Case Study: Glow Beauty

Challenge: To discover the pain points of current beauty apps/websites and propose solutions to improve the user experience.

Goal: To create a responsive website allowing users to shop for beauty products easily.

Deliverables:  Product design, strategy, user research report, persona, task flows, sketches, UI, prototype.

Tools Used: Figma

Role: Product Designer

Glow is a responsive website and app for a vegan beauty line. It offers personalized product recommendations and a seamless shopping experience.

Challenge

The challenge is understanding Glow users' interactions with the current responsive website and app, identifying pain points, and proposing solutions to enhance their experience with our vegan beauty line.

Process

For the initial user research, I conducted usability testing, combined research, and personal experience to create interview questions that gained potential. I utilized affinity mapping and low and high-f’ low and high-fidelity wireframes to uncover user pain points. In the end, I validated with users and confirmed the redesign solved the pain points. The project timeline is two weeks. Now, let’s go deeper into each step.

RESEARCH

SYNTHESIZE

IDEATE

PROTOTYPE

TAKE AWAYS


Research

I first did some research to better understand the current demographic and business models for vegan beauty products.

I interviewed 10 users during the usability testing phase to uncover their pain points while interacting with other beauty-responsive websites and apps like Sephora & Ulta. These users closely matched Glow's target market based on demographic statistics and user behavior insights.

7 out of the 10 users are frequent buyers of beauty products (4 of them are new to vegan beauty products). I assigned each user three tasks within the app: navigating to find specific products, using the personalized recommendation feature, and accessing educational content.

Synthesize

I synthesized my findings under three categories based on the major pain points expressed during usability testing:

  • Navigation

  • Product Page

  • Accessibility

Persona

I created a temporary persona to help communicate information about users I collected during research.

Ideate

Task Flow

I created task flows for steps a user typically goes through in order to complete two common tasks in Glow:

User Wants to Find a Vegan Beauty Product

  1. Home Page: User lands on the home page.

  2. Navigation: User navigates to the product categories.

  3. Category Selection: User selects a specific category (e.g., skincare, makeup).

  4. Filter and Sort: User applies filters (e.g., skin type, ingredients) and sorts products.

  5. Product Selection: User selects a product from the filtered list.

  6. Product Details: User reads detailed information about the product.

  7. Add to Cart: User adds the product to their shopping cart.

  8. Checkout: User proceeds to checkout and completes the purchase.

To better understand where users were having trouble, I highlighted these areas where I will focus most during the redesign:

  • Navigation: Users found the initial navigation to product categories and educational content confusing.

  • Filter and Sort: Users struggled with applying filters effectively to find specific products.

  • Product Details: Users wanted more comprehensive and easily accessible product information.

  • Search or Browse: Users had difficulty locating specific articles on vegan beauty ingredients.

Lo-Fi Wireframes & User Flow

Prototype

Afterthoughts

This UX case study has been both challenging and rewarding. Gaining a deep understanding of users' needs and discovering what drives their satisfaction has been incredibly insightful.

Despite the short timeline for this project, I am pleased to see that even minor changes can significantly enhance the user experience. This project has reinforced the importance of validating our assumptions through rigorous testing and iterative design.

Note: Glow was my concept, and the UX study was conducted as a learning experience to complete my UX Design Certification.