Fashion Education Meets Execution
99 Yards Academy is a mobile-first fashion education platform helping aspiring fashion entrepreneurs gain hands-on industry knowledge, mentorship, and connections with vendors.
Role: Founding Designer
Project stage: Pre-launch (Beta-ready). Designs informed development, marketing, and investor presentations.
User Research
Interface Design
Prototyping
Usability Testing
Pre-Launch Impact
The Problem
Most traditional fashion programs stop at theory.
They don’t equip students with the real-world resources—like business mentorship, trusted vendor networks, or manufacturing support—that are essential to turning creative ideas into successful fashion ventures.
Research & Discovery
Survey
To establish problem-solution fit, we conducted a series of surveys targeting our potential user base including:
Aspiring fashion professionals
Current fashion professionals
Current and aspiring fashion business owners
The primary goal was to validate our initial hypotheses about user pain points and assess the relevance of our proposed solution.
We distributed the surveys through social media channels, relevant online communities, and our email list of early adopters. The survey included a mix of multiple-choice, Likert scale, and open-ended questions to collect both quantitative data (e.g., "On a scale of 1-5, how frustrated are you with X?") and qualitative insights (e.g., "What is the biggest challenge you face when trying to do Y?").
Key Survey Findings:
A Widespread and Frequent Pain Point:
The data showed that [summarize the quantitative findings, e.g., "75% of respondents reported experiencing the problem at least once a week, with an average frustration score of 4.2/5"]. This confirmed that the problem was not only real but also a significant source of frustration.
Inefficiencies with Existing Tools:
Qualitative responses consistently highlighted the shortcomings of current solutions, with common themes being [mention specific frustrations, e.g., "too time-consuming," "not integrated with other tools," "too expensive"]. This created a clear opportunity for a better solution.
A High Interests in Our Proposed Solution:
We found strong interest in our product concept, with 72.29% of respondents indicating a high prioritization for a practical learning environment with hands-on opportunities, access to expert mentorship, and useful resources such as connections to vendors for them to execute their projects.
72.3% of surveyed fashion enthusiasts ranked a practical, hands-on learning environment along with expert mentorship and vendor connections as a top priority for achieving their business goals.
User Interviews:
Interview Approach:
Emerging Themes:
Our Users
Personas created to guide early design decisions and ensure alignment with user motivations
Concept Development
MVP Features
As the founding designer, I facilitated ideation workshops with the founding team to translate business vision into tangible features.
As the result, we were aligned on the prioritized MVP features:
Expert-led courses
Vendor directory
Personalized learning plan
User Flows
Once I defined the MVP features, I mapped out end-to-end user flows to ensure every journey felt seamless and intuitive.
My focus was on reducing friction, keeping the learning process action-oriented, and making sure the experience could scale as the app grew.
Mapped key journeys to reduce friction and ensure scalability
Low-Fidelity Wireframes
Low fidelity wireframes to visualize structure and test navigation logic early.
Impact:
This allowed stakeholders to quickly visualize the product before UI polish, aligning the team early.
Identified usability pain points at low cost (e.g., overwhelming mentor bios, unclear onboarding copy).
Established a clear blueprint for development handoff, reducing back-and-forth once high-fidelity designs were created.
UI Design & Branding
A comprehensive design system to position 99 Yards Academy as a premium yet approachable brand in the fashion education space.
Prototype V1
Established core feature flows and basic navigation structure to validate concept feasibility and gather early stakeholder and user feedback before UI polish.
Post–Prototype v1 Iterations
After testing Prototype v1 with target users and stakeholders, I identified several functionality and usability gaps that required iteration before moving into high-fidelity design.
Vendor Search Flow
Identified Issue: Users expressed frustration that they couldn’t independently browse or search for vendors outside of the lesson flow. This limited the utility of the vendor database and reduced the app’s perceived value as an ongoing business resource.
Original Approach
Links to vendor were embedded directly within lessons. This meant students could only discover relevant suppliers in the context of course content.
Solution
A standalone dedicated vendor search with filter options, enabling students to find relevant suppliers anytime.
Visual Refinements & Brand Elevation
Identified Issue: The original splash screen lacked visual impact and missed the opportunity to visually communicate the brand’s premium, fashion-forward identity.
Before
Basic splash screen with minimal branding, lacking visual impact and offering little connection to the fashion education experience.
After
Incorporated fashion design sketches into the splash screen, paired with refined typography and a balanced color palette, to convey the brand’s premium, fashion-forward aesthetic from the very first impression.
Next Steps
Launch MVP for beta testing with fashion entrepreneurs and students.
Validate core features like vendor search, mentorship access, and hands-on learning modules.
Gather user feedback via in-app surveys, interviews, and usage data.
Iterate rapidly to improve usability, engagement, and premium brand experience before public release.