- END-TO-END APPLICATION
Empowering Natural Hair Journeys with a Personalised Diary App
Project Overview
The natural hair movement has gained significant momentum over the past decade, encouraging individuals, particularly within the African diaspora, to embrace their natural hair textures. This shift towards natural hairstyles, as opposed to the chemically treated variations offered up by mass media, has seen the establishment of a powerful statement of identity, cultural pride and self-acceptance.
However, maintaining natural hair can be challenging. The variety of textures, from kinky and coily to curly and wavy, requires specific care routines that differ from person to person. The process of discovering the right products, techniques and routines for a unique hair type can be overwhelming, disheartening and time-consuming.
4 Weeks
UX + UI Design, Visual design, Branding, User flow, Research, Prototyping + Testing
Figma, Fig jam, Zoom, Google Forms
Natural Hair Users need a way to track and document their hair journey
Individuals starting their natural hair journey encounter various difficulties in managing its unique requirements. These challenges involve finding trustworthy information, suitable products and services tailored to natural hair care. Even though natural hairstyles are becoming more popular, there is still a significant gap in providing personalised tools that help users navigate their hair journey. Which can range from daily care and progress monitoring to community support and interaction.
This UX design project aims to create a Natural Hair Diary/Tracking app that helps users manage, track and celebrate their natural hair journey. The app will offer tools for documenting haircare routines, tracking progress and discovering new products. The goal is to promote healthy hair practices while fostering pride and empowerment within the natural hair community.
My Design Process
Research
The project began with an exploration of current market trends and user needs. I conducted a competitive analysis of four other natural hair tracking apps. All four competitors had varying features and catered to or met diverse needs.
Tress Log - Hair diary/planner
Strengths
- Focuses specifically on natural hair, including the diverse textures.
- Comprehensive tracking, incl. products used, hairstyles, and protective methods.
- Progress visualisation tools through photos, metrics and graphs
- Custom Regimen Builder
Weaknesses
- Navigation or visual design could be improved
- Might not offer as much educational content (e.g., articles, tips, or videos
Features
- Daily Hair Log
- Reminders/notifications
- Progress tracking
- Custom regimen builder
AppFrolution
Strengths
- Hair Diary
- A high degree of user customisation
- Visual progress tracking
- Product and routine recommendations.
Weaknesses
- No Community Interaction
- App’s extensive customization might be overly complex for new users
- Niche Focus on detailed diary
Features
- Reminders/notifications
- Access to educational content
- Progress tracking
- Custom regimen builder
Hair
Routine
Strengths
- Users can create a hair care routine that is customised to their hair type, lifestyle, and goals.
- User-friendly interface
- Simplicity and accessibility to a broad audience including beginners.
- Emphasises maintaining overall health and wellness incl. diet, hydration etc.
Weaknesses
- No/limited community features
- Less personalised experience
- Lack of customization
Features
- Reminders/notifications
- Access to educational content
- Progress tracking
- Custom regimen builder
Crown Chronicles
Strengths
- Strong focus on cultural pride and self-expression.
- Detailed journaling features
- Visual and written documentation
- Community Engagement
Weaknesses
- Complex for casual users
- Lacks advanced hair care tools like product recommendations or regimen builders
- While cultural significance is a strength, it could also be a limitation for esp. for users looking for a more generalised hair care or tracking tool.
Features
- Daily hair log
- Reminders/notifications
- Access to educational content
- Progress tracking
- Community features
Conduct in-depth interviews with 5 individuals from the target audience to delve into their hair care routines, challenges, and existing tools.
Key Questions
What are the primary challenges individuals face in their natural hair journey?
Which features (e.g., hair diary, progress tracking, custom regimen builder) would users find most valuable in a hair care app?
What tools and resources do users currently utilize to manage their natural hair and what limitations do these have?
This is what I found:
Natural Hair as a Cultural and Health-Conscious Identity
Many participants view their natural hair journey as an integral part of their personal and cultural identity. For some, it’s a way to reclaim their heritage and resist societal norms. Additionally, health concerns, such as the desire to avoid harmful chemicals found in hair relaxers, are a significant motivation for going natural. This indicates a strong connection between natural hair, cultural pride and health consciousness.
Challenges in Maintenance and the Need for Personalized Solutions
Participants frequently mentioned the challenges of maintaining natural hair, citing time, cost and the difficulty of finding suitable products or services. These challenges highlight the need for personalized support, such as custom regimen planning and tailored product recommendations, to help users manage their haircare routines more effectively.
