Evine Beauté
Freelance Project
The Goal:
Make the Evine Beauté website with simple and easy navigation that can be accessed from all pages, and portfolio pages with filtering options to help the user make their decision as quickly as possible.
The Problem:
My findings indicated that users wanted an engaging and easy website to navigate that offers easy inquiry and booking services, and the option of viewing portfolios.
Project Overview
The Product:
Evine Beauté is a local makeup artistry business in the Washington DC area that strives to provide makeup services for weddings and special events. Evine Beauté targets any individual of all genders and backgrounds who are in need of makeup services in the DC area, aiming for an easier, faster, and engaging inquiry and booking process.
Project Duration:
April 2022 - May 2022
My Role:
UX designer and researcher, designing a website for Evine Beauté from conception to delivery.
User Research
Summary:
I conducted interviews and created empathy maps to understand the users I’m designing for and their needs. A primary user group identified through research was newly engaged individuals who needed a quick way to inquire with as many makeup artists as possible.
This user group confirmed initial assumptions about the Evine Beauté customers, but research also revealed that fast inquiry flows was not the only factor limiting users from inquiring or booking.
Other user problems included app engagement and challenges that make it difficult to narrow down the specific type of makeup style the user is looking for, thus impacting the inquiry decision process.
User Pain Points:
1
Inquiry Process
It was identified that the overall inquiry process is lengthy and hard to locate.
2
Booking Process
Booking processes needed to be refined and have more options such as recurring makeup appointments.
3
Time
Users need a fast an efficient way of inquiring about services, specifically when it comes to newly engaged individuals who need to inquire with many different artists as fast as possible.
4
Filtering Options
Filtering options for makeup styles need to be implemented so the user can identify the type of makeup and/or makeup artist to quickly narrow down their decision.
Personas
Ashley
Age: 25
Education: BA in Marketing
Hometown: Fairfax, VA
Family: Lives with fiancé
Occupation: Marketing Manager
“I’m recently engaged and have dreamed about my wedding day since I was a little girl. I hope I find a makeup artist that matches my personal style!”
Goals:
-
Find a makeup artist for her wedding day
-
Be able to look through the artist’s portfolios
-
Be able to easily inquire about pricing without issues
Problems:
-
“I wish I was able to see each artist’s makeup style through their portfolios”
-
“I’m shopping around for a lot of different makeup artist options so I need to be able to quickly inquire about pricing”
Ashley is a Marketing Manager in Fairfax, VA and lives with her fiancé, Adam. She describes herself as simple and easygoing and has never worn too much makeup day-to-day. She’s dreamed about her wedding since she was a little girl and hopes to find a makeup artist that won’t go too over-the-top with her wedding day makeup.
Yasmine
Age: 34
Education: BA in Journalism
Hometown: Washington, DC
Family: Lives with her cat and dog
Occupation: News Anchor
“As a news anchor, I often have a very hectic schedule and need someone who can do recurring makeup applications for me.”
Goals:
-
Find a makeup artist that understands television makeup
-
Be able to book an artist on a recurring basis
-
Be able to easily inquire about pricing without issues
Problems:
-
“I wish I was able to see each artist’s makeup style through their portfolios”
-
“I’m shopping around for a lot of different makeup artist options so I need to be able to quickly inquire about pricing”
Priya is a copy writer who is recently widowed and has two children. Priya does not have the best knowledge of art or a large interest but would like to continue her late husband’s hobby of collecting. She would like to end up passing down her and her late husband's art collection down to her two kids one day.
User Journey Map
Ashley’s user journey map revealed how beneficial makeup filtering options and refined inquiry process would benefit the user’s goal of quickly inquiring about makeup services.
Competitive Audit
An audit of a few competitor’s websites provided direction on gaps and opportunities to address within the Evine Beauté website.
I also took note of the strengths and weaknesses of the user experience of these competitor's website. To view the full competitive audit
spreadsheet, please click here.
Paper Wireframes
I took a more creative approach while iterating the wireframes for this specific website as the product offered are makeup services. I also ensured that the user pain points were addressed while creating these paper wireframes and chose elements that would result in an easier user journey. I prioritized implementing a refined top navigation bar to make the inquiry and navigation process as fast as possible.
Digital Wireframes
While creating the digital wireframes, I wanted to implement a sticky navigation bar that is easily accessible to the user. I also made sure to include headers on the home screen for pages users tend to like to navigate to first.
During the wire-framing stages, it was important to create screen size variations to accommodate the user’s browsing preferences. Thus, a mobile version of the website was also created.
Low-Fidelity Prototype
Using the completed set of digital wireframes, I created a low-fidelity prototype. The primary user flows I connected were the Inquiry and booking pages. The navigation interactions were also implemented along with additional pages that are not part of the primary user flow. This was done in order to fully test the user experience in the upcoming usability studies.
On the right hand side, you will see a screenshot of the prototype interactions completed on Adobe XD.
To view and test out the Evine Beauté Low-Fidelity Prototype, please click here.
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Usability Study
Study Overview:
A moderated usability study was conducted over the course of two days with 5 different participants of different ages and backgrounds. The study revealed key insights that could be implemented in the re-working of the UX design of the application. The key findings can be found below.
Study Insights:
1
Most users had difficulty locating the inquiry page.
2
Users mentioned that they would like to select an artist during the booking process.
3
Most users wanted to see a particular artist's specific work.
4
Users wanted an option to book a founder/artist directly from their about us page.
Mockups
Key Insight 1:
After the usability study, I gained a main insight that most users could not easily locate the inquiry page. This was set as the highest priority insight as it effected one of the main user flows. I fixed this by changing the "Contact" button as the "Inquire" button on the top navigation bar so users could quickly and easily find the inquiry page.
Before usability study
After usability study
Key Insight 2:
After the usability study, I gained a an additional insight that most users wanted the option to select an artist during the booking process. This was set as a second priority as it hindered the user experience when booking a makeup service. I fixed this by implementing a drop down menu on the booking page so the user can select a specific artist of their choosing.
Before usability study
After usability study
Additional Mockups
High-Fidelity Prototype
Using the completed set of mockups, I created a high-fidelity prototype. I ensured to include the insights gained in the usability study and also made sure all proper interactions were working properly. In the high-fidelity prototype, the primary user flow can be completed from any page.
Below, you will see a screenshot of the prototype interactions completed on Adobe XD.
To view and test out the Evine Beauté website High-Fidelity Prototype please click here.
Takeaways
Impact:
The Evine Beauté website has made users feel that they can find a makeup artist and/or makeup style to best suit their needs along with a fast inquiry and booking experience.
One quote from peer feedback:
“This website has one of the quickest inquiry processes I have ever completed! I loved that there was an easily accessible link right on the menu.”
What I've Learned:
While designing the Evine Beauté website, I learned that user research is key when deciding on what type of design approach to take. In this project, user research indicated that the target user group often access wedding vendor websites (including makeup artists' websites) on desktop. This helped me decide to take the desktop-first design approach to cater to the main user group's needs for a better user experience.