UX Design
THE BEAUTY MARK APP
Your Virtual Vanity
The Beauty Mark App improves their customers’ relationship with their favorite products. Through the app, users can access tools like product expiration reminders, purchase logs, product diaries, and social elements.
Tools: Sketch, Maze, InVision, Adobe CC
Timeline: Rapid Design, 3 week project
The Problem
After creating a prototype for an Ulta Beauty Timer feature, my testing drew more questions and comments from participants.
- “What if you buy items from outside this retailer?”
- “I wish I could remember what else was on my vanity.”
- “It would be cool if I could share items with my friends.”
I realized that although this feature helped solve a problem for Ulta shoppers, it didn’t quite solve the beauty dilemma for the average beauty enthusiast that shops at several different stores.
How could we improve their customers’ relationship with their favorite products across all their favorite beauty brands while promoting safe beauty practices in the app?
RESEARCH
Proposed Solution: A Digital Vanity App
Goal: To optimize the user’s post-purchase experience through helping users determine if their most-loved products meet expectations and/or are still safe to use.
*This application is a tool for consumers to regulate their own safety and hygiene in an area that is not federally regulated.
Market Research
With a saturated beauty and wellness market, I reviewed my initial research into competitive retailers. However, I pivoted this angle slightly to include clean wellness apps as well as apps that included a social or chat feature.
User Research
Since this solution came from a previous project, I reviewed my initial user interview questions. With a cross-retailer solution in mind, I then revisited and edited my approach for a second round of interviews.
Insights
- Users rarely (if ever) purchase 100% of beauty products from one retailer
- Average user purchases from at least 2 retailers
- Most users have a hard time remembering what they already purchased
- Most users have some kind of beauty routine
- Most users are not knowledgeable about beauty expirations
DEFINE
I used empathy maps to gain a deeper understanding of my users senses: thinking, feeling, seeing, hearing, saying. Then, I looked for patterns of behavior and scaled their feedback in order to define a more accurate group of personas.
My research analysis resulted in the defining 3 personas: Alisa, Pam, and Steph. I realized that although most think of a beauty influencer like a “Glam Pam” as a devout user, it would be unfair to exclude users like Alisa, a natural beauty enthusiast, or Steph a young woman that is just beginning to explore cosmetics.
For Pamela, her beauty products are so much more than a collection of cosmetics. As she applies her makeup in the morning, sets her daily affirmations and drinks her smoothie. She considers her beauty routine (both morning and evening) an extension of her self-care.
How might we help users improve beauty practices and share their favorite products?
How might we help users digitally manage their vanities?
Roadmap to Success
Creating a roadmap helped me decide to focus on 3 main product features: Managing virtual vanity, expiration alerts, and a social component.
DESIGN
Creating Cross-Retailer Product
Most of the users interviewed expressed a strong disappointment that feature my was limited to one retailer. The concept feedback was welcomed and celebrated, but the desire for a stand-alone product was strong. Focusing on the 3 most desired features ensured I would distribute my time efficiently.
The Beauty Mark app goal is to optimize the beauty experience with health and education at heart.
TEST
I conducted a usability test to gauge initial The Beauty Mark app desired behaviors.
Participants were assigned 3 main tasks:
- Add a product to the vanity
- View an expired product (with or without prompts)
- Recommend a product to a friend
Through testing, I discovered the trouble-points in the user experience which included product descriptions, calendar/date scrolling, and expired product locations.
If at first you don't succeed...test again!
Participants gave some me great feedback:
- Vanity products should include product names
- Add plus icon to product page
- Add a verb to buttons
- Usage trackage needs development
CONCLUSION
Simplify
I had big ideas for this app and sometimes I let it get the best of me. This reminded me to refer to my product roadmap.
UI Elements Take Time
Perfecting brand aesthetics and imagery is a process. Progress is better than perfection.
More Revisions
Products will surely need iterations as they evolve. There’s always room for improvement.
