BeautyAid
Discover the best beauty products for your skin needs.
The Project
The beauty industry is massive and oftentimes women have trouble identifying and finding the best beauty products for their particular skin needs and concerns. They often have to fact-check at least 3-4 sources before deciding to purchase a product which is a time-consuming process that leads to unsatisfactory product selections.
I believe if I create an all-in-one app that provides users with different ways to look for beauty products such as through searching, quizzes, and one-on-one chats with beauty consultants, they will be able to discover products that fit their specific skin needs. Users will also be able to compare reviews with other sites.
The Research
Product Discovery
Through five user interviews, I found users were generally discovering and finding new products through influencers, beauty box subscriptions, ads, Instagram, and manual Google searches based on particular skincare and beauty concerns.
Compare Reviews
Once users discovered a particular product they wanted to purchase, they had to manually search at least 3-4 sources to validate product reviews.
Value Expert Opinions
Users mentioned that they valued the opinion of experts such as Sephora beauty consultants to help them make a decision.
“I don’t rely on one single source because they can be biased.”
Competitive Analysis
I conducted a competitive analysis of other beauty apps in the market that are commonly used to discover new beauty products, such as Pinterest and YouTube.
Even though these apps help users find new products, it’s very difficult to filter results and validate multiple sources within one single app. Also, users do not have the ability to directly interact with beauty experts.
Feature Prioritization
For the MVP, I focused on features that will enable the user to find the best beauty products based on their specific skin concerns. Users will also have the opportunity to refine results and compare reviews with other sites.
User Flow
For the user goals, I took into consideration the primary pain points of consumers. These include finding the best products for their specific needs through chatting with a beauty consultant, searching, and taking quizzes that dig deeper into what they are exactly looking for. Additionally, once the best-personalized products appear, users can read reviews on the site as well as compare reviews with other sites such as Sephora, Ulta Beauty, the product’s website, YouTube, and more.
Design Execution
Sketches
Taking into consideration my research findings, I started exploring various designs that would enable users to find beauty products for particular skin needs. I wanted to offer users different options and allow them to narrow down their results to find what they were looking for in a product.
Participatory Design
I had four users test my low to mid-fidelity prototypes to ensure that the design was catering to their needs.
Key Findings:
“Already put checkmarks to complete the user flow for them. Might need more screens to test the smaller steps.”
“Sephora text was not visible enough, not clear that it’s clickable and that it opens up to a new site.”
“Easy to find a new product.”
“Why don’t other products have reviews, maybe all products should have this and then view photos of influencers or people who post photos.”
Final Designs
BeautyAid will allow users to make the best buying decisions as their choices will be validated by beauty experts, reviews, and the beauty community. Users will leave our app feeling empowered and confident in their beauty product selections.