Interest in Digital Tools for Hair Care Management
There is a clear interest in digital solutions, with participants expressing a desire for features like progress tracking, custom regimen builders and product recommendations. However, the interest in community engagement is mixed, suggesting that while some users may value social support, others prefer a more personalized approach. This points to the importance of offering both personalized and flexible tools to cater to different user preferences.
User Personas
With insights gathered from the interviews, I developed personas to represent the primary user groups. These personas helped in understanding the unique qualities, preferences and behaviours of the natural hair app user.
Points of View
- Users embracing their natural hair, require tools that validate their journey, support their hair health goals and simplify the overly complex process of natural haircare, making it both manageable and rewarding.
- Busy young professionals need reliable, time-efficient haircare regimens that simplify the complexity of managing natural hair, enabling them to confidently embrace their natural beauty without feeling overwhelmed by product choices and time constraints.
- Parents navigating the challenges of caring for their children’s natural hair need culturally sensitive, step-by-step guidance to ensure that their children feel confident and proud of their natural hair, while they gain the required knowledge to manage it effectively.
How Might We
- How might we provide users with a streamlined and personalized haircare routine that saves time while ensuring their hair remains healthy and well-managed?
- How might we empower natural hair users with tools that streamline their care routines and cultivate a supportive community?
- How might we equip parents with accessible, culturally sensitive resources that simplify the process of caring for their children’s natural hair, while fostering their confidence?
Project Goals
Before heading on to finding ideas for a solution, I mapped out the business goals, user goals, and technical considerations.
User Flow
I then mapped out the user flow, focusing on the onboarding process for new users.
Low - Mid Fidelity Wireframes
I started with low-fidelity wireframes to explore different layouts and navigation options. These wireframes focused on the onboarding flow and signing up/creating a profile.
Branding
The app’s branding was designed to be serene, empowering and elegant, with a colour palette and typography that evokes warmth, inclusivity and natural beauty. The imagery and messaging focus on wellness, cultural pride and self-care, aligning with the app’s mission.
Color Palette: A rich, earthy palette with muted tones of black, deep olive green, warm mustard yellow, soft peach and light cream. The colours convey warmth, elegance and inclusivity. These tones feel natural and calming, aligning with the concept of self-care and beauty rooted in nature.
Typography: P22 Mackinac is used for headings, which adds a sense of sophistication with its elegant serif style. Instrument Sans is used for body text, providing a clean and modern contrast. The mix of serif and sans-serif adds balance between tradition and modernity, reinforcing a brand that is both traditional and modern.
Moodboard: The moodboard imagery portrays powerful black women in natural settings and poses, with the messaging centred on wellness, self-care and rewriting narratives of beauty and wellbeing. The photos exude confidence, elegance and natural beauty, aligning with the app’s mission to empower women to embrace their natural hair.
High Fidelity Wireframes
After creating the branding for ‘Kinks & Coils’, I then designed high fidelity frames and prototyped them so that I could test the app and get user feedback.
Usability Testing
I conducted unmoderated usability testing with five users. They were presented with two scenarios; completing the onboarding process and creating a personalised hair regimen.
Scenario 1: You’ve just downloaded the app. Go through the onboarding process and enter basic information about your hair.
Scenario 2: You want to create a personalized hair regimen. Access the custom regimen builder and follow the steps to complete a regimen.
Metrics to track
Time on Task, how long it takes for users to complete each task.
Success Rate, whether users can complete each task successfully without assistance.
Error Rate, record any errors or difficulties users experience during the process.
Satisfaction, use a post-task questionnaire to gauge user satisfaction for each task.
Ease of Use, ask participants to rate how easy or difficult the tasks were on a scale from 1 to 5.
Success Criteria
- Users should be able to complete the onboarding process in under 3 minutes with no major errors.
- Users should be able to build and save a custom regimen with minimal confusion or need for help.
- The majority of users should rate their experience as 4 or higher on a scale of 1 to 5 for satisfaction and ease of use.
The feedback was positive, with all users successfully completing the tasks. However, some users requested more guidance when creating their regimen, which I addressed by adding contextual explanations.
Results
Task Completion Success
Task Completion Success
All the users were able to successfully complete both the ‘Onboarding’ and the ‘Creating a Custom Regimen’ user flows with no friction.
