About
About
About
About
About
About
About
About
About
About
About
Project Type
Team
Duration
Year
IxD project
Michelle Kim, Kiki Wang, Refaeli Ma
14 weeks
2016
A personalized facial treatment system for young adults who have acne-prone skin
Role
Persona, journey mapping, workshop, ideation, prototyping, user flow, wireframing, usability testing, presentation, acting
Problem
Young adults who have acne-prone skin are more likely to make their skin condition worse. Yet, it affects their personal and professional confidence.
Project Goal
Identify the pain points of the skin care process for young adults with acne-prone skin and stop the vicious cycle.
Speaking to Young Adults
To understand the people we are solving the problems for, we interviewed five young adults about their skincare routine. All of them have suffered from acne problem for more than five years.
We learned that most of them have problems accessing the right products that fit to thier skin types or maintaining a proper routine. These take-aways are the elements of creating our persona and further quesitons on a proper skincare process.
Number of participants: 5 young adults Age: 20 - 27 Suffered from acne: 5 - 10 years
Persona
In order to cover as much pain points as possible, we created a persona - Ada, who practices most of the bad habits as our participants. Our design needs to solve all of her problems, so it would more likely to clear up the difficulties for other potential users.
A journey map of Ada's day allows us to imagine how would she think, feel, and do. These were important considerations while er were designing. She practices similar habits, lifestyles, and beliefs as the young adults we talked to.
Click the image above to enlarge
daily process
skincare products were used
minor alert
red flag
Learning Skincare Knowledge from the Professionals
To gain more knowledge in the skincare field, we also interviewed two professionals, who have more experience helping people with different skin types.
We learned that a personalized systematic process for each young adult is very important. With the skincare knowledge we learned from professionals, we can reflect back to the take-aways from our participants, and analyze the products in current market. All of these data will lead us to the project insight.
Number of participants: 2 professionals (1 cosmetologist and 1 physician assistant)
Competitive Analysis
To identify our opportunities to improve the skincare experience, we did a SWOT analysis on four iconic skincare products. To make the data easier to read, I created a checklist based on the requirements of the skincare process we learned from the primary research.
Insights
To hit the pain points for young adults with acne-prone skin, we pulled three insights from the primary and secondary research after the data analysis workshop among team members.
Personalized
the appropriate skin cleaning process is different for each individual and takes a long time to figure out
"Different age group should chooose the brands and products that fit them. The most expensive products are not always the best." - Prof. 1
Knowledge
misconceptions about skincare stop some people from taking care of their acne problem correctly or seeking help at an early stage
"I don't know the proper way to deal with acne, so I just treat and take care of it by guessing."
- P. 1
Motivation
the lack of in-time feedback on the progress and alerts of the possible harm stall people from continuing their proper skincare routines
"It's hard to form a routine. When it takes a long time for a product to show results, it's hard to believe if it is really working." - P. 5
Design Base on the Criteria
To make sure that we stay on track during the design process and to solve the right problems, we pulled five criteria from the insights, persona, and market analysis above.
Feedback
gives feedback on progress and alert on possible harm
Personalized
provides personalized skincare routine
Lifestyle
Educate
Reliable
leads to skin-friendly lifestyle
educates user about their skin condition
Easy access to reliable timely suggestions
Mavis provides a personalized skincare process, builds confidence by providing reliable information, clear feedback on progress, and leads young adults who have acne-prone skin to skin-friendly lifestyle.
System Diagram
According to our primary and secondary research, forming the proper systematic routine is critical for young adults with acne-prone skin. Therefore, Mavis includes a set of physical products and an App to directly interact with the users and guide them through the proper skincare process every day.
To keep the users motivated to continue their skincare routine, Mavis tracks their progress and skin improvement over time. Mavis App is also connected to an AI that can provide personalized advice to improve their skincare routine.
How does Mavis work?
The smart mirror activates by voice control, so the user does not need to touch anything with wet hands.
A small camera on the mirror will take a photo for a quick skin condition analysis.
The mirror will display a brief report of the day and let the user know the steps to take.
The colors show where the user should target cleaning, and the colors gradually disappear throughout the process for a sense of achivement.
When the user is done with the process, the mirror gives the user encouragement, and provides some skin-care tips accroding to the user's need of the day.
Mavis can also provide a detailed check to get an accurate analysis.
The data shows both on the mirror and on the Mavis App.
User feels satisfaction by checking the progress and sees improvement overtime.
When the user has further questions or concerns, the user can ask the Mavis App directly.
Mavis Mirror High Fidelity Wireframe
Since keeping a proper routines is difficult for young adults with acne prone skin, we make sure that mavis Mirror leads our user through every step of the skincare process.
Mavis App High Fidelity Wireframe
Young adults with acne prone skin need more confidence about skin friendly decisions, so Mavis App provides visual data to show the skin condition and specialized skincare tips base on their lifestyle and local wheather. They can check the app anytime during a restroom break or while making plans for the weekend. Mavis App will also show the users how much their skin has improved by documenting their progress to keep the user motivated to continue their skincare routine.
Validation from target users and professionals
Reflection
Include our uses' budget in consideration
It would be better if we can go back and ask our interviewees for validation or advice before finalizing out designs. If this project continues, this would be the next step.
School projects usually does not give us a budget constraint. To turn this project into real-life, matching up our target users and their budget consideration would be a challenge for this project.