Problem
Health and environmentally conscious people want to use cosmetic products that are truly organic.
However, they find it challenging to find such products as they can not understand and
are often misled by organic cosmetic products labels.
The goal
The goal is to help consumers feel confident that they have purchased truly organic
products and help them better understand product labels.
My role
As UX/UI designer , I designed an app in 10 Weeks for an academic project. Specific responsabilities included researching,defining, ideation, prototype and usability testing.
Tools
Figma, Invision
Project overview
Lotus app is a digital solution for users
that are ingredient-conscious as they often find it
challenging to find a truly organic product and they lack time to check ingredient labels.
The app includes key features such as organic products finder, scanning feature and detailed ingredient lists.
If you want to try the prototype click on this prototype
and to view the project presentation click on this video.
Project challenges
During the project the time was limited, therefore it was challenging to find health and ingredients-conscious users for the interview process and usability testing.
Problem Statement
How might we help health and ingredient-conscious people better understand organic cosmetic products labels?
Design Process
Research
I chose secondary research to start from a broader discovery of the problem. However, the statics on how many people are misled were limited and not enough to support the problem space.
Therefore, for a deeper analysis, I made assumptions leading to this hypothesis statement to resolve the research objectives.
"I believe that healthy and ingredient-conscious people are misled when buying organic products
I will know if I am right or wrong when I see the following feedback from the research results.
Interviews
To find out if my assumptions were true and if healthy and environmentally-conscious people are misled by the organic products and to understand users’ struggles and behaviours when buying organic products, I interviewed 4 users aged between 22-50 years old who are healthy and ingredient-conscious.
Collecting Data and findings
With the results from the interviews, I proceeded by narrowing them down into pain points, motivations and behaviour using the affinity mapping.
By observing user's common patterns, I grouped them into three key themes: Difficulty trusting brands, the needs for transparent and descriptive labels and
and challenging shopping experience.
(swipe the slides to find out more )
Key Findings
Choosen Theme
To focus on a specific solution from the above-collected data, I have chosen Transparent and descriptive ingredient labels.This is because it has major pain points, behaviour and motivations.
When buying organic cosmetic products users want to see clearly and upfront what they use. Online shopping experiences and trusting brands are all connected with buying an organic cosmetic product that has
a transparent and fully descriptive label.
From my assumptions , its clear that users will benefit from a digital solution to understand better organic products.
Defining the User Persona, Experience mapping, user stories
I created a User persona for the Lotus app based on my findings in the previous step.
To understand better from a user point of view their experience when shopping online, I made a detailed Experience Mapping where I
identified opportunities to solve the problem.
Next, to help better emphasise with users I defined Users stories where I broaden it into 28 stories and 3 epics based on
the persona and the experience mapping.
The three main epics are searching for organic cosmetic products, organic products label transparency and Shopping experience.
(swipe left to find out more slides )
Task Flow
After authoring user stories, I selected the most compelling epic to focus "searching organic cosmetic products" this is because one of the crucial tasks for Laura based on experience mapping. Therefore, I developed a task flow that helps me to follow a journey for the wireframes and prototype.
Develop and Ideate: Sketches and Mid-Wireframes
Taking from the task flow, I began the fun part for me, ideation and developing mid-wireframes.
After taking inspiration from the UI vision board, I sketched some solutions what it will look like the
app drafts.
My goal was to develop a simple and clear layout to help users easily find an organic product and understand it. I made sketches on
task flow pages sequences from homepage, search results,product page, ingredient page and cart page.
Moving from sketches to mid-wireframes, I modified them into a more suitable digital application. I designed simple layout so the user can easily search for an organic product starting from the homepage to order online.
Of course, the initial prototype (click to view) will be subject to multiple changes the usability testing.
Usability Testing
Before moving to do mockups, I focused on the usability issues for the prototype.
I conducted usability testing in 2 rounds and 5 testers participated.
The goal was to find usability issues and then improve the website. I presented them
with tasks and a scenario.
Scenario :
Imagine that you are looking for a face moisturizer product that is vegan, cruelty-free and truly organic. As an ingredient-conscious person, you want to make sure that the product you already own is safe.
Iterations
After I had users feedback, I started iterating the prototype leading to two versions and finalized the changes into this outcome prototype .
Below are iterations from the first and second rounds.
Visual Design and Branding
Transforming the app into more intuitive high-fidelity wireframes is where my creativity was free to shine.
The process of implementing visual design included experimenting with the colours, testing the accessibility and creating a UI library to maintain consistency.
The brand app values ethical beauty , organic and clean cosmetics. I decided on the name Lotus because it encompasses all the means that the brand tries to conceive. In Buddhism, the white lotus flower means purity, and the red lotus means beauty, compassion and love.
For the app's colours, I opted for orange and green to reflect the colours of nature elements; inspired by plants and fruits such as papaya. Regarding the wordmark and the app Icons,
I have designed a simple wordmark using the "Lezetta" typeface. Where as for the app icon is symboloysed by an orange lotus that's because is simply the brand identity.
High-fidelity, Marketing Website and Final Prototype
The outcome is the Lotus app, a digital solution to help users to shop ethically by easily searching for truly organic products that are partnered with the brands and read quickly ingredients, scanning an organic product.
The next will be implementing more iterations through usability testing to deliver the best user experience.
Alongside high-fidelity wireframes and the prototype, I designed a marketing website. The website aimed to attract users to download the Lotus app.
The Overall design layout is minimal and straightforward, I included the hero section, app features, testimonials, and brand partners. If you are interested in the website prototype click here .
Outcome
An app that allows users to find organic cosmetic products and check for ingredients details by scanning products.
Key Learnings and Future Impact
This project thought me to empathise deeply with users and solve everyday challenges by thinking critically and communicate clearly ideas.
Moreover, I learned to use the double diamond Model method and strategically design thinking in a short time such as 10 Weeks.
When encountering challenges, I learned to understand every angles of that problem and the have a valid reason for taking that particular decision.
My next steps will be implementing additional functionality for education on organic cosmetic products and build an organic cosmetic consumer community.
If time allowed I would implement more usability testing to adapt and enhance the user's experience.
Lotus app will increase the user's trust when buying organic cosmetic products online, especially when they are looking for new products. Moreover, it will be easier to read and understand organic cosmetic ingredients. It won't be able to eradicate false claimed brands for their own benefits but lotus will help users become more aware of the products they use as well become a more self-conscious person by helping the enviroment and use cleaner and organic sourced cosmetics.