Balancing simplicity, dynamism, and brand essence

Finally, we had the chance to speak with the CCO of SKNMUSE to hear more about the company, their mission, goals, and visions for the future website. From our conversation, we learned that:

1. Products need consolidation and organization

2. Their target audience was shifting to 35-50 year olds, often seen "Aunties"

3. Wanted a timeless, classic essence, with a sprinkle of wit and fun

4. Site should have be mobile optimized, and have interactions and animations

As we began imagining what our website would look like, we conducted a competitor analysis to take stock of general design trends within the e-commerce beauty space.

From both direct and indirect competitors, we drew inspiration from the following brands. Overall, we wanted our redesign to incorporate moments of engagement through micro-interactions, so that we could cultivate the high-end feel SKNMUSE lacked without deterring users from completing purchases.

We created HMW questions based on clarifying the product offering, and driving engagement and digital connection. We translated those HMWs into actionable ideas by brainstorming features, and creating a Feature Prioritization Matrix that balances both user and stakeholder needs.

After grouping the ideas by impact and complexity, the following features were the most feasible. The features with asterisks are implementations I spearheaded from top to bottom: current events relevant to the brand(*), ingredients list and benefits, image hover, restructuring the "Homepage" and "About Us" layouts, and a new navigation menu(*).

Sketches & Low-fis

Product Detail Page: Ingredients & Benefits

To include space to educate and build transparency, we added an accordion to hide and expand product information. We also redesigned their cart modal for a smoother shopping experience.

Community-Focus: Muse Media

Creating a section dedicated to spotlighting SKNMUSE’s current events would help propel their growth and create an engaged customer based. Muse Media would showcase their community-related content such as their accomplishments, initiatives, and latest zine issues and playlist.

I conceptualized this feature from start to finish by creating a dedicated hub, Muse Media, to replace their “Experience” within their website's current architecture.

Muse Media: SKN ZINE

The brand created quarterly zines that were embedded as a Canva link to their website, which required users to flip through 25+ pages to get through the content. I wanted to transform this section so users could skim through this page to better grasp topics within the publication.

I created two versions of SKN ZINE. One spotlighted past issues at the top and allowed users to scroll down. The other included a button for users to download the latest issue, incorporated hoverable images that once clicked, would scrolled users to that content’s section, and shared past issues at the bottom.

Restructuring Homepage & About Us

On the Homepage, we added a CTA to shop products, carousal showcasing products, a clickable “Pick Your Glow” grid to highlight the product range, and a “Vibes” section for curated collections for different types of users.

The About Us page would capture the brand’s uniqueness by spotlighting the founder and company’s story, and include content about their West-African inspiration, values, production process, and community involvement.

Prototype findings

We conducted 5 user tests across our low-fidelity desktop and mobile prototypes, focusing on assessing the time on task, task completion, and drop off rates from users.

Hi-fi prototypes & learnings

Moving into hi-fis, we rewrote copy on their website to have their voice be grounded, conversational, comforting, and to resemble a relationship that one would have with their “Aunty”.

Visually, we incorporated deep, rich tones to create a high-touchpoint look and feel, along with an orange accent found in the undertone of the brand’s existing assets products.