Creating a Tech Support Kiosk
I conducted secondary and user research, designed the wireframes and prototypes, and helped evaluate our product through usability testing. I also assisted with creating our brand identity and design system.
Final Product
Wink N Blink’s landing page
The mission statement is shown first to communicate Krystal’s brand and her goals. Both past works and customer testimonials are shown in a carousel to highlight a single element and authenticate Krystal’s experience. The embedded map also provides transparency into Wink n Blink’s general location while being mindful of Krystal’s privacy.
Learn about Krystal
Krystal’s quick description allows potential users to gain insight into her personality. Her lash technician certificate is also provided to validate her credibility. Another carousel is added to show more of her past works.
Book your next appointment online
The booking feature is visible as a floating button on all pages, allowing for easy access. The process is divided into 3 clear sections to prevent information overload and decrease the potential for errors. Prices and short descriptions of all services are displayed for transparency.
Check out Wink n Blink’s services
A short introduction to lash extensions and relevant vocabulary is included for transparency for lash extension beginners. Photos and descriptions of various styles are shown to clarify the differences between styles.
Research
We started by learning more about Krystal’s vision.
During an exploratory meeting with Krystal, she stated certain priorities in her new website. We also clarified details regarding her current branding, potential local competitors, and aspects that Krystal, as a lash extension user herself, looks for when searching for a new technician.
A functional and aesthetically pleasing website.
Optimizing the site’s information accessibility.
Establish and communicate brand identity.
Increase foot traffic to social media accounts.
We then met with our target audience.
Our next step was to find out what Krystal’s clients wanted to see on her website. We conducted 12 interviews with current and interested lash extension users.
Our conversations with Krystal’s current clients revealed that, although they found the current booking process easy, it became inconvenient once they started to regularly schedule follow-up appointments. From both current clients and interested lash extension users, we found that interviewees wanted an intuitive and streamlined interface with easy access to an online booking feature, a portfolio of past work, and other relevant information about lash policies and aftercare.
To guide our design process, we created 2 personas to represent our main target markets: returning and potential customers.
It’s time to learn how Wink n Blink’s competitors solve user needs.
We conducted a competitive analysis of 5 beauty-related services in the greater San Diego area. We specifically included Lash Bar as it is Wink n Blink’s most prominent competitor and is located only a short distance from Wink n Blink’s home office.
We analyzed how these competitors approached branding, functionality, architecture, and content in their mobile and desktop websites, and came up with 4 insights to guide our website design.
Make things easy to find.
Users should be able to easily navigate the site and complete their goals.
Show your personality.
Differentiate Krystal from competitors by showing her passion for lashing.
Establish trust with users.
The website text should be friendly and make users feel welcome.
Show, don't tell, your experience.
Images showcase value related to Krystal’s skills and experience.
Problem Space
How might we design an aesthetic website that increases appointment booking efficiency while communicating large amounts of necessary information to current and new lash extension users?
Ideation
Having a better understanding of the market landscape, we started to design.
Our team began crafting sketches and designing mock-ups of the potential website.
Despite some hiccups with our initial site architecture and appointment booking layout, we got our initial prototype done and moved on to a quick critique session with peers. After this critique session, we redesigned the structure of our nav bar, added informational pages under a new FAQ toggle section, and split our booking process into four pages.
Usability Testing
Time to put the designs to the test!
We tested our updated website design with 3 lash extension users. The main feedback was primarily positive. However, some users stated that certain pages were incredibly text-heavy and hard to read while others commented on how the site overall was visually bland. In our last iteration, we altered the UX writing to make the text more readable by increasing the spacing and emphasizing important instructions regarding the appointment deposit and payment information.
Reflection
This project showcased the importance of communication and flexibility, as well as their impact on the design process. Throughout our process, my team received insight into the flaws showcased in our prototype, which resulted in us reimagining various parts of the UI. Receiving insight from design professionals helped me to grow as a designer and to understand how to create an effective design.
I’m proud of my team for the work that we’ve done, despite it being the first time that we all designed a website. It was rewarding to communicate with a real client throughout the process and deliver a website design that she liked.
If we had more time, I would have loved to collaborate with Krystal to develop the website. Then, we would have been able to measure success by analyzing the growth of appointment bookings and the clickthrough rate to see if the website was reaching the right audience.