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Ember Beauty is a web-based beauty product subscription service with a focus on educating its users on how to apply customized makeup and be a better version of themselves.
The client approached our team to develop their concept and create a prototype which could be used to showcase the idea to potential investors. The whole idea of Ember Beauty was to match its target audience i.e. teenage girls to expert makeup artists who can create a customized beauty box according to their style, needs and skills and send them these boxes every month. At the same time, these artists can guide a user to apply makeup effectively.
The online beauty space is quite crowded. At the same time, it was not easy to convince the target audience and engage them on a platform that connects them to strangers. On top of that, there was a challenge of acceptance. People don’t generally pay for services by an expert they don’t know. To tackle the challenges, the team worked closely with all the stakeholders, particularly the target audience to understand their pain points and aspirations. Ember Beauty wants to provide an easy way for prospective users to fill out a survey about their beauty needs to match them with a makeup mentor.
The client wanted a proper prototype that can be presented in the front of potential investors at an event.
According to the client’s insights, there was a gap between purchasing make up and knowing how to use it. At the same time, it was difficult to access the free relevant content online. Our team understood the client’s needs and developed a phase-wise approach for developing a working prototype of MVP according to the idea.
To achieve the client’s goals of having a working prototype by the end of the engagement period, the project was divided in three sprints with each focusing on a specific result.
It was important to understand makeup habits of individuals. Based on the initial discussions with the founders, a detailed research plan was designed. The research plan was broken down into three segments:
Teenage girls want a way to explore new makeup styles with a trusted makeup mentor because they want to learn techniques that match their developing styles.
Based on insights derived from our research, it became easier to outline the design principles as fallows:
Also, the research helped in understanding the price one is willing to pay for a service like Ember Beauty. At the same time, target personas were clearly defined and insights from various stakeholders were documented at the end of this phase.
After the research face made the basics clear, the team worked to create a basic workflow and start experimenting with the concept based on insights. The basic workflow concept included:
Using Balsamiq three different concepts where designed for the starting quiz that would be shown on the website.
Most testers preferred a slider paired with a question about ethnicity.
"When I order things online, I’m never sure if it goes through unless I get an email confirmation. Also you can go back and check the time of the appointment."
A lot of testers expressed that they weren’t comfortable talking to a stranger over a video chat, but would feel more comfortable if they could get to know their mentor first through chatting/messaging
Each of the prototype concepts were tested with users to understand what would work best for the brand. Based on our testing, the following insights were derived to improve the product concept for the next phase:
Based on the insights from previous phases, a final prototype was developed and tested. What started as 3 different concepts initially with different workflows were merged into a single working prototype.Also, the final prototype was designed in a way that gave users more control over their experience.
Users could choose their mentors to make them feel more comfortable and they were notified with a confirmation mail about their choice after they signed up for the service. Also, the final prototype had the following elements:
The final prototype was tested simultaneously and enabled Ember Beauty to achieve their goal of building a personalized, aspirational, relatable, educational and flexible makeup subscription service.
Our team’s effort helped the brand to build a tangible prototype and get hold of some valuable insights that improved the overall value proposition. Also, it became easier for the brand to present their concept and pitch to prospective investors.