Commerce · Consumer app · 2026

Cura

A clothing app that shows you one brand a day. Unbiased facts over marketing (price, materials and reviews from every source) so you buy pieces you are confident in.

Role
Sole designer
Team
Solo, with Claude Code
Duration
3 months
Course
DSDG 186
Status
Round 2 testing in progress
Overview

A shopping app with no feed. Cura shows one brand a day and judges it on facts (price, materials, reviews from every source), so taste gets built rather than sold.

Sole designer over three months, from interviews to a working build with Claude Code.

The problem

Closets fill up, but nothing feels right.

Fashion moves fast, and the market moves with it making it easier than ever to buy into a trend. It's more than overconsumption, it's that most people lack a clear sense of their own style, so they default to whatever's accessible.

Research
Two in-depth interviews, condensed into three themes.

Both participants were people I knew who already followed fashion, so round 2 recruits outside my network.

Uniqueness

People value having unique pieces, something special that makes them confident.

Trial and error

It is thanks to trial and error that people found out what clothes they align with.

Perception

Fashion expression is subjective, but an outside perspective influences how someone would dress.

“Finding something that's kind of hard to get or exclusive to get just makes it… gets me going because it makes me want it even more.”

P01, 22, on the thrill of the hunt
What made it hard

It could not be another feed, because endless browsing is the behavior that causes the problem. It had to run on facts, not marketing, with price, materials and reviews aggregated from all sources.

Taste is subjective, so the app can inform a decision but must not make it. And it was solo, three months, with no team to hand off to.

Round 2 · Usability study, in progress
Goal
Test whether people outside my circle understand and want one brand a day, and where they get stuck
Participants
8, recruited by screener, no one I know
Method
Moderated usability sessions on the live prototype
Status
0 of 8 sessions complete
What I did

I ran and synthesized the interviews, framed the problem around one job, buying clothing they are confident in, and designed and built the app. Each decision came from the research:

One brand a day, not a catalogue
The impulse window passes before a purchase can happen
Facts replace product photography
Price, materials and cross-source reviews carry the decision
Cost-per-wear over sticker price
Value framed by use, not by discount
Brand identity surfaced, not hidden
Users see who they are giving their money to
No trending, no limited drops
Scarcity removed as a mechanic entirely
What I learned

The one-brand-a-day limit is the product, so it is the first thing to test.

I am testing that now in round 2, with people outside my network. After that I would test whether the limit holds attention past a week, track cost-per-wear against pieces actually worn, and build a taste profile from what the user rejects, not only what they save.

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