User Feedback:
I think it is straight-forward process and intuitive to complete but I think there should be more instructions and info about the personal regimen.. Overall I like the idea"
After creating the personal regimen, I need more instructions below, to learn more about the method."
I think it is absolutely great that the app allows users to "select multiple options" for primary hair concerns. The questionnaire lengths also make sense to me.
After responses have been collected, I added a bit more context through a brief write up. I explained how the regimen was created/crafted through the responses that had been provided.
Before
After
A big priority in the application is giving users autonomy. I iterated by adding an option/prompt to ‘edit’ the created regimen and also giving users the option to schedule a reminder.
Before
After
All users were able to open the prototype and felt that the interface was very familiar. They completed the scenario with minimal friction independently.
All Users could easily type a message and spotted the scheduling tooltip prompt.
All users could Schedule the message to be sent 15 minutes before school dismisses at 15:00
Future Impact
This project represents an important step in supporting the natural hair community with tools that empower users to embrace and manage their hair journeys. The following recommendations and potential future impacts could help guide the development and long-term growth of the app.
- Enhanced Personalization Through AI: As the app gathers more data, it can become more accurate in suggesting products, routines and services tailored to users’ unique hair profiles. This will make it a go-to resource for highly customised hair care, fostering deeper user engagement.
- Partnerships with Hair Care Brands and Salons: Establish partnerships with local and international natural hair care brands and salons, allowing for product or service integrations directly in the app.
- Augmented Reality (AR) for Try-On Features: Incorporate AR features where users can virtually try on different hairstyles, cuts or hair colours to visualise what looks good on them before committing to changes. This could create an engaging and fun experience that makes the app more interactive, increasing user retention.
- Education and Advocacy: Introduce extensive educational content and resources about the history, politics and cultural significance of natural hair. This could take the form of blog posts, podcasts or mini-documentaries. By educating users on the deeper significance of natural hair, the app can build a stronger emotional connection with its audience, leading to higher retention rates and making it a platform that celebrates and advocates for natural hair pride.
These suggestions could solidify ‘Kinks and Coils’ as a leader in the natural haircare industry and expand its influence on a global scale.
- END-TO-END APPLICATION
Empowering Natural Hair Journeys with a Personalised Diary App
Project Overview
The natural hair movement has gained significant momentum over the past decade, encouraging individuals, particularly within the African diaspora, to embrace their natural hair textures. This shift towards natural hairstyles, as opposed to the chemically treated variations offered up by mass media, has seen the establishment of a powerful statement of identity, cultural pride and self-acceptance.
However, maintaining natural hair can be challenging. The variety of textures, from kinky and coily to curly and wavy, requires specific care routines that differ from person to person. The process of discovering the right products, techniques and routines for a unique hair type can be overwhelming, disheartening and time-consuming.
4 Weeks
UX + UI Design, Visual design, Branding, User flow, Research, Prototyping + Testing
Figma, Fig jam, Zoom, Google Forms
Natural Hair Users need a way to track and document their hair journey
Individuals starting their natural hair journey encounter various difficulties in managing its unique requirements. These challenges involve finding trustworthy information, suitable products and services tailored to natural hair care. Even though natural hairstyles are becoming more popular, there is still a significant gap in providing personalised tools that help users navigate their hair journey. Which can range from daily care and progress monitoring to community support and interaction.
This UX design project aims to create a Natural Hair Diary/Tracking app that helps users manage, track and celebrate their natural hair journey. The app will offer tools for documenting haircare routines, tracking progress and discovering new products. The goal is to promote healthy hair practices while fostering pride and empowerment within the natural hair community.
My Design Process
Research
The project began with an exploration of current market trends and user needs. I conducted a competitive analysis of four other natural hair tracking apps. All four competitors had varying features and catered to or met diverse needs.
Tress Log - Hair diary/planner
Strengths
- Focuses specifically on natural hair, including the diverse textures.
- Comprehensive tracking, incl. products used, hairstyles, and protective methods.
- Progress visualisation tools through photos, metrics and graphs
- Custom Regimen Builder
Weaknesses
- Navigation or visual design could be improved
- Might not offer as much educational content (e.g., articles, tips, or videos
Features
- Daily Hair Log
- Reminders/notifications
- Progress tracking
- Custom regimen builder
AppFrolution
Strengths
- Hair Diary
- A high degree of user customisation
- Visual progress tracking
- Product and routine recommendations.
