Redberry Nails & Spa
Booking an appointment
Background
Redberry, a nail and spa salon, aims to attract new clients and strengthen brand awareness by revamping its website's user interface (UI). This initiative goes beyond aesthetics; it seeks to enhance user experience by improving navigation and expanding website functionalities. By creating a user-friendly and informative platform, Redberry can cultivate trust and establish itself as a reliable destination for exceptional nail and spa services. This took 4 weeks to complete using the tool Figma. My roles are user research, visual design, prototyping, and app development.
The Problem
Redberry's website, while presenting information directly, could benefit from revisions to enhance clarity and user engagement. This is important because the current website risks appearing unremarkable, leading to both a lack of perceived reliability and customer loyalty. The absence of a rewards system, coupled with the necessity to book appointments solely by phone (a potentially inconvenient process for some), further contributes to the risk of customer churn. Implementing a user-friendly online booking system could directly address a friction point and boost Redberry's appeal.
Goals
The goal is to implement a rewards program, online booking, and a UI redesign to elevate the customer experience.
A comparative analysis of Redberry's website with two other local nail salons revealed areas for improvement in Redberry's user interface. My key takeaway from this assignment is designing a UI friendly website.
Competitive Analysis
B’ Fab Studios
Strengths
5 star rating with 80 reviews
Has gift cards
Weakness
Could upgrade their website’s UI
Hair International
Strengths
Each technician has an about section
UI friendly
Weakness
Could use their own images, rather than ones you would find on the internet
Redberry Nails & Spa
Strengths
Shows the prices of each service
Shows images of their work
Weakness
Not much promotion to their business
User Interviews
Through user research, I gained valuable insights from a survey distributed to potential customers. This feedback, highlighting the importance of online booking and customer loyalty programs, informed my website redesign process. Interestingly, the survey also showed that 40% of participants only visit salons every 6 months. This finding prompted me to explore strategies for increasing customer visit frequency.
Affinity Mapping
After analyzing the user feedback, key themes emerged regarding their salon experiences. These insights identified several areas for improvement, such as customer loyalty and an online booking system. Addressing these issues can provide Redberry with a clearer path to enhance user experience and achieve its goals.
User Persona
To gain insights into user needs, I developed a persona based on customer feedback regarding salon appointment booking. This persona, Vanessa, represents a typical customer: a busy 31-year-old nurse who relies on convenient online booking.
By understanding Vanessa's needs and preferences, we can tailor Redberry's website improvements, including the rewards program, online booking system, and UI redesign, to better cater to her and similar customers.
Flows
Developing user and task flows proved to be a valuable step in comprehending the website's user experience. By mapping out these flows, I gained a clear understanding of user goals and interactions within the website. This clarity directly informed the creation of low and high-fidelity wireframes, ensuring each screen effectively facilitates the desired user journey. Since I wanted the focus on the core functionalities of the website, I did not include the onboarding process. To provide users with a stronger understanding of Redberry's work, I redesigned the homepage to showcase a curated selection of photos demonstrating their accomplishments.
Low Fidelity Wireframes
My design process began with low-fidelity wireframes, laying the groundwork for the final product's visual representation. These initial wireframes, devoid of color, prioritized the core information architecture and addressed the pain points identified through user interviews and the persona of Vanessa, a busy professional seeking convenient online booking.
Desktop
Mobile
High Fidelity Wireframes
I embarked on the most extensive phase of the project: developing the high-fidelity version. This stage involved meticulous attention to detail, encompassing font selection, color scheme, and overall user interface (UI) design. Numerous refinements were made from the low-fidelity stage to achieve the desired visual experience.
Desktop
Home page
Rewards selection & payment
Booking questionaire
Rewards program sign up
Mobile
Content Library
To achieve a clean and professional aesthetic, consistent with typical salon websites, I established a brand identity through a curated selection of design elements. This included the logo, color scheme, buttons, icons, and Lato typography.
Desktop
Mobile
Usability Test Results
After completing the high-fidelity wireframes and prototypes for both desktop and mobile devices, I conducted a usability test with 4 participants. Feedback was overwhelmingly positive, with users appreciating the website's theme, the ease of booking appointments, and the perceived value of the rewards program. Overall, 100% of the participants believed it was easy to book an appointment and to select the reward to use. This shows that the added feature of booking an appointment, is user friendly.
Feature Matrix
Following user testing with 5 females, I identified two minor improvements for the final prototype. These suggestions were categorized in a feature matrix based on development effort and perceived necessity.
The matrix prioritized "nice-to-have" features requiring minimal effort, alongside one "need-to-have" suggestion with slightly higher development effort.
Conclusion
Transitioning from my usual mobile design focus to desktop presented unique challenges, particularly in managing element scale and ensuring compatibility with the chosen screen size. This experience underscored the importance of careful design adaptation across different platforms. Through this project, I've witnessed significant growth in my design skills, and I'm committed to continuous learning and improvement.
