•Overview

Curls is a hair care app that keeps black women’s hair care goals at its very core. After submitting your answers to the Hair Quiz, the results page will provide tutorials based on your specific needs. Each video will feature a trained stylist doing their own hair and provide concise steps. Additionally, you will be able to save your favorite products.

•BACKGROUND

The idea for this app was inspired by the fact that many salons had been shutdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We are living in uncertain times. Visits to the salon or local stylists are tricky or next to impossible. Many of us are doing our own hair regularly for the first time in a while (if at all!).Our searches on Youtube can be frustrating. Well-intentioned content creators can confuse us even further.

•tools

Sketch
Invision App
Flinto
Photoshop

•Skills USED

Competitor Analyses
User Flow Diagrams
User Testing
Wireframes
Prototyping

The PROCESS

Competitor Analysis

After researching the competition, I concluded that there were 2 major apps dedicated to hair care: Hair Journal, Myavana.

Myavana’s color pallette, imagery and layout is soft and engaging which inspired Curl’s aesthetic.

Hair Journal’s profile screen was incorporated as an essential UI element.

Lo-fi Paper Prototypes

Utilizing the crazy 8 technique, I was able to create rapid prototypes based on the user flow charts.

Mid-fi Version

At this point, I created two separate versions. I wasn’t familiar with Android so I studied the Material Design UI Kit and researched how those screens differed from iOS.

iOS Hi-Fi Prototypes Feedback

Added divider lines on Recommended List Adjusted weight on placeholder text
Removed social media CTAs Adjust status bar to iPhone 10/11x
Removed arrows near completion barHomepage became ‘Recommended List’
Created a bottom navigation bar

Andriod Hi-Fi Prototype Feedback

Homepage became ‘Recommended List’
Removed social media CTAs
Video hierarchy was adjusted; broke into two lines

Project Retrospective

What went well?
Created screens for both iOS and Android Navigation is relaxing and simple to use
Received specific feedback that elevated the design

What didn’t go well?
User Testing should have been been conducted to focus on the target demographic: Black women (or non binary) from 18-45 years old.

What can be improved?
I would conduct a second round of user testing (hi-fi version) to receive feedback from the target demographic and create specific User Personas