As a nimble startup, Define My Style collaborated with West Monroe Partners, a Chicago based full service management consulting firm, to design, develop and launch this new app in just four weeks.
Define My Style, a leading online, style-centric community for girls 13-19, today announced the availability of "DMS 2 Go" an iPhone app and the newest tool in the DMS Studio™.
Teen DMS community members use online tools to create thousands of unique handbag designs, personal logos and virtual stores. With more than a hundred designs created each day, a dynamic and rich stream of activity can flood by members between logins. This new iPhone app, DMS 2 Go, allows members to browse and comment on the latest community activity; feeding both the friend and fashion fetishes of DMS designers. Teen influencers are juggling school, clubs, family, social interests, sports and much more. The challenge for this first release was to inject a creative escape; something fresh and fun that fits into a 3 minute break during their incredibly demanding schedules.
"We are thrilled to launch our first mobile app and the collaboration on this project was incredibly satisfying," says Kristine Sturgeon, Founder & CEO of Define My Style. "Everyone has an opinion about mobile, but we wanted to prioritize feedback from our DMS members. These girls spend thousands of hours on mobile devices; they are the experts and we wanted to hear their opinions. We are proud that the DMS community helped define the requirements. We were able to bring these inputs to West Monroe Partners, complete rapid brainstorming and mockups then quickly transition to working prototypes and launch within a few weeks. Our target audience is creative and connected, if we want to catch their attention, we can't miss mobile.
"This project had a tight timeline while being the first piece of a bigger vision for the DMS Member engagement model," states Gregory Layok, Director of West Monroe Partners' Technology Integration Practice. "We've sketched out a number of additional ideas to carry the strategy forward, but identified the most tangible pieces to deliver value to the market quickly. This is an approach to project management we are working with clients on across multiple industries as a response to the increasing need to improve the customer experience. Many organizations we are working with are focused on more intimate relationships with their customers. The mobile experience must feel simple and consistent with other communication channels, regardless of the complexity of security and integration requirements behind the scenes. We look forward to furthering an ongoing relationship with Define My Style as their business continues to grow."
About Define My Style
Define My Style is an online, style-centric community that empowers creative and curious teen girls, ages 13 to 19. Define My Style provides web based tools and connections to engage and spark young designers and entrepreneurs. Our virtual community, the DMS Studio™, provides a unique, social and dynamic environment to help teens explore design, understand the value of other perspectives and develop confidence in genuine personal expression. The DMS Marketplace™ empowers enterprising teens to open a virtual store to promote, sell and have their personal brand of handbags manufactured. For more information, please visit www.DefineMyStyle.com.
About West Monroe Partners
West Monroe Partners is a North American full-service management consulting firm focused on guiding organizations through projects that fundamentally transform their business. With the experience to create the most ambitious visions as well as the skills to implement the smallest details of our client's most critical projects, West Monroe Partners is a proven provider of growth and efficiency to large enterprises, as well as more nimble middle-market organizations. Their consulting professionals drive better business results by harnessing experience across a range of industries, serving clients out of offices across the US and Canada. The Technology Integration Practice works with companies to design, build, and deploy all aspects of mobile applications, including strategy, functionality, user-friendly interfaces, and security.