Overview
The Company
Established in 2019, Faceted Beauty was founded by Lisa Estrella Yang (she/her/hers) from her lived experiences of rarely fitting into mold. As a pansexual, gender-fluid, Hmong-American child of immigrant refugees, juggling different faceted identities in various spaces was, and still is, a challenge.
At a young age, Lisa turned to nail art as an outlet to cope with bullying and depression. Lisa went on to win Sally Hansen’s 2014 “I Heart Nail Art” competition and several years later created Faceted Beauty. It has been doing well and is at a stage where Lisa would like to make some changes.
Project Brief
Strengthen and elevate the Faceted Beauty® experience and products for the community with strong rebranding and redesign of the digital platform
The Problem
How do we continue to strengthen and elevate the Faceted Beauty® experience and products for the community? How do we reduce the number of drop-offs from the home page? How do we make the Nail DNA™ process more user-friendly? How do we strengthen the brand through content, email campaigns, and the website?
The Goal
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Strengthen experience
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Reduce user drop off
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Make more user friendly
Responsibilities
Project Management, Market Research, Persona Creation
Tools Used
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Figma
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Photoshop
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Canva
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Microsoft Office
The Process
The solution was to first conduct research and gather as much information about the company. From there, we were able to refine the target audience and assemble personas. The current website flow was researched and user-tested which revealed pain points. Website flows and designs were then discussed and several options were created. After deciding on the design we were able to move on to the prototypes. Newsletters were then created to reflect the new look of the website. Prototypes were tested for pain points. Further testing will need to continue to understand the rapidly growing competitive landscape.
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Research
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Refine target audience
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Website flows
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New website design
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Prototypes
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Newsletter design
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User testing
Discover
Understanding the core product
Nail art has been recognized as a unique component in fashion, and the nail art industry has steadily expanded. However, two main issues have emerged in the nail art industry that needs to be addressed. The first is the unreliable reproducibility that occurs due to the reliance on handcrafted techniques, and the second is that consumers and providers are exposed to harmful substances throughout the nail art process.
Scope
The e-commerce channel is projected to register a CAGR of 9.0% from 2022 to 2030. Rising internet penetration amongst consumers and target marketing by companies to reach all customer touchpoints are likely to fuel the growth of this segment. Easy accessibility and heavy discounts & offers provided by online platforms boost the adoption of nail polish in the market. Thus, the sales of the product through the online platform are expected to boost the growth of the overall market during the forecast period.
Male Market
A boy who wants to paint his nails is simply choosing a way of expressing himself, no different than a boy who may select a favorite shirt to wear or a favorite color. It certainly isn't a big deal, unless the parent chooses to make it a big deal. The idea that only girls can wear nail polish is part of some old-school made-up set of rules that enforces gender stereotypes, encourages toxic masculinity, and stifles creative expression. If a boy wants to paint his nails there's no reason he shouldn't be able to and the more the public sees other boys and men wearing polish on their nails, the less 'controversial' it will become.
https://www.moms.com/can-boys-wear-nail-polish/
Gender-Norm
Nail polish as a gender-neutral trend is especially popular among Gen Z. "There's a lot less judgment nowadays," said skater, surfer, and model Evan Mock. "Who wants to listen to someone who says you can't paint your nails? It's so annoying." At a time when it can be difficult to imagine returning to the intimate quarters of a nail salon, a tattoo parlor, or a barbershop, a simple DIY manicure might be the safest and an easiest bit of advanced self-expression we have. As the lockdown gave way to street marches, and as they got increasingly chipped, my DIY manicure began feeling radical, like a rejection of the forces that had conspired to destroy everything cool about the time we had been living in.
Artificial Nail Market Value
According to a Comprehensive Research Report by Market Research Future (MRFR), Artificial nails, from acrylic press-on to gel extensions, have garnered immense popularity within the beauty industry. The trend is popular not only among celebrities but among regular consumers as well. The reason can be the celebrities wearing and flaunting these on an everyday basis. Additionally, artificial nails are affordable and easily available. Furthermore, continuous innovations and the subsequent introduction of improved products in the market have captured the attention of the beauty-conscious generation, covering a dedicated following of adults and teenagers alike. Considering these factors, the artificial nails market is bound to perform significantly well in the years to come.
COVID 19 Analysis
The artificial nails market can continue to progress rapidly despite the COVID-19 outbreak, considering the significant focus on innovations as well as research and development/R&D activities. Following the SARS-CoV-2 onset, there has been a substantial increase in the number of tie-ups between companies, with the common aim to mitigate the financial loss brought on by the pandemic. Although the lockdown has weakened supply chains to a large extent, the demand for artificial nails will remain high in the coming time.
Ideation
Gather Ideas
After reviewing the materials provided and conversations with the company owned several design ideas were collaborated on. The company is proudly queer and gender-fluid. We wanted to reflect that in the design.
