LimeRoad · Fashion · 2018
Solving fashion for the next billion.
As Head of Design, I led the team that turned shopping into a feed curated by people.
Fashion is a high‑latency purchase. In India, most of it happens at unbranded retail, while online players push brands and events. None of it answers the question every shopper is quietly asking. Is this me?
So the brief became
Solve for cognitive dissonance, so people stay invested in fashion.
The core user
Fashion grows up with you.
Every inflection point in a fashion journey is a moment of self-awareness. What people wear changes with who they are becoming.
01 · Starting college
“I want to fit in.”
Fashion as belonging
02 · Being recognised by your group
“I want to be noticed.”
Fashion as signal
03 · Independence, with a first job
“I can choose for myself.”
Fashion as choice
04 · A deeper sense of self
“This is who I am.”
Fashion as identity
The insight
Our core user consumes fashion like a feed, in the idle minutes of the day.
Research
Fashion as a feed.
Observations and user stories from the platforms people already used, mapped on whiteboards until four truths held.
- 01
The core user looks at fashion as a feed.
People curate the feed, consumers find through likes, and community reviews build trust.
- 02
Passive browsing, skimming and scanning feeds curated by people.
Never break the rhythm. Keep content consistent, and let people read through images.
- 03
People at the heart of curation, through easy expression and positive reinforcement.
Chosen influencers bring the content. Everyone else responds in a tap.
- 04
A natural orientation, so people quickly understand and express.
Quickly and immediately understood, like a mirror, a wardrobe, or a personality you recognise.
Gregarious and simple
It was people, not platforms, that helped fashion make sense. So we started with people.
Feeds with layers of validation, from crowd wisdom to curation by influencers.
Vertical single-image lists, category banners, even ramp-walk videos.
Most failed where people actually shop, in crowded metro trains and busy offices.
What survived was simple. Stories curated by people, with easy ways to respond.
1 of 4
Curated by people
Every story comes from a person, not a brand. Follow the ones whose taste you trust.
2 of 4
Stories, not catalogues
A story is a collection of products put together by someone. This one holds 120.
3 of 4
One-tap expression
Like to shortlist it. Share it to a friend on WhatsApp.
4 of 4
Crowd wisdom
Likes, familiar faces and ratings help you decide faster.
Natural orientation and memetic behaviour
People already knew how to shortlist.
1 of 4
Skim, scan, choose
Like flicking through a wardrobe in a store, people skim and scan, then reject or accept.
2 of 4
Pull down to like
Liking was the most quickly understood interaction in fashion, across geographies and age groups. A like is a shortlist.
3 of 4
Save to a wardrobe
Shortlists become wardrobes, saved for better purchases and shared much like playlists.
4 of 4
Wardrobes, out in the open
Shared wardrobes give social validation and, more importantly, create an organic feed.
In testing
Immediately understood by the humblest of our users, and appreciated by the most avid.
Deep validation and trust
The profile became a mirror.
Besides expression, people needed ownership. The profile had to reflect how they wanted to see themselves.
1 of 3
A richer feed
Products that don't identify with your profile are weeded out, so you decide better.
2 of 3
Whose profile?
Choose the profile you're shopping with, or add a new one.
3 of 3
Fit, profiled
One question about shape builds a broader, more pointed size profile, to find the perfect fit.
Size profiling gave our supply chain a standard size understanding. Owning the profile became the moat LimeRoad would carry for the long term.
Speed and precision
Then we made the small things fast.
Search, filters, the product page and post-order, shipped in small batches.
01Search for typing and tapping
Every suggestion says where it leads: searched, trending, category, collection, brand or discount.
02Results, by style
46,503 kurtas, opened by styles people recognise, like anarkali, long drape, sharara and ripples.
03Filters with images
Pictures ease the discovery of new designs and hard-to-understand terms.
04Addresses for dense cities
A map pin, house number and landmark. In high-density Indian cities, the details decide delivery.
05One profile, stories to orders
Orders, returns and credits sit beside the stories you curate.
Team and impact
Speed and precision was how the team worked, too.
I hired three phenomenal designers for their ability to interpret better, prototype fast, craft products that are quickly and immediately understood, and collaborate. We worked in temporary project pods, in big and small batches, with quick observation and rapid prototyping for feedback.
3
Designers hired, working in temporary project pods across big and small batches.
30%
Conversion upticks from small batches like search, filters, product page and post-order, along with fewer orders returned to origin.
10x
A culture of growth from the big batch we called sugar and trust, built on fashion discovery and high NPS.
- Project
- Consumer app
2018 - Role
- Hozefa Ayyajiwala
Product design, Head of Design - Team
- Vaibhav Singh Engineering Head
Mandeep Dahiya Product Manager
Suchi Mukherjee Founder and CEO - Purpose
- Contributed to the central purpose of dopamine-led social commerce.
Selected work
