The Mindful Wardrobe | Audio
An audio-guided mindfulness practice using our sense of touch to ground the mind and encourage appreciation of one’s clothes.
This is a two-part project; see Part 2 -The Mindful Wardrobe App.Spring 2023-24
“33% of young women think clothes worn twice are old.”
Problem
Fast fashion is environmentally and economically unsustainable.
Clothing sales have doubled since the 2000s.
92 million tonnes of clothes go to landfills every year causing economies to lose $500 billion annually.
Compared to 20 years ago, consumers in second and first-world countries, are buying clothes at a faster rate than ever. As consumers, many of us, treat our clothes as disposable and buy new items mindlessly - where:
Young women are one of the greatest consumers of fast fashion.
Solution
I was inspired by guided mindfulness practices that ground the mind and increase our awareness by focusing our attention on our senses, to create a practice that focuses on our sense of touch and clothes.
The goal was to create a dual-purpose mindfulness practice that fosters reflection and appreciation of a clothing item whilst grounding mind like a traditional mindfulness practice.
Nudging consumers to become more mindful of their wardrobe.
Research
I reviewed my dissertation research to better understand how people interact with their clothes. The study explored consumer’s experiences building clothing attachment through different types of touch, the emotions they evoke, and clothing features that encourage touch.
Approach
5 users
Analysis
Interview transcripts were transferred to and re-read in NVivo. Video recordings were reviewed looking for patterns in users’ gestures and how they linked to the emotional and personal experiences they are discussing simultaneously
The table excerpt illustrates how different types of touch are linked to users’ emotional experiences.
Write a love letter
User Interviews
Young women
Click to enlarge
Two items of clothing
Insights
Users interacted with their garments demonstrating a range of different touch types. The gestural analysis found users display two types of touch to interact with their garments:
ACTIVE TOUCH
Tactile interactions where users bring life to their clothes. This can look like emphasising a favourite feature like stretching a snug waistband or twirling a flowing skirt.
→ Holding your clothes
PASSIVE TOUCH
Tactile experience of wearing clothes, where users enjoy the fabric’s sensation on their skin. Users describe how garments make them feel, e.g., secure in well-fitting shorts or carefree in a flowy dress.
→ Wearing your clothes
Secondary research
Reviewing academic papers to form a better understanding of existing popular mindfulness apps, revealed insights into their user groups, and preferences:
Target Audience
User personas were developed to capture the demographics and preferences highlighted across the research.
Click to enlarge
Click to enlarge
Benchmarking
Audio-guided practices of 20-25 mins from two popular mindfulness apps; Headspace and Insight timer, were reviewed to inspire writing the script for the practice. Techniques identified in mindfulness practices and their structure. In order, practices start with:
Bodily grounding
Focusing attention, on a sensation, image or memory
Gratitude
Reflection
“Bring your attention to your shoulders, and exhale deeply releasing all your worries.”
Design
Using the different types of touch identified in the research , and mindfulness techniques, I planned the practice structure.
Considering Active and Passive touch, I brainstormed ideas for two practices: one for users at home with access to their wardrobe and another for those commuting or travelling.
User Insights
I spoke with six women aged 20-24 who regularly use mindfulness and meditation apps to understand their thoughts on having two practice versions: "at home" and "on the go, and how they usually practice.
Importantly, 5/6 users preferred the at-home practice.
Project Direction
Click to enlarge
I wanted to keep options for both types of practice open but understanding how to create a user-friendly “on-the-go” practice required a longer stretch of research and design.
Paired with users’ clear preference for practising in a private, comfortable setting, and the project’s time constraints, I chose to focus on developing the “at-home” guided practice and finalised the user flow:
Final user flow for the practice
Naming
Lastly, the practice needed a name that reflected its focus on mindfulness, well-being, and mindful consumption. A description of its aims and content were given to ChatGPT for ideas.
The Mindful Wardrobe was the final choice - as it captures the dual benefit of the practice; mindfulness and mindful consumption.
The Script
Planning & Writing
I began to write guidance and prompts for the script. Then, brainstormed the three core sections specific to the clothing item:
Recording & Refining
When asked to “play with the garment,” I was unsure what to do.
I didn’t have enough time to explore each touch type.
Unexpected sensations emerged that weren’t mentioned.
The practice felt strange and bizarre.
Visual cues often overshadowed the touch experience.
Many prompts felt repetitive.
Focusing on a single touch-point, like fingertips, led to loss of focus and desensitization.
With a first draft script, I recorded this and self-tested using a jumper.
The script went through three iterations, which were refined, re-recorded and edited in GarageBand to include background music and transition sounds.
The final script was professionally recorded by an artist from Fiverr.
KEY ISSUES
SOLUTIONS
Provide examples of various garment interactions after the prompt.
Speak slower and include longer pauses between prompts.
Highlight secondary sensations that may arise.
Address novelty and encourage releasing self-judgment.
Frequently prompt users to close their eyes to enhance tactile sensations.
Eliminate repetitive prompts and add extra blank spaces.
Use different touch types, starting with fingertips and moving to broader areas, to avoid desensitization.
Outcome
Final result was a 20 minute audio guided practice that used mindfulness techniques integrated with touch and a focus on clothes to calm users and increase their awareness of their clothes
VISUAL
GROUNDING
REFLECTION
EXPERIMENT
TOUCH
Learnings
I found myself really enjoying the process of designing flows and user experiences. It was interesting and fulfilling. Key takeaways:
Importance of small changes for user engagement such as encouraging users to close their eyes to enhance the experience
Understanding priorities and the value of features or solutions to adapt effectively to time constraints
Professional input, like high-quality audio recording, can significantly improve the final product.
Iteration and testing are essential to identify issues and areas of improvement
Next Steps
Conduct usability testing with the target demographic of the practice
Request higher quality and smoother transition and background music
Create a realistic user experience through which to deliver the practice such as an app
