice.
 * Search for outfits. Parameters could be the season of preference, the style, color scheme, popularity among other users, reviews, or the cost.
 * Search for entire sets of clothing by season of preference, included styles, cost, popularity among other users, reviews, or included color schemes.
 * Optionally recommend outfits or sets of clothing to other users.
 * Display some form of acceptance with an outfit;perhaps a 'like' button.

Step 2: Task Validation
After speaking with another easily found set of potential customers and reviewing our proposal, our tasks can be sorted into three main categories. Style Share is intended to have a strong "Social" aspect, and previously we only had one social task listed. We realized fashion is often very social as most people would not wear something that others extremely disliked. Many of the second group of users expressed that they wish they could always have someone's opinion on "how they looked". Style Share's other overarching categories are "Organization" and "Fashion". Many users we spoke to expressed that they felt like they could not remember all of their owned clothing, let alone think about how to match them. Also, with those who owned an obscure clothing item, it was very important to them that they could potentially find a way to match it. With these three main categories in mind, we were able to clairfy many of our intentions and of Style Share's potential use.
 * Social
 * Users will be able to suggest an outfit to another user.
 * The outfit suggested can include clothes that the receiving user already owns.
 * The outfit suggested can include clothes that neither user may own.
 * The receiving user will be able to "Save" this outfit if desired.
 * The receiving user will be able to send the suggesting user feedback.
 * There will be a like button and a dislike button.
 * There will be a box for comments.
 * The system will be able to suggest an outfit or clothing item to a user.
 * If the suggested item is a singular clothing item, it will appear in the following format:
 * People who own  also own .
 * Your friend,, owns  too!
 * If the item suggested is an outfit, the system may include only items from the user's collection or may include items the user does not know yet. This will be a toggled option.
 * Companies can suggest items to a set of users, such as a mannequin would in a display window.
 * Groups of users can have a collection of outfits, which would be useful in a situation where no one wants to wear the same thing.
 * Outfits can be submitted so that they may be voted on publicly.
 * A user can search through others' saved outfits.
 * A user can search by colors, if the outfit contains one clothing item, combined cost, etc.
 * Users who have consistent highly rated outfits can win titles.
 * An example title is "Fashion Expert".
 * Popular stores will also be identified, site-wide as well as with a user.
 * A user may see the store from which most of another user's clothes are purchased.
 * There will be an area to discuss fashion options and ideas.
 * For example, what to wear with a vibrant belt.
 * If people's suggestions are liked, this is another way to win a title.
 * Users will be able to see if another user has discovered that this item is not environmentally friendly or manufactured ethically.
 * Organization
 * A user will be able to browse through clothing in the system's database.
 * The user will be able to browse by store, like the functionality of a store catalog.
 * The user will be able to browse by type of clothing, such as "Hats".
 * The user will be able to browse by certain special features.
 * Special features may include a Sale or Clearance.
 * Special features may also include "Featured Items".
 * The users will be able to search for specific clothing.
 * Users will be able to search by UPC, store, price, type of clothing item, etc.
 * The user will be able to do a "Price Check" or review the item's history of price changes.
 * The user shall be able to save designed outfits.
 * The user shall be able to categorize the designed outfits in any way desired.
 * There will be suggested categories that are sorted seasonally.
 * There will be suggested categories for "Business Casual" and "Special Occasion".
 * The user shall be able to have favorite saved outfits that are typically visually prominent or suggested.
 * The user can display only potential items during that particular system.
 * For example, the system would not display your saved shorts immediately if they detected it should be winter or extremely cold in your area.
 * Fashion
 * Users will be able to comment on a particular item and rate it. This feedback will show what other user's think of it.
 * Users will be able to compare and contrast outfits and items of clothing at the same time.
 * For example, an outfit show with one shirt, can be put right next to an outfit with another shirt.
 * Users will be able to discover the correct sizing for an item, such as if it is typically over-sized, cut small, etc.
 * Users will be able to figure out how an item is supposed to be worn, such as is the skirt supposed to be worn around the hips or around the waist.
 * An outfit can be designed and saved for future reference.

Step 3: Key Users & Tentative Requirements
Must include: To improve the boundaries of our product and make it more easily adoptable, we should include: Things we could include that don't necessarily add a useful service or don't add much benefit are:
 * Database of clothing items, each with a picture and other parameters (Type: Shirt, Pants, Hat, etc; Restrictions: Outdoor Gear, Bathing Suit, etc).
 * Ability to search through items based on any parameters available (the search is vital to our product).
 * Mechanism for assembling outfits visually.
 * Ability of users to save outfits.
 * Ability of users to search for outfits based on a variety of parameters.
 * Virtual wardrobes for users to organize groups of clothing and outfits.
 * Recommendations, reviews, 'like' or 'dislike', and titles that can be acquired by individuals for highly rated items, outfits, and wardrobes.
 * Ability of users to browse through clothing based on a search, rather than provide a single result. Brand searches could be possible, making the product much like a store.
 * A search for outfits and sets of clothing that other people use, with many parameter options.
 * Ability to compare outfits to clothing items without adding the clothing item to the outfit. This could be confusing to implement on the user end - it may be best to avoid taking this path and simply make the deletion of items from an outfit simple.
 * Ability to categorize outfits.
 * System outfit suggestions to a user.
 * Fashion 'forum' for discussions.
 * Ability to compare multiple items of the same clothing type side by side. The pictures probably won't do the items enough justice to gain any benefit from visual comparisons.
 * Ability to pick the right clothing size. This is probably not feasible on the Internet - users probably need to know their clothing size beforehand.
 * Informing the user of how to use a particular clothing item. It is unlikely this will be used often enough to be worth implementing.
 * Geographical popularity of items. It may be hard to track where users are geographically.
 * Price comparison and history.
 * Allowing groups of individuals to share a wardrobe as a preventative measure for buying the same items.

Fortunately, it does not seem that we need to eliminate any users from our projected user base. We perceive the particular needs of our users to be generally the same throughout age and gender variations, hence the removal of features affects all of our demographics. There might be some differing aspects for those more interested in the Fashion category might be than those interested in the Organization category, but most of the tasks are interdependent. We should be able to hold onto all of the important tasks and leave out assorted extra services without a major detrimental effect on our product.