Weaknesses
- No Community Interaction
- App’s extensive customization might be overly complex for new users
- Niche Focus on detailed diary
Features
- Reminders/notifications
- Access to educational content
- Progress tracking
- Custom regimen builder
Hair
Routine
Strengths
- Users can create a hair care routine that is customised to their hair type, lifestyle, and goals.
- User-friendly interface
- Simplicity and accessibility to a broad audience including beginners.
- Emphasises maintaining overall health and wellness incl. diet, hydration etc.
Weaknesses
- No/limited community features
- Less personalised experience
- Lack of customization
Features
- Reminders/notifications
- Access to educational content
- Progress tracking
- Custom regimen builder
Crown Chronicles
Strengths
- Strong focus on cultural pride and self-expression.
- Detailed journaling features
- Visual and written documentation
- Community Engagement
Weaknesses
- Complex for casual users
- Lacks advanced hair care tools like product recommendations or regimen builders
- While cultural significance is a strength, it could also be a limitation for esp. for users looking for a more generalised hair care or tracking tool.
Features
- Daily hair log
- Reminders/notifications
- Access to educational content
- Progress tracking
- Community features
Conduct in-depth interviews with 5 individuals from the target audience to delve into their hair care routines, challenges, and existing tools.
Key Questions
What are the primary challenges individuals face in their natural hair journey?
Which features (e.g., hair diary, progress tracking, custom regimen builder) would users find most valuable in a hair care app?
What tools and resources do users currently utilize to manage their natural hair and what limitations do these have?
This is what I found:
Natural Hair as a Cultural and Health-Conscious Identity
Many participants view their natural hair journey as an integral part of their personal and cultural identity. For some, it’s a way to reclaim their heritage and resist societal norms. Additionally, health concerns, such as the desire to avoid harmful chemicals found in hair relaxers, are a significant motivation for going natural. This indicates a strong connection between natural hair, cultural pride and health consciousness.
Challenges in Maintenance and the Need for Personalized Solutions
Participants frequently mentioned the challenges of maintaining natural hair, citing time, cost and the difficulty of finding suitable products or services. These challenges highlight the need for personalized support, such as custom regimen planning and tailored product recommendations, to help users manage their haircare routines more effectively.
Interest in Digital Tools for Hair Care Management
There is a clear interest in digital solutions, with participants expressing a desire for features like progress tracking, custom regimen builders and product recommendations. However, the interest in community engagement is mixed, suggesting that while some users may value social support, others prefer a more personalized approach. This points to the importance of offering both personalized and flexible tools to cater to different user preferences.
User Personas
With insights gathered from the interviews, I developed personas to represent the primary user groups. These personas helped in understanding the unique qualities, preferences and behaviours of the natural hair app user.
Points of View
- Users embracing their natural hair, require tools that validate their journey, support their hair health goals and simplify the overly complex process of natural haircare, making it both manageable and rewarding.
- Busy young professionals need reliable, time-efficient haircare regimens that simplify the complexity of managing natural hair, enabling them to confidently embrace their natural beauty without feeling overwhelmed by product choices and time constraints.
- Parents navigating the challenges of caring for their children’s natural hair need culturally sensitive, step-by-step guidance to ensure that their children feel confident and proud of their natural hair, while they gain the required knowledge to manage it effectively.
How Might We
- How might we provide users with a streamlined and personalized haircare routine that saves time while ensuring their hair remains healthy and well-managed?
- How might we empower natural hair users with tools that streamline their care routines and cultivate a supportive community?
- How might we equip parents with accessible, culturally sensitive resources that simplify the process of caring for their children’s natural hair, while fostering their confidence?
Project Goals
Before heading on to finding ideas for a solution, I mapped out the business goals, user goals, and technical considerations.
User Flow
I then mapped out the user flow, focusing on the onboarding process for new users.
Low - Mid Fidelity Wireframes
I started with low-fidelity wireframes to explore different layouts and navigation options. These wireframes focused on the onboarding flow and signing up/creating a profile.
Branding
The app’s branding was designed to be serene, empowering and elegant, with a colour palette and typography that evokes warmth, inclusivity and natural beauty. The imagery and messaging focus on wellness, cultural pride and self-care, aligning with the app’s mission.
