Virtual Beauty Session
TIMELINE
• Aug 2021 - Nov 2021
CONTRIBUTION
• Primary Research
• Benchmarking
• Userflow, Sitemap, Storyboard
• Wireflow
• Wireframe & Prototype
• Usability Testing
Background
Help salon owners and their customers: Responsible for user research, designing user persona, features, user flow, storyboard, information architecture, wireframe, high-fidelity prototype, and conducting usability testing.
COVID-19 affected beauty salons, preventing their customer from accessing their services directly. This restriction hampers salon business operations, causing a decrease in their income. On the other hand, customers face challenges in getting the desired beauty services.
Objective
Identify the problem and provide a design solution to meet customers' needs and business goals.
Solution
Mobile app design with an 80% user satisfaction rate which means the user is satisfied with the design solution.
The functionalities are also usability tested with an 84% average direct success rate which means the design is easy to use.
✧ Problem Discovery
Research Insight
To gain a deeper understanding of the problems, business operations, and pain points, I conducted interview sessions with a business owner, five existing customers, and five employees from the beauty salon.
The customers, who are based in Surabaya, Indonesia, have been using salon services from this specific salon at least three times a month.
These customers are tech-savvy and are comfortable using their mobile phones for various services. However, with the onset of the pandemic, they found themselves unable to maintain their beauty routines and needed professional help. They attempted self-care but it didn't meet their expectations.
80% doing beauty self-care at home but unsatisfied
When I first used the app, it helped me to set my goals and the time and willingness or some commitment that I need to learn English, day by day. This helped to boost my motivation and make me focus on learning languages, in this case, English.
Looking for product but sometimes out of stock
Duolingo uses a game-based method for their users to learn language. It makes it more fun to learn. They make every exercise short and valuable for their users so they don't overwhelmed.
80% of people need a reminder to motivate them
We learned by making a mistake. Duolingo gives immediate feedback after the users answer the question. The feedback is also user-friendly, and short, but to the point.
Promo always makes them excited
We learned by making a mistake. Duolingo gives immediate feedback after the users answer the question. The feedback is also user-friendly, and short, but to the point.
Problem Statement
People do beauty self-care at home but they need professional help due to lack of expertise. The beauty salon is unable to operate because customers cannot meet directly with salon employees or visit the salon.
Benchmarking
I conducted benchmarking to better understand what works well in the industry and what trends are shaping it. This analysis helped me learn from competitors and find ways to improve it.
Based on my research, I found the top 2 apps on Google Play Store that are related to this project. The apps called Salon and MyCuts and these apps have 3 related features to my project.
Booking Services
Easily booking a consultation online. This feature allows users to select any service they want and give them the details of the service.
Schedule
Look at the details for a specific schedule that is already booked. This feature gives details such as the time, service, price, and who will help them do the service.
Promotion Page
Promo for specific products or services. This feature give a specific page that contains what promotion that available and what's the benefit.
✧ Design Solution
User Flow
This is the sitemap I’ve created. I categorized and gathered the services or the features and explicitly said to the users for better readability, for example: A cart to manage products or services the user is interested in making purchase, scheduled to manage the booked schedule for the services, and also a company profile to introduce the company to the new users.
From the brainstorming session resulted in several features that will later be designed:
1. Make an account
2. Book an online consultation services
3. Get help from customer service
4. Live session consultation
5. Find and buy a beauty product
6. Choose a specific payment method
7. Learn more about the beauty salon
The user flow explains how the user starts the mobile app the first time and how the process so they can book a live online session with a professional to help them and guide them. This user flow simplified for presentation needs.
App Design
Easy access to find services and products
On the home screen, users can see the services and beauty products they need. At the top of the page, there are options to search for specific products and access notifications or reminders.
If users want to open another page section, they can find it at the bottom of the page. It's easily to move between section: Home - Cart - Scheduled - Company Profile - Profile.
Meet professional virtually and get immediate help
After booking services and setting a schedule, users will be notified to start a session with a professional. Professionals will take some notes for the user and at the end of their session, the user will get those notes.
Buy the beauty products they need
After a virtual session or not, if users need beauty products they can buy them easily. It also provides users with different payment methods based on their preferences.
Usability Testing
I conducted usability testing on the prototype with five existing customers, evaluating all nine functionality features. The results indicate that all functionalities performed well, achieving an average direct success rate of 84%.
The prototype tested using Maze (online) with asynchronous type which means the users open the app by themself and are guided by the prompt.
In addition to usability testing, I conducted a user satisfaction survey with the SUS method which reached a score of 80% that the user is satisfied with the design.
Insight
Indirect success means that the users can accomplish the tasks but they are not taking the golden path as I defined. Some of them find that they have difficulties accessing and using the feature.
✧ Lesson Learned
Seek for a helpful feedback
I did this project while in the university where I got a lot of access to ask for feedback. I asked my university professor, designer friends, and even the users themselves and I learned to understand others' perspectives.
Dealing with uncertainty is challenging, but that doesn't mean there is nothing that can be done. For this project, I designed a mobile app that fills the gap between a beauty salon and its customers even the customers can’t have direct services from the beauty salon.
