This hoodie design was created for the youth non-profit organization “Young Muslims”. I designed this using vector illustrations and typography in Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop.
The Problem
As a non-profit youth group, the majority of YM’s budget comes from fundraising and selling merchandise to members. YM needed new, exciting merchandise to raise funds for youth retreats and activities.
My Role
I was the lead for the PR team which consisted of one graphic designer, two web designers and two content writers. I was responsible for leading the project, ideating with the graphic designer, conducting customer research and creating the final vector designs for print on hoodies.
Journey to the Solution
I lead the initiative to conduct user research in the form of surveying and interviewing 105 members of the organization. The 17-question survey included categories about types of items, colors of items, designs on items and pricing of items as well as some free response sections for respondents to share their ideas.
Some of the customer survey questions
I synthesized the results and discovered the top requests members had:
- Hoodies
- Customizable items with their name on it
These results informed my decision to create hoodies with customization options for each individual to write their own name.
After determining the type of product we would create, I conducted three round of polls which allowed users to vote on designs they liked most. Option 4 was the most popular and ended up being the final choice.
Challenges
During ideation, we went through several different design concepts that ultimately were not clear and readable enough when tested on apparel:
Iterations
Two of the concepts that we prototyped included the words “sisterhood” and “sister” on the design, but we received feedback from customers that it felt too exclusive so we removed the gender-specific wording.
Project Impact
By discovering and addressing the specific needs of members, the hoodie design increased merchandise sales by 100%. These hoodies were popular around the country and has more orders than any pre-order items the organization has sold in the past.
We also received positive feedback from members when they purchased the new merchandise. The hoodies created a stronger sense of pride and spirit in the organization and connected members across the country through all owning a YM hoodie.
Lessons Learned
This project taught us the importance of getting feedback from customers to find out what merchandise they really wanted to buy.
It made me use an iterative process where the designs were constantly changed and updated until they met all the needs of members.
