type
Beauty
Team
Collaboration
Duration
4 Weeks
Date
Summer 2025
Problem
Beauty service providers struggle with filling last-minute appointment cancellations, resulting in lost revenue. Meanwhile, consumers face difficulties finding available beauty services on short notice, leading to frustration and missed opportunities for self-care.
Solution
Beauty Buzz connects beauty service providers with customers seeking last-minute appointments through an intuitive mobile application. The platform features a social feed for discovery, transparent pricing, and a streamlined booking process, creating a win-win marketplace for both providers and consumers.
My Role
As Team Lead for the Beauty Buzz project, I managed a cross-functional team of designers while serving as the primary client contact. I conducted competitor analysis, led user research sessions, created wireframes, and developed high-fidelity prototypes for both customer and business user flows. Throughout the 4-week project, I facilitated weekly client meetings and ensured all deliverables met both client expectations and user needs.
01 Discovery
Project Timeline
The Beauty Buzz project followed a structured 4-week timeline divided into discovery, design, and validation phases. The process began with research planning and synthesis, followed by information architecture and low-fidelity designs in week 2. The team conducted multiple rounds of user testing to validate concepts, created high-fidelity designs with UI refinements in week 3, and delivered the final prototype with a presentation in the final week. Each phase included specific deliverables, allocated hours, and scheduled completion dates to ensure timely progress.
Secondary Research
The Beauty Buzz project kicked off with secondary research combining client data and industry analysis. Our team spent half a day researching market trends, competitors, and user pain points, followed by synthesizing our findings through affinity mapping. The process helped us create user personas and journey maps to help develop the project.
Real-time Availability Updates
Keeping schedules synced in real time ensures that last-minute openings can be filled quickly. This reduces downtime, prevents lost revenue, and makes it easier for clients to book on short notice.
Beauty Core Service Consumers
Women aged 25–54 make up the majority of beauty service clients, driving most salon visits and spending. They represent the most consistent and loyal customer base in the industry.
Annual Cancellation Losses
Missed appointments and last-minute cancellations cost salons an average of $67,000 annually. Reducing no-shows is critical for maintaining steady revenue and healthy client relationships.
02 Define
Primary Research
Our research synthesized findings from individual team members as well as data provided by our client. After collecting all data, we conducted a collaborative affinity mapping exercise to organize our thoughts into meaningful categories. Summaries from each category were then used to help develop both user personas and MVPs.
Affinity Mapping Categories
As we gathered all information, eight categories emerged including time, market, loyalty, booking methods, research, payment, platforms, and search by service.
Affinity Mapping Highlights
After identifying the eight categories, we summarized all insights within each group to identify patterns and actionable findings.
User Personas
These summaries provided critical insights which were able to inform the development of our user personas for both the Shopper and Business Owner.
User Stories Minimum Viable Product
Key insights from our summaries were used to prioritize and develop MVP features for both the Shopper and Business Owner user journeys.
03 Information Architecture
Site Map
Beauty Buzz features two distinct site maps: one for Shoppers and one for Business Owners. The Shopper interface offers a social media-inspired experience with Home, Explore, and Profile sections. Similarly, the Business interface allows owners to create and publish posts about cancelled appointments through a dedicated Create feature.
User Flows
We decided to focus on two key user flows: Shopper and Business Owner User Flows. The Shopper flow guides users through discovering and booking last-minute beauty services, while the Business Owner flow enables salons to quickly post openings, manage appointments, and maximize revenue from otherwise empty slots.
04 Ideation
Low Fidelity Sketches
To develop our first prototypes for user testing within 1-2 days while maintaining our schedule, we created Figma frames instead of hand sketches. The approach ensured consistency across ideas, as team members had different sketching styles.
05 Visual Design
Beauty Buzz Mood Board
Personality
Elegant and refined.
Soothing and tranquil.
Sophisticated yet approachable.
Luxurious and premium.
Attributes
Muted pink and beige tones.
Soft textures and gentle curves.
Subtle gradient backgrounds.
Elegant white space.
Image Inspiration
High-end salon interiors.
Spa retreats and wellness centers.
Beauty product photography.
Fashion editorial styling.
UI Attributes
Minimal typography for sophistication.
Pastel color palette with accent highlights.
Airy layouts with balanced negative space.
Subtle animations mimicking gentle movements.
Visual Style Guide
06 Implementation
Usability Testing Highlights
We conducted two rounds of usability testing: one for Low Fidelity and one for High Fidelity prototypes. Our team of four divided into two pairs, with each pair focusing on either the Shopper or Business Owner prototype flow. Based on feedback from both user testing and client comments, we implemented several key improvements including enhanced onboarding, refined home screen configuration, and various UI enhancements.
Development Onboarding
Development Sign Up
Development Home Feed
Development Explore
Development Posting
Final Prototypes
These final prototypes incorporate all critical user and client feedback, demonstrating significant improvements in both aesthetics and task completion rates across the three main flows: Onboarding, Shopper and Business Owner flows.
Flow Onboarding
Flow Shopper
Last Thoughts and Next Steps
Impacts & Results
Dual verification options received positive feedback from beauty professionals who prefer mobile communication.
Clear distinction between shopper and business interfaces helped prevent confusion during testing.
Social media integration aligned well with how beauty professionals currently manage their business.
Lessons Learned
Location terminology needs clarity - "services near me" resonates better with users than "location services."
Business owners prefer simplified posting processes that match their existing social media workflow.
Shoppers value access to reviews when making beauty service decisions.
Future Opportunities
Develop calendar integration to sync with popular booking systems used by beauty professionals.
Test more feminine design elements and typography based on business owner feedback.
Create customizable notification systems to help business owners maintain consistent posting schedules.
Personal Growth
Enhanced understanding of industry-specific workflows in beauty services sector.
Improved ability to design dual-sided marketplace platforms with distinct user needs.
Developed stronger skills in translating user feedback into actionable design improvements.