Product Design
Research
Branding
Pitch Deck
Project Manager (1)
Developers (2)
Figma
Blender
Google Forms
36 Hour Hackathon / Nov 2021
In November 2021, I competed as the sole designer in a team of 4 for Hack the Valley. The project idea came from our teammate Olivia's allergic reaction to common sunscreens. She had sensitive skin and frequent reactions to skincare products but had no idea which ingredient was causing her irritations.
We created an AR app with cross-matching technology that allows customers to scan skincare products, predict for allergens, and empower users to make quick, educated & sustainable purchase decisions tailored to their skin condition.
We were honoured with First Place in Loblaw's AR Challenge during the original hackathon, and our pitch deck subsequently placed Runner Up in Loblaw's Amplify Expo 2021.
I used a range of tools to research and define my solution within the double diamond structure. My methodology supported a systematic and iterative progression, ensuring a thorough exploration of the problem space.
I wanted to understand the existing apps and identify the gaps we could be resolving for. I examined 4 contending apps, comparing and contrasting their features.
While users can commonly access a list of ingredients via the barcode scans, none of the existing apps offered personalized predictions or generated smart recommendations over time.
To gather immediate responses from a large sample size, I released a survey to identify the existing challenges, habits & workarounds. There were 68 anonymous participants in total. I wanted to gather insights for the following areas:
How do you usually educate yourself on skincare products?
Are you aware of which ingredients are responsible for your reported skin allergies?
Tell me about a time when you were dissatisfied with a product purchase.
Do you check regularly the ingredients list? (why or why not?)
Despite past allergic reactions, participants remained uncertain of the triggering ingredients, resulting in misinformed purchases & negative experiences.
Consumers often turned to the internet for clear explanations and sought advice from friends when selecting products. Having to research every ingredient is a time-consuming process for shoppers who simply wanted to make a quick decision.
Users reported feeling intimidated by the lengthy chemical names and unable to distinguish between beneficial and harmful ingredients for their own use.
"How do we create retail experiences that provide relevant information to consumers in stores that empower educated decisions?"
I created a preliminary outline of our persona to better identify our audience. Given that our project was dedicated to Loblaws' AR challenge, we determined that the customer base of the company would serve as the context for our user group.
Upon discovering some key takeaways, I then brought the research back to my teammates. Along with our project manager (Joshua), the two of us finalized a list of features to resolve users' pain points:
Ingredients breakdown & relevancy to user
AR cam to scan & determine product matches
Cross matching algorithm to predict for allergens
Add to cart (if it's a good match)
Sharing with social network
Continuous surveys to improve the allergen prediction
Upon sign-up, users can input their skin concerns & known allergies to generate personal recommendations.
Once a user decides on a good match, users can then swipe up to learn about the ingredient breakdown or add to cart for an expedited shopping experience.
Once a product is within view, the AR cam projects a summary of pertinent information such as Allergy Alerts, benefits, or harmful ingredients.
AR projection courtesy of Joshua & Olivia.
Users can share their product reviews or browse for recommendations on their home page from their social circle & skincare professionals.
During the hackathon, I was tasked with analyzing direct competitors to enable product differentiation. Aside from focusing on the pixel perfection of my prototypes, I also learned to design with market positioning in mind. As a result, I created features that both solved for pain points & offered unique value propositions to our customers.
The current homepage design traps users in an infinite scroll before discovering plausible recommendations. If I could redesign it, users would be able to filter through curations based on their skin concerns and access educational articles from skincare professionals.
I'd also like to take the design one step further to expand into the food industry. While our original plan focused on skincare, the application of AR technology can easily be extrapolated to educate users on their food intake & grocery purchases for health journeys beyond skincare.
Shoutout to my teammates, Joshua Kim, Olivia Xu, and Sarthak Aggarwal, for their incredible work ethics and fun spirits to collaborate with on such a innovative vision.