The product sold on this e-commerce website is bold and makes a statement. We wanted to showcase the beautiful nails without distracting them from the product itself.
Visual design direction
After reviewing all of our materials and conversations, the initial concept for the visual design direction was to be bold while maintaining a comfortable and relaxed pace.
The aim is to improve the user's comfort and fluency when navigating and using the web by keeping the original characteristics: borderless and genderless.
Elemental Moodboard (Design created by Meichen Lin)
For some elemental design and typography, use some fun and colorful designs to complement the genderless, boundary-breaking, multifaceted concept that Lisa is striving to express.
Web visual design inspiration
The use of curves in these web designs is to remind users of the curvature of the brand's theme "nails". In addition,
the brand's bold color clashes are the reason this was chosen as a reference.
Decorative illustration inspiration
Here are some illustrations useed for reference. Decorative illustrations can make the site more unique, but they are not necessary. If we decide to use illustrations afterward, we can design some multifaceted people interactions based on the available photos and highlight the nails.
Functional illustration inspiration
Functional illustrations are useful for summarizing product highlights or introducing how to use a product. It was observed on some of the competitors' websites that the use of instruction videos clarifies how to apply design in addition to giving gifs to demonstrate usability and create loyalty.
Flowchart
Laying Foundation - User Flow #1 (Flow created by Shelese Peterson)
This was the first website user flow put together. Figuring out where to put the Nail DNA was a challenge. By putting the Nail DNA sizing process too soon in the buying flow it might deter buyers.
Pain Points
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Where to add the Nail DNA in the user flow
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Offering another form to measure nails
Final Design - User Flow #2
This shows how the user would have success from the home page to checkout. User testing needs to be conducted to further understand where the pain points are and how to address them.
Personas
Main
Alternatives
Designs
Design Elements (UI components created by Nicole Clardy)
Fonts & Colors
For the title font, something playful but also readable was used. The typography tells the user that this site was fun at a quick glance, while the body text needed to be more serious. Which led to the use of a font that has simple straight lines to make it easy for users to read.
Newsletters
One of the issues the company was facing was with its newsletter campaign. The research showed that they have a high rate, between 37%-67% open rates, but very low click rates at less than 1%.
To solve this problem, the newsletter is redesigned to mimic that of the website. When the research was analyzed more closely, data showed that the newsletters that were opened more often looked as if the brand is advertising a new product, and/or might have a discount code/sale announcement. By changing the look and content provided in these newsletters, the click rate will increase. Additionally, the newsletter content can be adjusted as need be.
Websites
Some changes have been made to the layout and color. This was done to better showcase the nails and tell the user exactly what to expect while on your site. Changing the hero photo (at the top) to a bigger, nail-focused photo this tells the users exactly what you're selling and that this is a fun place to shop for nails. The site is still clean and polished but fun! Sticking with lighter colors for accents allows the images to take center stage, which is what you want when you're trying to sell a product. The title font, as well as the "Faceted Beauty" font, was changed to the Playfair Display. You'll notice the titles are all in lowercase so as to not be too intimidating and keep it fun. The wording in the areas you pointed out has also been changed to what you suggested.
The website needs to be thought of as the vehicle to deliver products to the brand's users while making sure the users are not distracted by the fancy vehicle it's in but rather it should enhance the overall experience, not distract the user as to why they are there in the first place. That is why many of the background colors are light so as to not take away from the colorful nails the brand is selling.
There are some curved lines used in the background to create some dimension. However, the brand needs to be careful when using curved lines for several reasons. First, too many curved lines might confuse the user as to where they should be looking. Second, and more importantly, when curved lines are used, one loses mental space for the products to be showcased.
By using the color blocking method the brand is able to keep the user engaged and know when a section ends and when new ones begin. This helps the user feel confident when moving through your site by being able to navigate it quickly and easily.
Additionally, the repetitiveness of some of the language throughout the home screen was done intentionally. By doing this the brand is able to educate its users and they become an expert on how to use the site. The users are told in the very beginning what they can expect from this company. The next section tells the user what needs to be done to get started, by doing the "Nail DNA", and "Shop", and adding "Charms". They are then reminded what to expect from the company and what they will be receiving for the money they're spending. Next, they are provided with the safety knowing your products were shown in established brands such as InStyle. They are tempted to shop again and then provide a recap as to why your products are valued at the price they are and whom they are supporting when they choose Faceted Beauty over the competitors.
Final Web Proto
Takeaways
What I learned: While working for Faceted Beauty, I discovered that users need to be informed regarding new designs to keep the momentum of newness and excitement going while maintaining design aesthetics.
Next step: We suggest further testing be conducted with the newsletters and prototypes to find where the users are having pain points. After finding the pain points adjustments will be made and more testing would be advised.