Glow Skincare App

Here to find your glow.

Conceptual App

This is a gamified conceptual app built as a tool for new skincare enthusiasts to streamline the process of finding skincare products. Users will be able to earn glow stars and redeem them for a chance participate in giveaways.

Tools

Figma

Adobe Illustrator

Procreate

Team

2 Product designers

Timeline

Overall: 4+ Months

Research: 4+ weeks

Design + Test: 3 months

Role

Product designer

UX Researcher

Problem

New skincare enthusiasts struggle to create the best skincare routine due to conflicting advice from people with different skin types, checking for product compatibilities, and unclear product ingredients

Solution

Business goal

Our mission is to develop and implement the most effective algorithm for recommending skincare products, empowering individuals to enhance their skin health and boost confidence in their appearance.

Monetization

The gamification aspect is implemented in which users can earn glow star points through liking products, liking routines, posting honest reviews, and commenting. They can participate in giveaways and win beauty gift cards.

Constraints

  • Constraint on Professional Advice Replacement: Communication must include clear disclaimers emphasizing that recommendations are user-generated and not to be construed as professional advice from skincare professionals such as dermatologists.

  • Constraint on Algorithmic Recommendations: Algorithm must balance user needs and expert insights when generating recommendations.

  • Constraint on User-Generated Recommendations: Recommendations are based on user inputs rather than expert advice.

Our Design Process

1

General Problem

Research

Competitor Analysis

Ideate

Test, Iterate & Final product

2

3

4

5

Define

6

Mid-Fidelity

7

Step 1: General Problem

We did not have a specific prompt to follow but wanted to explore current struggles in finding skincare products.

Step 2: Competitor Analysis

First, we investigated current digital solutions to this problem. This is what we found:

Troveskin

  • $65 yearly subscription to unlock all features

  • Key feature: Skin analysis AI tool

Skinbliss

  • $25 yearly subscription to unlock all features

  • Key feature: Skincare product barcode scanner

Picky

  • Sponsorship

  • Key feature: Beauty community for product discovery

Charm

  • $20 yearly subscription to unlock all feature

  • Key feature: Routine builder

Step 3: User Research

Then we conducted surveys, interviews, and secondary research to:

Further explore the gaps between current digital solutions and user pain-points

And find the general flow of how someone finds a product that suits their skin and routine needs.

Identifies skin concern

Finds product to fix skin concern

Main pain-points:

  • Too much noise with knowing what products work for a person’s skin

  • People tend to skip over product ingredients that may cause them to have an adverse reaction

  • Tedious amount of work trying to see if product is compatible with the rest of their routine

Does product contain ingredients that may irritate my skin?

“I’ve spent my whole morning searching and learning about products, what not to use together, what to use together, in what order, which products for what skin type and it’s so complicated. I’ve spent hours doing research and I’m still confused”

Is product compatible with current routine?

Step 4: Define

After analyzing both competitor apps and user research, we discovered a:

Deficiency in the inability to streamline the process of determining product compatibility within a routine

And redefined our core problem statement:

New skincare enthusiasts struggle to create curate a skincare routine due to conflicting advice from people with different skin types, checking for product compatibilities, and lack of transparency with product ingredients

Step 5: Ideate

We broke down our problem statement into three HMW statements

How might we…

highlight product ingredients and their effects on skin?

Step-by-step routine template/guideline

simplify the process of discovering skincare products that are compatible?

and organized our solutions into a prioritization matrix.

Low Feasibility

High Priority

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educate new skincare enthusiasts about basic routines and ingredients?

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Low Priority

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Honest reviews: highlight reviewer’s skin type

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Routine inspo

User skin profile: identifies skin concern, skin type, & irritant ingredients

High Feasibility

Product details: ingredient breakdown

AI generated recommendations

Step 6: Design & Test

Next, we laid out our solutions into mid-fidelity wireframes

Routine Builder (showcased as main function of app)

Integrated with many tools to help users find products that work f:or their skin type and routine including: product details, routine incompatibility warning, and AI generated recommendations

Step 7: Test, Reiterate & Final Product

We conducted usability testing to 5 skincare enthusiasts (ages 16-30+) and this was their feedback:

  • Include images and definitions of skin types/concerns- some testers were uncertain about their skin type and concerns

  • Wording was confusing - many testers were confused on the functionality of certain buttons due to poor wording

  • Copying routine from inspo was confusing and could be streamlined better

  • Poor overall user experience - did not like being able to only see two inspo routines at a time and too much “clicking”

After taking into consideration our tester’s feedback, this is how we reiterated them into our hi-fidelity wireframes

Design system & Typography:

Added images and definitions to onboarding questions

Users can now participate in a “skin analysis quiz” to help identify their skin type

We also removed the “continue button” to lessen the amount of clicks

Increasing overall user experience

We removed the user’s skin profile due to its redundancy

User’s can track their points and view all giveaways they can enter

They can also view more than 3 routine inspirations based on their preferences. This feature is made to inspire users in finding skincare products based on other users’ routines who have same/similar skin type and needs.

Clarified buttons and edit function

Routine is already set to “edit mode,” avoiding extra clicks and confusions with buttons

Our final product

Reward system

Onboarding

Creating a routine

Routine Inpiration

Summary


Our design solutions would significantly impact the market by offering a unique routine inspiration feature and simplifying skincare understanding for users.

Regrettably, we couldn't conduct additional usability tests due to time limitations. To gauge success, we'd require faster user response rates, increased overall satisfaction, and identifying potential business partners who would sponsor us.

This being my first extensive design project, I've learned several key lessons:

  • the importance of precise wording for enhancing user experience

  • the necessity of organization to maintain consistency in designing

  • the value of brainstorming before implementation

  • and the importance of patience in creating compelling designs.