Part 2: Final Project
Storyboard
For my storyboard, I decided to use Shorthand since I felt its functionality would allow me to effectively piece the story together using my outline from Part 1 of this project and also help the users in navigating through my narrative. The preview link for the storyboard can be found here, which also includes the visualizations made using Flourish and Tableau.
User Research
Target Audience
The target audience for my story is individuals who are in favor of making sustainable, socially responsible choices but may not entirely be aware of the repercussions of fast fashion. While most individuals have long recognized climate change and child labor as global issues, fast fashion is a topic which has come under scrutiny only recently. The objective of this website is to make the audience aware that there are many hidden costs to fast fashion than just the price they pay for apparel. Since this is a global trend, I would want people in my user research to have varying demographics e.g. age, education, country of origin, to capture how receptivity and appeal to this narrative varies across fashion consumers from different walks of life. These are the profiles of individuals included in the interview:
- a male, undergraduate student, aged 19, from Pakistan
- a female, graduate student, aged 29, from China
- a female, graduate student, aged 35 from Italy
User Research Protocol
The user research protocol that I have used here has been adapted from the one used in class. It has been split into three sections: what I wish to test identifies my intention to capture a specific evaluation metric, what I expect to achieve highlights the purpose of gauging this metric, and what I will ask includes my interview script that could help me understand the audience’s perspective regarding the flow of the story, clarity of textual and graphical content and the strength of the narrative.
| What I wish to test | What I expect to achieve | What I will ask |
|---|---|---|
| Relevance | To check if the content being presented is relevant to the type of audience and to the topic under discussion | 1. At first glance, what do you think is the key idea of the presentation? 2. Were you already aware of any information that has been presented here? 3. Any elements of this story which came as a surprise to you but have been understated in the narrative? |
| Emotional appeal | To check if the narrative invoked any positive or negative reactions from the audience | 4. To what extent do you agree or disagree with the arguments presented here against fast fashion? 5. How did you feel as you moved through the different sections of this presentation? |
| Comprehension | To check if the textual and graphical content is reasonably comprehensible and flows coherently for the audience | 6. Do you think there is any redundant or missing textual information, which disturbs the flow of the story? 7. Is there any graphical information which is unclear, misrepresentative or unfit in this narrative? |
| Intention | To check if the overall story is compelling and would drive the users to adopt the call to action | 8. How effective would you say is the overall story in conveying the demerits of fast fashion? 9. Would the narrative make you revisit your apparel purchase choices in the future? |
| Improvement | To seek user advice on specific elements which need to be changed | 10. If you were to present this story, which elements would you change to make it more coherent and persuasive? Please include any comments about the overall design of the presentation. |
Interview Findings
| No. | Question | Person 1 | Person 2 | Person 3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | At first glance, what do you think is the key idea of the presentation? | The key idea seems to be that there is a cost associated with cheap fast fashion, that we should be taking account of. | The title is very intriguing. There have been many recent discussions about fast fashion and its implications – the title does a good job of hooking the audience in. The key idea for the presentation seems to be the environmental impact of fast fashion. | At first glance, this seems to be a story about buying inexpensive, fashionable apparel that is easily available without regard for possible accumulation of costs that go into creating them. Perhaps these are the tagged prices that that would accumulate over time that could be burdening the consumer without awareness or perhaps external costs such as those pertaining to the environment. |
| 2 | Were you already aware of any information that has been presented here? | No, I wasn’t. | Honestly, I had surface level knowledge of the implications of fast fashion. | I was aware of the impact on the environment that stemmed from hoarding fast fashion items that are ultimately land filled. |
| 3 | Any elements of this story which came as a surprise to you but have been understated in the narrative? | I didn’t realize there was a decline in clothing expenditure over time, and I found the percentage of unworn clothes in the closet to be even more surprising. Neither were understated though, I felt the visualizations and their place in the story worked well. | I think the presentation does a good job of presenting each point in a cohesive manner. The fact that pricing of clothing has dropped significantly was quite a surprise to me; but I think the detail provided for it is sufficient in the overall storyline. Maybe highlight the part that mentions that despite the fall of prices, consumption hasn’t decreased and the overall spend is still higher; it’s an important element! | The blatant use of child labor in the industry was a surprise and I think the extent of this could have been elaborated on a bit more in the narrative. |
| 4 | To what extent do you agree or disagree with the arguments presented here against fast fashion? | I was pretty neutral on the topic prior to seeing this presentation, but I am definitely more inclined towards switching to more sustainable brands. | I agree with everything presented. I would however suggest using gender neutral images so that the problem doesn’t seem like it’s associated with women. | I agree with the narrative that at this point it is doing more harm than good and that there needs to be some responsibility held by both producer and consumer that they look beyond profits and owning what is ‘on-trend’ respectively. |
