This project was developed as part of the Advanced Interface Prototyping subject, where our team was tasked with designing a service that addresses the area of “Make Do and Mend”, promoting sustainability and accessibility through repair-based solutions. Our hypothetical client was the University of Melbourne Student Union (UMSU), where we conceptualize the UMSU Clothing Repair Workshop, a student-led initiative that empowers students to learn basic sewing skills, repair their garments, and extend the life of their clothing. The final service included a physical repair space supported by a conversational AI assistant named Stitch, designed to help students book sessions, ask questions, and access support through an inclusive and friendly interface.

To guide our ideation process, our team developed a series of How Might We (HMW) questions that framed user needs and design opportunities. These questions were developed together as a team during brainstorming sections, and they helped us explore solutions that were inclusive, practical, and student-focused. Some of the main HMW questions we generated included:

After analyzing the background research and ‘How Might We’ questions, we’ve decided to focus on one specific item that every student should have for Make Do and Mend: Clothes. With this direction set, we began to construct problem statements for a clear line of focus in the project:

1. Students don’t know where to find affordable and easily accessible clothing repair shop.
Based off personal research and enquiring other students, we’ve realized that many students don’t know where to get their clothes repaired or don’t know anywhere that is easily accessible or cheap.

2. Many students don’t want to waste their slightly damaged clothing but don’t know where to donate/recycle/fix them.
Many students are environmentally conscious and would like to participate in minimizing waste and maximize recycling. However, many students don’t know where to recycle their clothes or donate unwanted ones.

3. Some students would like to explore their hobby on fashion design or DIY clothing but don’t know where to go.
Since the University of Melbourne do not offer a fashion design course and purchasing sewing machine and gear is expensive, some student’s passion for customizing clothing might be suppressed.

4. Some students would like to learn the skill of repairing clothes so they won’t have to rely on others when it happens.
To continue to save money in the future, students may want to learn the skill of clothing repair, so that they can perform the procedure themselves without additional help or payment.

In the early stages of ideation, we created a series of hand-drawn sketches to quickly explore the different service ideas revolving around our problem statements and the “Make DO and Mend” domain. The sketches were drawn together as a team during the brainstorming session and polished by my teammate.

With our top 10 service ideas clearly illustrated through easy-to-understand sketches, we were able to effectively visualize the user journey and explore a range of concepts before committing to a final direction. This process allowed us to identify the strongest elements from multiple ideas and thoughtfully combine them into a single, cohesive service that we felt best met the needs of our target audience.

After considering all of the service options, our team concluded the best way to reduce consumerism, waste, cost, while promoting community building would be to run a Clothing Repair Workshop.

To bring our service concept to life, we created a low-fidelity storyboard that mapped out the key steps of the user experience. This helped us visualize how users would interact with the service across different touch-points and identify any potential gaps or improvements early in the design process. I helped to finalize the narrative for the storyboard, and my teammate polished the visuals.

Building on our low-fidelity concepts, we developed a high-fidelity storyboard to present a more polished and realistic depiction of the service experience. This version included refined visuals and clearer interactions, which was built on top of the feedback received from peers and tutors. Similar to the low-fidelity storyboard, I helped to finalize the scenario, while my teammate assisted with the visuals.

To demonstrate how users would interact with our Clothing Repair Workshop, we created a desktop walkthrough of the prototype using Lego. This physical walkthrough demonstration showcases the accessibility considerations, user movement, and key interactions, giving a clear picture of how the service functions in a real-world scenario. It helped us test usability and refine the experience based on feedback. The desktop prototyping was completed with the entire team.