FitMatch
Helping young women navigate online clothing shopping with greater confidence and less uncertainty around fit and style
Project Type
Class Final Project
Role
Project Lead/UX Researcher & Designer
Tools
Figma, FigJam, Canva, Handcraft materials
Timeline
January 2025 - May 2025
Supervisor
Gilly Leshed, Tuan-Hee Lee
Project Overview
FitMatch is a mobile app that helps young women navigate online clothing shopping with greater confidence and less uncertainty around fit and style. This project was completed as part of Cornell’s INFO 4400 - Qualitative User Research Method.
The Challenge
With limited in-person shopping options at Cornell, online clothing shopping has become the norm—but it often feels isolating. Unlike the in-store experience, there’s no fitting room, no friends offering real-time feedback—just endless images of clothes on idealized, often unrelatable models.
As a team of four female students, we quickly realized that, for young women, online shopping isn’t just about buying clothes—it’s deeply tied to body image, self-expression, and social validation. Yet many platforms fail to support this emotional complexity. The lack of authentic fit photos, inclusive sizing information, and meaningful peer input creates uncertainty and frustration, especially for young women navigating personal identity through fashion.
Literature Review
Based on contextual interviews with students with ADHD, we identified that class attendance is primarily driven by grading policies and social accountability, while in-class focus is frequently disrupted by digital and environmental distractions. These insights directly shaped our persona and informed BrainBud's design as a focus-support tool.
Rapid Ethnography
Carrying the insight obtained from user research, we started brainstorming for possible solutions. Each member brainstormed ideas and brought them to the group meeting. We grouped solutions by theme—such as rewards, transcription, and accountability—then voted collectively on the most promising directions. We prioritized features that addressed gaps in existing solutions, ultimately converging on a mobile app that combines accomplishment tracking, lecture transcription, comprehension checks, and long-term progress visualization to support sustained focus and motivation.
Co-Design Workshops
Knowing the picture of how users will interact with the app, we then started sketching out low-fidelity prototypes for all the functionality.
Prototypes
Prior to developing mid-fidelity Figma prototypes, we created paper prototypes to visualize and test user flows in a tangible and flexible format and conducted initial usability tests with these prototypes.
Med-Fi Prototype
Building on user feedback, we developed med-fi prototypes using Figma. The app was beginning to take shape as we connected frames and visualzing interactions.
High-Fi Prototype
Usability Testing
Final Prototype
Takeaways
Compared to an intro-level HCI course, this course is more self-paced, which gave us more freedom regarding the timeline. As the project lead, I gained experience in managing the project timeline, delegating tasks, and selecting appropriate user study methods. This experience strengthened my self-discipline, communication, and project management skills, helping me develop a more holistic understanding of the design process.
Throughout the project, I focused on exploring diverse qualitative research methods to better understand user perceptions and behaviors. If given more time, I would further refine our Figma prototype to better reflect user insights.
Ultimately, this project reminded me that design goes beyond creating wireframes—it is a medium for expressing values. FitMatch embodies the message that young women should embrace their body image rather than conform to conventional beauty standards, a value I deeply resonate with both personally and as a designer.