Furever Friends

Changing views about fur in the fashion industry

Furever Friends is a project focusing on the unethical treatment of animals in the fur industry for fashion purposes by myself and two fellow designers, Jessyca Gouw and Lisa Zheng.

Throughout our development of the project, we created three books that documented our research, ideation, sketches, concept development across all aspects of the project.

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Concept development
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Mindmap
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Year

2015

Team

Saskia Essex

Jessyca Gouw

Lisa Zheng

My contribution

Researched, user flows, wireframes and app design across both iOS and iPad to a working prototype stage. I also designed and made the clothing.

Research and approach

We immediately decided that we wanted to use a completely opposite approach to the shocking videos depicting the treatment of animals in the fur industry, and brainstormed how we could approach the issue in a more gentle manner while leaving a lasting impact. Without having a set idea of what form the solution would take, we came up with the idea of solving the issue through generational change and influence, by educating and empowering children to make informed decisions about fur in fashion. We were also drawn to the idea of games that help people become more socially aware. 

Inspired by fond childhood memories of tamagotchi, and through our ideation and research phase, we decided to formulate a multi-faceted solution aimed at children. The project took a gentle approach, grounded in research, to educate children aged 8 to 14 about animals in the fur industry used for fashion gradually over time and to foster an emotional connection with the animals. The idea was that the children would then help educate and influence their parents against the purchase of fur.

Sources included: 'Pedagogy: teaching animal welfare to children' - World Society for the Protection of Animals (Accessed 2015).

'On Behalf of Their Animal Friends: Involving Children in Animal Advocacy' - Jyotsna Pattnaik (2004).

'Animals, Ethics, and Trade_Turner' - J D'Silva & J Turner (2006)

Sample of target market research
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Sample of animal research
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Development

Having a strong foundation and vision for the project, as evidenced by our reflective mind map, drove the concept of the project and allowed us to continually redefine the outcomes through experimentation. Through rapid prototyping and exploration, we were able to develop a refined sense of our project outcomes. Having developed a group design philosophy that we all felt strongly about, we were able to verbalise and visualise what was important to us throughout the design development of the project.

Throughout the project we did surveys and testing with children to guide development of the project, an example of this was a survey about which pet names they liked the most which guided the names for the three pets that we focused on for the project.

The project was designed with future outcomes in mind. Our intention was that the children’s clothing collections and toy accessories be seasonal and limited, with additional books featuring short stories by prominent authors and illustrated by commissioned illustrators and trace elements from these reflected back into the seasonal clothing lines. Other outcomes include expansions of the app with new animals and interactions as well as more elements within the game - toys, accessories and mini games. There is also a possibility for external outcomes such as TV shows, comic books, board games and movies.

Project timeline
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Our solution

The final outcomes of the project were multi-faceted and intended to be introduced on a timeline to create excitement around the project and build upon it over time. It begins with a colouring book to introduce the children to the first three animal types, their habitat, diet and predators as well as a link to the app on the back cover. The colouring book would be launched alongside a clothing collection, built up using trace elements from the colouring books - each clothing item would include a redeemable code for an exclusive item within the app. With the clothing launch, a tamagotchi style app would be launched that fosters a connection with the animal alongside responsibility to care for it. Real life toy versions of the app animals would then be available to order through the app via a rewards system of caring for the animal over time.

As this project was completed as part of my Master of Design, a weakness of the project was that the app only reached a click-through prototype stage, we were only able to test in a limited capacity. Another weakness was the scope of the app and the time frame, more time would be required for to build out some of the detailed areas such as the mini games and store.

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Future ClassicVarious projects completed for record label Future Classic

Furever FriendsChanging views about fur in the fashion industry

✉️ Let's chat

saskiaessex@gmail.com