Artistry Virtual Beauty
A UI/UX Case Study
The Artistry Virtual Beauty application is a VR beauty and skincare experience. Smart facial detection gives you the most true-to-life makeup application in real-time or on selfie photos. The advanced Virtual Reality technology also allows for users to do a skin care assessment which tells the user their “skin health score” and their “skin age”, once assessed the application suggests Artistry skincare products that can improve the skincare conditions helping solve dark spots, wrinkles, texture and dark circles or whatever skincare concern the consumer may have.
Role:
UI/UX Designer
Client:
Amway
Time Frame:
7 Months
The Brief:
The Artistry Brand saw a huge opportunity in the digital mobile space and a way to increase engagement and skincare and makeup product sales. Prior to the Artistry Virtual Beauty application the only way for consumers to purchase Artistry products was through the Amway Business owner or on the web experience, and in some markets storefronts. Amway also was looking for a way to engage the under 35 market and get them involved with the Artistry brand and the Amway Business.
The Scope
I was tasked to create an engaging mobile experience that allowed users to try on makeup products with a live camera or selfie photos, take a skincare assessment and survey pinpointing their skincare goals, and the ability to watch video content produced by our Amway Artistry influence program the Passionistas’. In the initial phases on the project I collaborated with another designer then taking lead of the product and eventually joined by a needed additional designer midway to launch. Amway decided to partner with Perfect Corp. a company that specializes in beauty AI and AR for the tech and the project got kicked off.
Passonistas’ using the AVB app.
The Research
We started with Benchmarking to get a better understanding of the AR beauty application landscape. Results were there is a lot of competition! The majority of products provide users with the ability to try on products although not all AR tech is the same quality. Another theme that emerged was a social feed of videos and posts either posted by the users or the product team. Engagement was high. Use of bright colors and fun imagery kept users engaged and coming back.
Based on Amway’s extensive Market Research studies, focus groups, interviews and observations and data analysis we were able to decipher our key personas and each personas pain points and challenges which we summarized in user journey maps.
Amway’s largest markets include China, the Americas, Japan & Korea. Since the majority of Artistry consumers are located in the East we were constantly cognizant of asian culture and beauty standards.
The Problem
Consumers are overwhelmed by the beauty and skincare landscape, they are constantly bombarded with advertisements and social media. Consumers are looking for guidance on which products would work with their skin-tone and achieve the desired makeup and skincare results they are looking for. This need attributes to the explosion of social media influencers and video and blog content suggesting products to consumers. Amway historically has very loyal patrons but needs the ability to prospect and capture a new and a younger customer base.
Ideation
Design Notes
Amway made a decision early on to allow all their markets to customize their content for their users. They did this for a number of reasons one being different markets carry different products and they wanted to curate content that would be relevant to the area. The other reason is because of the global nature of the product it was easier to meet the users needs and expectations since culturally beauty standards vary greatly. Therefore the design of this product really is a framework, as always the content is the experience but in this case it varies from market to market.
Testing & Feedback
Testing was conducted during the discovery phase and as the product started to take shape. We were able to test with many different types of users because of market partners and speed to production. This product is so lightweight the team also found it easy to guerrilla test often and quickly.
Impact
Artistry Virtual Beauty launched in 2018 and had great success, with huge user engagement and social media traffic as well as increased Artistry sales.