Color Palette: A rich, earthy palette with muted tones of black, deep olive green, warm mustard yellow, soft peach and light cream. The colours convey warmth, elegance and inclusivity. These tones feel natural and calming, aligning with the concept of self-care and beauty rooted in nature.
Typography: P22 Mackinac is used for headings, which adds a sense of sophistication with its elegant serif style. Instrument Sans is used for body text, providing a clean and modern contrast. The mix of serif and sans-serif adds balance between tradition and modernity, reinforcing a brand that is both traditional and modern.
Moodboard: The moodboard imagery portrays powerful black women in natural settings and poses, with the messaging centred on wellness, self-care and rewriting narratives of beauty and wellbeing. The photos exude confidence, elegance and natural beauty, aligning with the app’s mission to empower women to embrace their natural hair.
High Fidelity Wireframes
After creating the branding for ‘Kinks & Coils’, I then designed high fidelity frames and prototyped them so that I could test the app and get user feedback.
Usability Testing
I conducted unmoderated usability testing with five users. They were presented with two scenarios; completing the onboarding process and creating a personalised hair regimen.
Scenario 1: You’ve just downloaded the app. Go through the onboarding process and enter basic information about your hair.
Scenario 2: You want to create a personalized hair regimen. Access the custom regimen builder and follow the steps to complete a regimen.
Metrics to track
Time on Task, how long it takes for users to complete each task.
Success Rate, whether users can complete each task successfully without assistance.
Error Rate, record any errors or difficulties users experience during the process.
Satisfaction, use a post-task questionnaire to gauge user satisfaction for each task.
Ease of Use, ask participants to rate how easy or difficult the tasks were on a scale from 1 to 5.
Success Criteria
- Users should be able to complete the onboarding process in under 3 minutes with no major errors.
- Users should be able to build and save a custom regimen with minimal confusion or need for help.
- The majority of users should rate their experience as 4 or higher on a scale of 1 to 5 for satisfaction and ease of use.
The feedback was positive, with all users successfully completing the tasks. However, some users requested more guidance when creating their regimen, which I addressed by adding contextual explanations.
Results
Task Completion Success
Task Completion Success
All the users were able to successfully complete both the ‘Onboarding’ and the ‘Creating a Custom Regimen’ user flows with no friction.
User Feedback:
I think it is straight-forward process and intuitive to complete but I think there should be more instructions and info about the personal regimen.. Overall I like the idea"
After creating the personal regimen, I need more instructions below, to learn more about the method."
I think it is absolutely great that the app allows users to "select multiple options" for primary hair concerns. The questionnaire lengths also make sense to me.
After responses have been collected, I added a bit more context through a brief write up. I explained how the regimen was created/crafted through the responses that had been provided.
Before
After
A big priority in the application is giving users autonomy. I iterated by adding an option/prompt to ‘edit’ the created regimen and also giving users the option to schedule a reminder.
Before
After
All users were able to open the prototype and felt that the interface was very familiar. They completed the scenario with minimal friction independently.
All Users could easily type a message and spotted the scheduling tooltip prompt.
All users could Schedule the message to be sent 15 minutes before school dismisses at 15:00
Future Impact
This project represents an important step in supporting the natural hair community with tools that empower users to embrace and manage their hair journeys. The following recommendations and potential future impacts could help guide the development and long-term growth of the app.
- Enhanced Personalization Through AI: As the app gathers more data, it can become more accurate in suggesting products, routines and services tailored to users’ unique hair profiles. This will make it a go-to resource for highly customised hair care, fostering deeper user engagement.
- Partnerships with Hair Care Brands and Salons: Establish partnerships with local and international natural hair care brands and salons, allowing for product or service integrations directly in the app.
- Augmented Reality (AR) for Try-On Features: Incorporate AR features where users can virtually try on different hairstyles, cuts or hair colours to visualise what looks good on them before committing to changes. This could create an engaging and fun experience that makes the app more interactive, increasing user retention.
- Education and Advocacy: Introduce extensive educational content and resources about the history, politics and cultural significance of natural hair. This could take the form of blog posts, podcasts or mini-documentaries. By educating users on the deeper significance of natural hair, the app can build a stronger emotional connection with its audience, leading to higher retention rates and making it a platform that celebrates and advocates for natural hair pride.
These suggestions could solidify ‘Kinks and Coils’ as a leader in the natural haircare industry and expand its influence on a global scale.