Creating an adaptive clothing line for teens that encourages inclusion and awareness.
VISUAL IDENTITY • WEB
The Audience
Disabled teens that are shopping for occasion wear. This is a transitional stage, as teens are wanting to gain independence and explore their own personal items.
Photo Credit: Claudia Hershner
The Problem
Unfortunately, the current market has failed to address this age group and their abilities. These teens have limited options when it comes to semi-formal attire. Buttons, zippers, shoes laces and other closures make these especially difficult for those with poor fine motor skills. The adaptive clothing that is currently available tends to segregate—explicitly labeling the clothing as adaptive instead of feeling inclusive to a wider audience, while marketing materials fail to address the visual needs of these shoppers. A more holistic, all-embracing approach needs to be taken to provide independence and confidence to teens of all abilities.
The Team
Leah Blandford • Visual Design
Maria Baker • Fashion Design
Andrew Birkhoff • Industrial Design
Research Approach
Assumptions and Questions Identified
Prior to jumping into research, some assumptions about the audience were identified. Based on those assumptions, questions were identified.
Surveys
Questions that could be answered via text were identified. A survey was sent out to 20+ participants to gather qualitative data and insights.
Observational Research
In person, quantitative and qualitative research was gathered. Struggles, successes, reactions and opinions could be captured by purely observing how teens function in everyday life, as well as specifically getting dressed for a semi formal occasion.
Interviews
Both teens and parents of teens were interviewed to gain perspective into their world. Qualitative data was captured which fueled insights and concepts.
Those who surrounded and supported teens were also interviewed. These included occupational therapists, physical therapists, special education teacher as well as other family members. These outside perspectives provided a unique understanding to the teens’ lives.
Audience Identification & Persona Creation
Three key audiences were identified:
Disabled teens shopping for occasion wear
Teens shopping for occasion wear
Parents of disabled teens shopping for occasion wear
Personas were created with wants, need desires for each group.
Key Quotes
“This past year, Nick went to homecoming and was very irritated with the dress clothes that he had to wear. It was itchy and caused him difficulty walking.”
— Paraphrased from an interview with Nick and Elyn Buscani
“[Conquering a new skill increases] determination, self-worth, being able to and wanting to accomplish other skills to be independent and successful.”
— Megan Amis, occupational therapist
“They know people are going to stare at them, so why not get stared at for outrageous style?”
— Paraphrased from an interview with Liz Ricketts, a personal stylist for the blind
Key Research Findings
Typefaces
Simpler, rounded typefaces tend to be easier to read. Especially those with a one story “a” and “g.” This is because it is how we were taught to read and write.
Those with cortical vision impairments often have eye fixation issues. This means they take in, and comprehend less words in a single glance than most people do. Simple typefaces and increased typesize can help with this.
Colors
In the classroom, occupational therapists tend to print classwork on bright colored paper. This allows the teen to have better focus on the content, and to increase contrast.
Transparent yellow paper can also be placed over white paper to increase contrast.
Voice
Humor tends to be a coping mechanism for disabled teens.
Name: Abille
The word “habillement” means clothing in French
Has slight nod towards the word “able”
“Abeille” in French means bee
It is said that bees are not supposed to be able to fly with their large body and small wings, yet they fly anyways.
Clothing with a visual focus on navy and yellow, and a play of stripes.
Goals
Abille is a fashion, graphic and industrial design collaboration that empowers, exerts confidence, and shows respect to adolescent age children—especially those with cerebral palsy. It provides them with a relationship with fashion through adaptive clothing, shoes and an accessible visual identity so that they may gain the independence to dress themselves as they prepare for adulthood. Abille is not meant to segregate. It is not an exclusively “adaptive” line. The flexible clothing should appeal to all teens and create a sense of community.
Adjectives:
Empower
Sense of Humor
Self-Love
Understanding
Belonging
Positivity
Liberating
Resilience
Growth
Sketch by Maria Baker
Voice – Humorous & Friendly
The voice of Abille contains a sense of humor and friendliness. Puns are used to create brand personality, but also to inform the viewer of the brand morals and product features.
Puns should be short and to the point (around eight words). They can be used as headlines.
Moodboard
Colors, imagery, textures and emotions that the graphics should evoke were identified.
Mark
A mark was explored and finalized. The offset “e” adds an element of playfulness while the rounded sans-serif typeface formatted in all lowercase optimizes legibility for those with cortical vision impairments.
Style Guide
Colors, typography and iconography were explored and finalized into a style guide.
Yellow was important to increase contrast and create focus, and the ability to flip the background from light to dark was crucial to the brand.
Handtags
Transparent yellow paper was added as a contrast increaser, if needed. The tag was designed to be easily removed and texture was include to provide a mechanism for teens to fidget with it aside from just its communication goal.
Layflat Photography
Photographs of the clothing were taken and collaged together to create dynamic layflat imagery for the launch site and social media.
Wireframes
Hierarchy and organization of the content for the launch site was explored.
Launch Site Development
The launch site was written in HTML & CSS.
Site Customizations
The site included the ability to increase type size, change the background color and the ability add highlights for contrast.
Fashion & Industrial Design
Shoe ideation • Andrew Birkhoff
Shoe Rendering • Andrew Birkhoff
Clothing Flats • Maria Baker
Clothing Photoshoot • Clothing by Maria Baker • Photo by Claudia Hershner
Clothing Photoshoot • Clothing by Maria Baker • Photo by Claudia Hershner
Clothing Photoshoot • Clothing by Maria Baker • Photo by Claudia Hershner
Awards
DAAP Cares Award Winner
DAAPcares honors and supports the work of DAAP students, faculty, staff, and alumni to improve the quality of life around the world. From local to global, individual to multidisciplinary, and academic to professional - we connect scholarship to solutions. These accomplishments are celebrated annually in a showcase of innovative projects and research that represent our mission to achieve sustainable outcomes with environmental, economic, and cultural equity.