Mobile apps are like laser hair removal: I don’t know how we ever got by without them. In addition to making our mobile worlds more convenient, informed and entertaining, apps are big business for the enterprising creatives who have the initiative to bring a big idea to life. My Social Stylist is a free app conceived by Australian duo, Leah Hassard and Ainslee Walton, who wanted to create a free social network for sartorially cognisant shoppers. They gave us the skinny on how My Social Stylist came about, the business of turning bright ideas into something tangible, and bringing it to life. We put a Huawei Ascend P1 android phone in their hands to show us how their app works…
PEDESTRIAN: What was it that prompted the creation of My Social Stylist? AINSLEE AND LEAH: We met while working in London and quickly developed a mutual buddy crush on each other’s style. Soon enough, we decided that we wanted to combine forces in a fashion related business.
Since meeting, we found that we were constantly sending each other photos of our outfits, or items we found while shopping, and asking whether we should “love it” or “leave it”? When we spoke to our friends, we discovered that we weren’t the only ones doing this. We found a lot of people were seeking a second opinion before going out or making a purchase.
It got to the point where one day Leah said “wouldn’t it be great if there was an app for this? Where you could upload a photo of your outfit and people could say either “love it” or “leave it”?” We became intoxicated by the idea, researched the market and found that there was no Australian app like it. The rest is history. 🙂
What considerations do you have to make before you even start to think of developing an app? (economic, market place, etc) What advice do you have for anyone with a great idea for an app but no idea where to go from there? There are so many things to consider when launching an app -competitors, monetization strategies, cost, AppStore Guidelines, etc. However, the most important consideration for any budding app developer is to consider whether there is actually a need for your idea. There is no point in developing an app that will not be used.
You also need to consider if your idea already exists on the AppStore. This is an important consideration not just for competitors but also because Apple won’t allow too many of the same apps on the AppStore. Do your research or you’ll run the risk of creating a product that may ultimately be rejected.
How has the app changed from the initial idea to now? Essentially, our core idea has not changed – our objective is still to create an app where you can get honest style advice in real time. It is still a style social network where fashion can be shared and celebrated. However, we are constantly thinking of ways to improve the user’s experience and have exciting upgrades up our sleeves.
Did you have any previous experience in app development? Nope! We didn’t have any previous experience in app development. However, if you surround yourself with the right team, that doesn’t matter! We do both have a background in fashion [Leah as a designer and Ainslee studied design]. We did find our background in fashion beneficial when creating MySS – it gave us insight into what consumers are after and how their shopping experience could be improved.
Ultimately, we wanted to develop a “social shopping” app – an app which mimics the shopper’s experience. Being legal practitioners we found our attention to detail, negotiation skills and researching skills came in handy too.
Did you test the app before you launched it? What made you think people would want to use it? Of course! You need to test your product before launching – otherwise you’re entering the market blind! We asked our family, friends and friends of friends to test our app while it was in BETA. We made a number of changes to the app based on their feedback.
As we knew so many of our friends were already asking for a second opinion by sharing pics of their outfits by text and email, we were optimistic that our app would be well received. The fact that we have members from over 50 countries with minimal marketing speaks for itself – people are seeking out our service.
Where do you see My Social Stylist headed in the next few years? Well, we have big plans! We are currently working on some exciting upgrades, are collaborating with like-minded brands and bloggers and generally building on our brand. In the near future we intend to expand into the android market and allow purchases within the app…so watch this space.
In your opinion/experience, what is crucial to address when designing an app? Don’t get carried away and launch a product with a million different features. Keep your idea lean, pick the right team and make sure you invest in some quality graphic design (you get what you pay for).
Did you ever feel like giving up? Why? Never! We are both passionate about My Social Stylist and only ever see the glass half full. We are lucky that we have had some great feedback from users that have kept our spirits high. The fact that our app has been embraced worldwide in such a short period of time has also kept us focused! It’s really rewarding to be told that you have created a social network that has become a necessity in some people’s lives.
However, it all hasn’t been a walk in the park. We have overcome many hurdles to get to where we are now. We are the first to admit that there were definitely some dark, dark days (such as when our developers stopped communicating with us and went into administration) but we didn’t go in to this blind thinking that our app would become a success over night.
What’s the most surprising thing about the My Social Stylist community? Given that there are so many trolls online these days, we have been pleasantly surprised at how positive and supportive the My Social Stylist community is. It seems that people are venturing onto our app for the right purpose – to give and receive honest style advice in real time. We find that a lot of our members really take their role as “the stylist” seriously and enjoy giving advice on how other members can improve their look.
How do you make sure it doesn’t descend into negativity? For us, it is really important to ensure that My Social Stylist is a fun, safe and supportive environment. So to ensure that haters just don’t take over the app, we had to guarantee that we had appropriate systems in place. For instance, we:
1. have an intern who monitors the app content and deletes anything which breaches our guidelines;
2. have a long list of words which get rejected if people try to use them on the app; and
3. allow our members to self-regulate – if they don’t like a comment on their post they can delete it themselves.
Obviously you have to ensure the app works smoothly on all phone types, how have you found My Social Stylist performs on the Huawei? Thanks so much for asking us to test drive the Huawei! Our game plan was to first launch an iPhone app and then branch out into the android market. So at the moment we just need to make sure the app runs with minimal bugs on iPhones.
It was great to road test another platform and not only does the Huawei P1 have a cool and sleek design, but it also has a great 8mb camera which would be perfect for quick outfit snaps. We’re excited to expand into the android market so My Social Stylist can be used on phones like the Huawei P1.
As fashion lovers who are lawyers by day, is it hard to not share fashion advice, wanted or not, with your colleagues? Do they know about the app and if so what are their thoughts? To be honest, a lot of our colleagues are really into fashion so if our conversations aren’t about work, 9 times out of 10 it will be fashion related! But we definitely don’t walk around the office giving unwanted feedback…although, that would be pretty funny!
We work in a really supportive environment and we’re lucky that we’ve been able to share the excitement and success of our app with our colleagues. A lot of them have actually become members of our app and follow our blog.
Image supplied.
