Less.
An aesthetically pleasing and functional website for the recently established beauty salon.
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Overview
Less. beauty salon is a new business but built by very experienced people. With their passion, knowledge and empathy they want to help all the people who want to take care of themselves or get rid of bothering problems.
Challenges
Owner of the salon asked me to prepare a website project. She expected something that would give her a competitive advantage. It’s a new business so except from the website, we prepared together its logo, mission, vision and value proposition.
Main goal
Create a user-friendly and aesthetically pleasing website that gives users answers on how the beauty salon can solve their problems and help them.
Roles
User researcher
UX/UI designer
Information architecture designer
Key deliverables
Competitor analysis
User interviews
Personas
Card sorting
Tree testing
Brand book
Sketching
Wireframing
Interactive prototype
User testing
Tools
Pen and paper
Figma
Marvel
Adobe Illustrator
Adobe Photoshop
RESEARCH
Client kick-off meeting & questionnaire
During the kick-off meeting I shared my ideas with the client and asked questions based on their role in the project. We discussed the project’s process and timeline, workflow, regular meetings and reporting.
The information I gathered from the questionnaire helped me with the website design process:
What does your company do and what is your value differentiation from your competitors?
This is a beauty salon offering help to other people. It differs from the competition with a wide range of services, professional approach to the client, great atmosphere. The owner, based on her own life experience, wants to make every effort to understand and help the client.
Who is your target audience?
Everyone who needs help, advice, a moment of relaxation. They are both women and men, regardless of age. They are people who like to take care of themselves, so they come to the salon regularly, or people who, because of emerging skin problems, ageing, etc., have decided to remedy this.
What are your objectives and expectations from this project?
We want to give customers and potential customers the best possible experience. The website should be aesthetically pleasing, intuitive and as functional as possible.
Do you have any required features?
List of our services, pricelist, possibility to make an appointment online, introduction of the team members, gallery (effects of treatments), search field (what bothers you?).
Do you have any brand books?
No, so we would be grateful for your help with it.
Did you develop a communication strategy?
We are working on it.
Competitors analysis
I used this method to identify and evaluate a company's competitors in the market and to assess how the company itself compares to usability standards and overall user experience. I prepared evaluation criteria and assessed three companies with similar business profiles. This analysis allowed me to better understand the market in which the company operates and the services it offers. In addition, I was able to see how other companies use their websites for self-promotion and what kind of visual language they use to build credibility and attract audiences.
G&I Studio Urody, 26 positive reviews:
„World Championship at very affordable prices! It is a pity that there are no branches in Krakow;)”
„Full professionalism. The prices are adequate, the service is nice. Payment by card, toilets, clean !!!.”
Salon Urody Maria, 75 positive reviews:
„I am positively surprised by the treatments at Maria, Laser hair removal is completely painless. It gives a feeling of pleasure and tickling. I heartily recommend the salon to every woman, but also to men.”
„I highly recommend Studio Urody Maria, I have been a client for many years and I always leave the salon happy and relaxed. Fully professional and experienced service, and Mrs. Marysia exudes warmth that "infects" all customers.”
Rose - 6 positive reviews:
„I rate this place as 5 as a regular customer using the cosmetology services offered by Mrs. Joanna ❤️ I am happy to come back there because of her knowledge, professionalism and individual approach to the client. If you entrust your appearance to foreign hands, only there!”
„I am very pleased with my facial treatment performed very professionally and with great attention, the cosmetologist is a very nice person with a lot of knowledge. It was definitely not my last visit. I recommend it.”
EMPATHISE
User interviews
I asked 10 people who visits beauty salons very often, what makes the website of such a salon user-friendly and impressive? Here are some answers:
„I think that every beauty salon should mention and somehow express the fact that every client is unique.”
„Many websites don’t include a pricelist, which is very important when planning a treatment.”
„They should write what tools and techniques they use.”
„I think that social media active beauty salons are more convincing.”
„I hate old-fashioned, ugly webistes. It’s important to create a positive brand image.”
„I work in a beauty salon so it’s important to put there information about job vacancies.
Conclusions:
There are many beauty salons. but if you want to get a customer you have to prove him that he is special and you are the one who can really help him.
Problem areas:
Booking an appointment online, treatment results are not shown, not focused on clients’ problems but on salons’ services.
Improvements:
- showing the effects of work
- being a "good friend" to the customer, meeting their needs
- ease of contact
- ease of booking an appointment
DEFINE & STRATEGY
Personas
Problem statement
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I'm a student who has skin issues and need a professional help to get rid of them.
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I'm a woman who doesn’t have time to relax and take care of herself so I'd appreciate someone helping me with that.
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I'm a man who wants to convince others that men should also consider going to beauty salons and take care of themselves.
IDEATE
Card sorting & Tree testing
In order to define the structure of the site and accessible for average users naming, I conducted open card sorting. Participants could group items and determine categories. This helped me form an easy to navigate site map for the Less. website. Then, to ensure that the site’s information architecture matches the user’s thinking, I've conducted Optimal Workshop TreeJack test.
Brand book
After defining the problem, I prepared a brand book with guidelines which I used to UI design.
PROTOTYPE
Wireframing
Basen on the sitemap I created, I prepared lo-fi wireframes with Figma.
Prototyping
In order to test the flow of a design solution and gather feedback on it, I created hi-fi screens of the website with Figma (1800 px width). Then I created the prototype using Marvel App.
TEST & VALIDATE
User test
I used the prototype to conduct user testing with it. I received comprehensive feedback. I displayed this prototype to fifteen participants individually.
The main conclusions of the tests are as follows:
1. People over the age of 40 do not usually use websites to make appointments and yet Less. website was easy for them to use.
2. There were no problems in finding the various sections.
What I learned
Less. was my first web design. In comparison to the Revival project, this one took me much less time. I learned that my goal is to tell the customer what they want, not what I want. What is more, developing the strong process is very important — it's going to help me do better work faster and with fewer risks. Another thing was inspiration from other projects - I never copied the entire experience, but sometimes I had found myself appreciating little details that I then included in my own design.
