My roles
User Research, Sketches, Wireframes,
Prototyping, UI Design
Timeline
February 2023 - September 2024
Tools
Figma and Miro
Problem
Overwhelmed by the amount of skincare or makeup products out on the market? When people shop for skincare or makeup products, they do not know where to start. People buy products they see trending online and assume it is going to work for them.
Solution
The app will become a tool to help consumers achieve their desired skin health and appearance. Users will have the ability to check if the product is right for them before purchasing. This app will positively impact the environment and the economy.
Overview
When it comes to people’s health, skincare is always listed as a top priority. Nowadays, social media influences millions of people to try many different products and see how they can achieve so-called “perfect” skin. People use products by reading simple labels on the front but they report back saying the products did not work or caused breakouts. This project will talk about how we can come up with the best service or product that helps clients narrow their options and list products that directly match their skin type and allergies.
Discovery and Empathizing
Initial Research & User Insights
Secondary
Research
Skincare and makeup have become more relevant in people's lives because there is more exposure to the media. Achieving the so-called "perfect" skin has always been people's main goal when it comes to their health and outer appearance. However, people have mentioned that it is more difficult to achieve flawless-looking skin. This is because many different companies are producing more and more skincare and makeup products. Consumers are feeling overwhelmed and don't know what to pick.
- Common thoughts when shopping for skincare and makeup products: a sense of confusion and hesitancy when there are misinformation and disinformation.
- Trending terms like "clean beauty", "skin barrier", "glass skin", and etc are over-used which can cause consumers to purchase products that may not be suitable for them
- According to the Plastic Pollution Coalition, it is said that "7.9 billion units of rigid plastic were created just for beauty and personal care products".
Competitve
Analysis
Analyzed two different competitors that are mostly related to the Malguem app: OnSkin and Skin Bliss
1. Onskin - AI Product Scanner
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Difficult to navigate
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Limited information
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Outdated information
- Needs a better way to compare products
2. Skin Bliss
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Limited information and access to certain app features
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Outdated information
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Accessibility issues
Screener
Survery
A survey was conducted to ask questions about people's behavior when it comes to purchasing and using skincare and makeup products. Also, it is a great way to get more insight into how people feel before and after purchasing.
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28 people in total were surveyed
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5 people out of 28 people for the interview
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11 questions
Of the respondents use 1-5 skincare products on a daily basis
Reads reviews and find people that have similar to skin condition
Give products that don't work to a friend or family member that might be better for them
Have been influenced by content creators (ex:Youtubers) once or twice
User
Interviews
This interview is conducted to dive further into the research on the patterns of what consumers go through before purchasing.
Out of the 28 screen survey respondents, I interviewed 5 people who are familiar with purchasing skincare and makeup products.
Listed below are some of the questions that were asked:
What are your main focuses when it comes to your skin?
What is your experience going into a beauty store (Sephora, Ulta) and purchasing skincare/makeup products?
What is your experience shopping online for beauty products?
Have you ever used any services that provide assistance with finding the best skincare or makeup products?
Interview Insights
"Easily influenced by social media or by friends/family. If there is a product that many are raving about, definitely buy into the hype."
"If the store doesn’t have the product that I want, I need to research other products that work for me and need to spend an extra 40 minutes to find something similar or better."
"I used to use expensive products because I trusted the label. In total, I used about 10 products or more. Now I am using about 2 products. I believe less is more and I am going to back to the basics. I like receiving recommendations and testing them out."
" Highly interested in products that are labeled "clean ingredients". Not using harmful ingredients that potentially caused major health issues over time (example sulfate, phthalate, oxibenzo)."
Affinity Mapping
Emapthy
Mapping
I created 2 fictional characters based on the information I learned from my interviews. I organized that into empathy mapping.
Ideating
Wireframe and Prototyping
How We Might...
Questions
For better and simple understanding, I organized our research and thoughts into 5 main questions.
How might we assist clients to find the proper skincare and makeup products?
How might we help people understand on how to achieve their skin health goals?
How might we make clients feel less overwhelmed when it comes to selecting a product?
How might we reduce skincare and makeup product waste when it does not work for the client?
How might we help people understand more about their skin?
Minimal Viable Product (MVP)
I created a visual critical user flow map that indicates what tasks will need to be completed for each MVP.
Sketching and Guerrilla Testing
Now that I have organized what the flow of the app is going to be, I sketched low-fidelity designs on paper.
Wireframes
With my low-fidelity sketches, I created them digitally and also implemented UI designs.
User Story #1
As a skincare and makeup enthusiast], I want take a quiz so that I can know more about my skin condition and learn how to reach my skin goals.
User Story #2
As a Malguem user, I want to see a list of products that are specifically good for my skin type and to help reach my skin goals so that I can buy products that will give me successful results.
User Story #3
As a Malguem user, I want to see details and reviews of the product so that I can learn how the product recommended by Malguem matches with the goals and condition of my skin.
Brand
Reasoning
Malguem is the name I chose for this app. Malguem is a Korean word that translates to the English word, "clear".
I chose this word because it represents having a "clear understanding" of products that clients are selecting and having "clear skin". To further explain "clear skin", it means to have healthy and flawless-looking skin.
High Fidelity Mockup
Putting together all the ideas, sketches, and low-fidelity mockups, I designed a high-fidelity representation and prototype of the final product.
Malguem's prototype version will be put to the test by a selected few to give feedback on the design and flow of the app. More will be explained in the next section.
Validating
Usability Testing and Conclusion
Usability
Testing
I conducted another set of interviews remotely with 5 interviewees. The goal of this interview was to get feedback on the app's core functionality.
Using the prototype, I was able to get the interviewees to interact with Malguem. The testing sessions were insightful and it helped to learn what consumers could possibly use in the future.
Questions Asked
1. Were you able to sign-up easily?
2. Can you take the quiz and get a result?
3. Are you able to perform “barcode” scan and did it take you to the product’s information page?
4. Does the product information/review page give all the information you expect?
'Barcode' Tool
2 out of the 5 users recommended that I add an explanation to the "barcode" portion to explain the functionality of this tool.
I added a textbox towards the top so people can see what this tool is for and what's going to show them next. This tool is mainly here to give quick answers about whether a certain product you see in person is the right product for you.
Labels
One of the interviewees pointed out that it would be best if the product had a label for each of the products listed.
I added textboxes to each of the products to label them so that future users will not have to look through each product just to see the name of the product itself.
Conclusion
Malguem is my first capstone and I got to experience the process of what UX designers do.
Throughout the research and the designs, I was able to grasp the importance of how apps and websites are created. Although I still have a lot to learn, this helped organize my thoughts about UX Design and what tasks are done to achieve great success.