This design-led research has drawn on the potential of storytelling as the mean for connection and self-expression. The research proposes a new system for designing clothing that is more collaborative and expressive by asserting the importance of evaluating the role of the designer as a solo storyteller and considering instead the role of a multi-story enabler. Focusing on this way of designing, the final design is a digital platform/service that invites people to share, read and wear displacement stories with others and act as both the initiator and holder of stories. Binding Threads is completed as part of my master's thesis in interaction design during the course of two years of research.
Fashion has always been about telling stories and yet some stories are never told in the design process. Hidden or neglected stories such as those connected to the experiences of displacement are important.
The research was circling around three key elements:
Storytelling is integral to fashion. Explored in many ways and by a wide array of means and mediums, it is applied to address many different contexts, values and aspirations. I researched how storytelling is used in fashion brands, fashion networks and entertainment industries to find a gap.
As shown in the diagram below in all four cases, the act of involving the wearer in the process of making the clothing from the very beginning is missing. It is this and the possibility of giving voice to people to talk about their personal stories through the medium of clothing that I intended to build. So shifting the fashion design process towards the act of collaborative storytelling will uncover new voices.
My take on co-design through this research varies from what co-design was originally defined, which refers to a process involving customers and users of products or services in their development. Instead of focusing on agendas and solutions, the co-design process in this research was shaped around shared values, meanings and common good through the act of making together, conversations and workshops.
The first co-design session started with three of my peers sharing their moving experiences through drawing on pieces of fabric. Later on, the fabrics translated into a line of clothing. The purpose of the hands-on drawing workshop was to evaluate the participant's responses to the concept of personal storytelling on clothing.
How to expand storytelling on clothing to a wider audience?
In the next step, potential target groups and creative designers were invited into the creative process. The insights from the previous section were used to begin prototyping a new way of engaging with clothing that considers collaboration and storytelling. The ideas were shaped around four areas of WHO, WHAT, WHY and How.
We came up with an idea of a digital platform concept that would invite contributors to share, read and wear moving experiences and could act as both an initiator and holders of stories – providing new ways for clothing to be accessed and made.
Building on insights gathered from earlier research phases and ideation sessions, we identified three key personas that must be taken into account during the development of the chosen idea. These personas include:
Worksheets were designed to ask participants in the design Studios to share their stories on one of the four clothing silhouettes that were provided. It was a low-fidelity fidelity prototype to test the concept of storytelling on clothing using a digital platform. Participants were asked to share a glimpse of memory about one of these themes: home, identity and moving. I would put each participant’s contribution up on a wall so that the new participants could see and read the stories (mimicking a digital platform for sharing stories).
To better illustrate how the platform works, three storyboards were created for each persona based on the outcomes of the third co-design session. this was a great starting point to start working on the system map.
A system map was developed to visually show the different actors and artefacts for the platform as well as the relationships between them. Storyteller has the dominant role in the platform as the whole system is based on stories shared on the platform. So the user flow for storyteller goes as follows. The storyteller enters the platform, signs up to share their story and then chooses to either share their home country/countries to receive Hi(s) in their mother language from previous users or choose to directly share their stories and the visual aspect of it. Their story then becomes the starting point for storyreader and storywearer in the system.
I then started sketching the wireframe. The wireframes went through different phases of iteration through usability testing with all three user groups. The test was focused on the main user flows such as sharing stories, reading and reacting to stories and designing clothing based on stories shared in the platform.
The testing sessions gave me valuable feedback which turned into insights for refining the user journey and improving the final design.
I designed Biding thread’s visual identity to have a conversational and storytelling tone. The idea was to keep it friendly and add playful dynamics to its design. The name comes from how stories connect to each other and the stories become the binding threads between people as well as referring to the fashion services provided in the platform.
I created an interactive prototype, allowing for another round of quick testing of the layout with users and a group of designers. After designing the desktop UI, I organized online and in-person evaluation sessions with designers and the target group to assess the user experience.
This project broadened my vision into co-creation design for fashion where my audience actively played a role in different phases of my design research. All of my work was done collaboratively with people who have lived experiences of displacement, from the early making to the photography of garments, and the final ideation and evaluation phases. It was practice-based research based on real stories and real experiences. Moreover, the storytelling element of my practice was an attempt to enable and validate multiple ways of being, thinking, knowing and world-making. Such an approach needs participatory co-design strategies and can be characterized as a shift from the design of discrete objects and ‘things’ to relationships, interactions and experiences.
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