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For my design innovation course at UC Berkeley, my team and I designed an end-to-end mobile experience that addresses how we might reduce waste and frustration in the beauty industry by helping users find products that actually work for them, the first time around.
Role
Team
5 designers
01 PROBLEM
Beauty consumers face emotional and financial exhaustion from trial-and-error shopping. Consumers frequently waste money and generate excess packaging by purchasing full-size skincare products that don’t work for them, creating frustration and environmental strain.
How might we help beauty consumer discover sustainable products that fit their needs on the first try?
02 RESEARCH
We interviewed 5 participants aged 14-31 to understand their skincare shopping behaviors and pain points.
Here's what we found, organized on an affinity map:
We drew some key insights from our interviews
3. There's a transparency gap
Limited sampling and unclear ingredient information hinder confident product decisions.
03 OPPORTUNITY
Create a mobile platform that empowers beauty consumers to discover personalized, sustainable products on their first try.
Our research revealed that users want sustainable options but lack confidence in finding products that actually work for their skin.
We dug out a golden opportunity:
04 IDEATION & FIRST DESIGN ITERATION
We brainstormed solutions across three categories - dark horse (most bold), likely to please, and likely to work.
Here are three concepts we tested, along with our first design iteration.
AI-Powered Recommendations
Personalized product matching based on skin concerns and sustainability preferences
Subscription Sample Box
Curated products based on skin testing results to reduce commitment risk
Virtual Try-On
VR-powered visualization of how products look and impact skin
05 INITIAL USER TESTING
We ran remote usability testing on our initial solutions with our original interviewees.
Some key insights were:
Sampling reduced decision anxiety and increased confidence
Virtual try-on was exciting but felt gimmicky without real skin impact data
Our insights revealed that trust, not personalization alone, was our core challenge.
We decided to integrate a recycling rewards system to promote sustainability and reinforce environmental impact.
"I'd feel more comfortable trying something new if I could test it first. Like, what if it breaks me out?" - Mark, 25
“The AR thing doesn't actually tell me if the product will work for my skin. Not too sure if I’ll actually use it.” - Maira, 15
05 THE FINAL DESIGN
Introducing Vial & Vale — your sustainable skincare hub
We created a mobile experience that simplifies sustainable beauty.
06 REFLECTION
Test with broader demographics
Our user group skewed young (14-31), so testing with older users might reveal broader insights.
If I could do it again…
06 REFLECTION
Thank you!
