How I Applied UX Design Methods to My Halloween Costume
By: Rina Kim
Tags: UX Design, UX, Costume, Halloween, Product Design

For the most recent Halloween, I chose to be Mr. Potatohead, a childhood favorite that is easily recognizable and incredibly interactive with its changeable parts. Since this would be a huge undertaking with the many moving pieces to the costume, I wanted to design this not only as efficiently as possible, but in a manner that would allow for the best wearing experience as I immensely struggled with Mr. Peanut last year.

I decided to apply a few UX design methodologies to my costume making process because my ultimate goal is user centric and UX design is about creating solutions that cater specifically to user’s needs in order to achieve the best experience possible. This was done by:

researching past costume pain points and successes

dissecting findings and turning them into opportunities

ideating and sketching drafts of how I could bring the design to life

STARTING WITH RESEARCH

Research is such a crucial part of the UX process because it’s here designers are able to find patterns and understand what exactly it is that users need, what motivates them to make certain decisions, what gives them satisfaction, etc. That is why to design Mr. Potatohead, I needed to do research and look back at my last Halloween costume.

Video of Mr. Peanut in action for context

WHAT WORKED WITH MR. PEANUT

Structure: chicken wire is incredibly flexible, easy to use and pliable

chicken wire is incredibly flexible, easy to use and pliable Low cost: newspaper or cardboard boxes were sourced from local stores. The only major purchases were the chicken wire, cane and paint.

newspaper or cardboard boxes were sourced from local stores. The only major purchases were the chicken wire, cane and paint. Appearance: not tooting my horn here, but the overall accuracy it had with the original mascot was aesthetically pleasing

WHAT WERE PAIN POINTS WITH MR. PEANUT

Safety: chicken wires cut into my skin and latched onto my clothes

chicken wires cut into my skin and latched onto my clothes Comfort: weight of the costume was rested on my shoulder edges, unfortunately centralizing the weight there and causing major discomfort

weight of the costume was rested on my shoulder edges, unfortunately centralizing the weight there and causing major discomfort Consumption: drinking/eating was not an option, unless two straws were doubled up and pushed through the mouth screen

WHAT AM I SOLVING FOR?

I love Halloween and DIYing my own costumes but it needs to be wearable when I’m out and about. How might I create a costume that is both comfortable and functional so that I can have an enjoyable wearing the costume?

DESIGN SOLUTIONS

SKETCHES

Based on the insights gathered from my research, I quickly sketched out the costume and addressed each segment I would be incorporating to visually see and hypothesize my design. Additionally, a storyboard was created to give context to a clear story of how Mr. Potatohead would be worn during Halloween.

(Top) sketch of the structure and appearance. (Bottom) Mr. Potatohead out and about.

The next steps would have been to PROTOTYPE and TEST the design in stages. Unfortunately time and resources weren’t on my side, so I went straight into physically designing the costume and doing quick tests by wearing the costume when each segment was complete.

DESIGN BREAKDOWN

SAFETY & COMFORT: I came away with tons of scratches and cuts wearing last year’s costume because the sharp wire ends were exposed from the inside. To avoid this from happening again, I turned the ends outward and covered them with duct tape for added protection.

For comfort and mobility, I wanted to be hands free. It was crucial for rope straps to be tied on the inside of the costume so that the weight could be evenly dispersed and comfortably resting on my shoulders, similarly to a backpack.