| 5 | How did you feel as you moved through the different sections of this presentation? | A little overwhelmed. I felt there was too much happening in the story. I felt the creator had done a lot of research and wanted to include it all – when he could’ve prioritized. | Increasingly abashed. Even though my expenditure on clothing is not very high; I tend to buy from brands such as Zara, Forever 21 – which are known to be fast fashion brands. | The presentation has a smooth flow and is easy to follow. I think it succeeds at invoking a guilty conscience with the reader because everyone in some regard is responsible for aiding this industry without concern for its implications. |
| 6 | Do you think there is any redundant or missing textual information, which disturbs the flow of the story? | No, not really. | I think it would do well if you highlighted a few of the information on the paragraphs written. At least something that you would want the audience to definitely read. As I was scrolling through, I tended to focus more on the imagery and the visuals and missed important information that was laid out. | In the Call for Action section, the graph is displayed right after the narrator is about to announce a solution. This is confusing to the reader because it seems that the answer is in the visualization when, in fact, the solution is stated below the visual. |
| 7 | Is there any graphical information which is unclear, misrepresentative or unfit in this narrative? | There were a few where I felt excessive use of colors in particular was obscuring the ideas: a) How is the fast fashion market expected to grow chart had 3 colors for three years, when a single color could’ve been easier to visually process. I kept looking for another dimension on which the colors were dependent; b) Brands are racing to keep the newness factor chart I felt also had too many colors and making it difficult for me to focus on any one trend. | I had an issue trying to decipher the graph for “How is the Fast Fashion Market Expected to Grow”; maybe make the legend a bit more visible – to the left or in the middle? Secondly, the impact avoidance by product category graph is not clear at first glance because I have to scroll to the right to see the numbers for water. | The graphical information is clear and conveys the message of the narrator well. |
| 8 | How effective would you say is the overall story in conveying the demerits of fast fashion? | It is very effective! | On a scale of 1-10, it is a 9. | The story does a good job of highlighting the problems associated with the fast fashion industry, well enough to provoke the thinking of the reader. |
| 9 | Would the narrative make you revisit your apparel purchase choices in the future? | It would! Especially given the environmental and social cost of it depicted in the story. | It has influenced me to shop for more local and sustainable brands. They might be more expensive but if I, as an individual, can contribute to reducing the negative impact of these brands by altering my behavior, I will definitely do so. | Yes. Although it is easy to fall into old patterns, I would at least make an attempt at buying only what is needed instead of purchasing multiple items that would remain unused for years before being dumped. |
| 10 | Which elements would you change to make it more coherent and persuasive? Please include any comments about the overall design of the presentation. | a) I think on some pages I felt there were contrast issues. With dark colored image at the back and a dark colored chart on top of it. Maybe use lighter colored images in the background, where possible so there is more focus on the charts; b) Use fewer colors in the above mentioned charts! | The introduction of the element of child labor is good for the story; but it didn’t add up in the point it was presented. You should highlight “our government” so it is clear that this part of the message is pointed towards that. | The narrator can perhaps revisit some of the images used as background in the presentation. The colors are so bold on some, reading the text can be straining. |
Changes Based on User Feedback
Based on user research, I have categorized the suggestions under three umbrella elements:
1. Images:
- Users felt that the use of images corresponding to the title of each section helped convey a strong message. However, the choice of images gave a sense that fast fashion has propagated in recent years due to the purchase decisions made by women. To rectify this, add/ replace a few images which include gender neutral content and categorically mention, for example, in the fashion research survey description that the sample encompassed included individuals from varying demographics.
- For the sections with graphs, use images which are less busy or decrease the transparency of the existing images to improve visibility and comprehension of the visualizations.
2. Graphs:
- Use a single color in the visualization for “How Fast is the Fashion Market Expected to Grow.” since multiple colors inadvertently suggest the presence of another dimension in the data.
- In the chart, “Brands are racing to keep the “newness” factor in fashion alive”, highlight the inventories for apparel stores and move the rest to the background using gray.
- Replace the visualization, “Are we spending less on clothes”, with a line chart or change the scale of the existing chart so that the falling trend is more prominent.
- Cut down the pop up information for the tree map on “Estimated Value of Child Labor for EU Imports” to only show the sub-category’s name and corresponding value.
- Choose more appropriate colors for the visualizations that are aligned with the overall theme of the presentation.
- Improve the format and placement of the Tableau heat map since it seems to be unclear and interrupts the final call to action as suggested by interviewee 3.
3. Texts:
- To ensure that the users process the key statistics, as suggested by interviewee 2, highlight key statistics in the section for “Why should we be concerned?” and “Who should we blame?” by using Canva or Infogram to make it more prominent.
- The section “Who should we blame?” could highlight additional information regarding the use of child labor, specifically in the fast fashion industry. Given the data is accessible online, incorporate additional statistics regarding this impact as suggested by User 3.