UX Research Project — NENA Skincare
NENA Skincare is a EWG verified house brand of Ironwood Clay, first launched in the 1990s . They specialize in natural skincare made with sustainably harvested and clinically proven Glacial Oceanic Clay from a pristine source in Northern British Columbia. Rich in over 60 minerals and botanical extracts, it helps cleanse, hydrate and nourish the skin.
Teammates: Ben Wolfer and Gabby Bajorek
To conduct industry research, user interviews, usability tests, create user personas, and construct prototypes using Adobe XD.
Challenge
NENA had lot of great branding and content on their website, however their current website confuses the user and can be overwhelming. It was our task to find out what people thought about the current site and to suggest changes that would enhance the users experience on the NENA site.
Our goal: To create a more simplified, yet educational approach to NENA's website.
Phase 1: Research
Heuristic Analysis: This was the first step where we analyzed and evaluated the site holistically, we rated individual aspects of the site and took notes on our thoughts and reactions.
In-depth Interviews: Next we did a series of In-depth interviews to help with our Persona Development, this is where we conducted user interviews to understand the specific user, their goals, and their pain points. Creating personas to represent specific people in the general audience helped us to accommodate different needs and meet different user goals going into the redesign.
In order to effectively conduct NENA skincare’s in-depth interview, we were looking for two different types of people who are in the age range of 18-34:
Insights: We really wanted to know what people with an interest in skincare, really knew about it and things that they still wished to know. It was interesting to hear that a lot of people know about their skin type and their personal concerns were when it came to their skin, but they did not know how to target them. It was also interesting hear that awards seals of approval can influence purchasing decisions when they are educated on what they mean, however no one knew what to meant to be an EWG verified company.
Persona Development
We took NENA's existing marketing information and our feedback from the in-depth interviews to craft two user personas.
MEET....
Katherine Andrews
Age: 23 ½
Relationship Status: Single
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Katherine is conscientious of what goes into her skincare products making her a label reader
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Katherine struggled with acne in her high school years, which is what first sparked her interest in skincare. Now that her acne is under control, she likes to know exactly what she’s putting on her sensitive skin, so that it does not irritate. She does a lot of research typically involving beauty influencers and popular articles
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Depending on stress, will use facemask once a week on Fridays after work
Goals:
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Wants to transition to more natural products
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Wants to start moisturizing her face due to her dry sensitive skin
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Wants to be more aware of how her diet affects her skin and other possible sources of blemishes
Influencers
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Is very up to date and keeps track of her social media
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Her field of work exposes her to multitudes of products and styles
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Watches various social media vloggers such as “free lengths”, and “sazan”
Pain Points
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Annoyed with how the natural and expensive are commonly used together
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Hates false advertising or exaggerating products
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Dislikes products with high amounts of oil
Lily Codfeld (soon to be Grett)
Age: 32
Relationship status: Engaged
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Lily has always had an interest in skincare, but just recently started getting more into it after noticing slight changes in her skin over the past few years. She’s primarily concerned about preserving her skin from aging and dark spots.
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She is getting married this summer in August to Charles Grett
Goals:
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Lily would like to slow aging and get rid of her existing dark spots through a more natural skincare routine.
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Lily knows a lot about skincare, but would like so start using less and more effective products in her skincare routine.
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Lily wants to keep her skin vibrant and healthy for her wedding
Influences:
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Her wedding on the 4th of August this year, and she wants her skin to look its best.
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Lily looks at blogs a little bit, but mostly relies on her close circle of friends for skincare advice and suggestions.
Pain Points:
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Believes in skincare, but does not always trust the claims online since they are not all backed.
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While spending money on products isn’t an issue, Lily wants to know that the products she's purchasing will actually be effective on her skin.
Usability Test
Younger Audience
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A clean look to the website
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Struggled to find social media icons
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Thought the detailed hamburger menu tabs were helpful
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Initial thoughts on the homepage were great but thought it held too much information
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Does not care about awards- mean nothing to them
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Was able to find all of the tasks, but it took a while to find what she was looking for
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There was a lack of trust with the info from the clinical studies- needs a source
Older Audience
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Noticed grammatical errors
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Thinks there is just overall a lot of information shown on the website and are not sure if that is necessary
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Was confused as to why there were so many tabs, looking for something that is easy to find and straight to the point
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Blogs were easy to read and understand but was just confused as to why they were on the website when her goal would be to purchase and get off because she is so busy.
Phase 2: Design
Wireframes: Based on our research we went through 2 rounds of wireframes to put through testing. In order to create these we all came up with a few iterations of each page based on our interviews and UX testing in the first round, we then came together and decided what the final look would be before we went into the second round.
Brand Personality: Even though NENA already had a established branding, going through and creating guidelines for the content was instrumental in our redesign. Not only did this help us get to know NENA's brand better, but came into play when we were figuring out how to approach different content sections.
Responsive Prototype
Click image for prototype
Final Usability Test: One we had our fully responsive prototype with our suggested changes, we went through the site and talked to 7 people from the younger age group and 3 from the older through the same series of tasks we did the first time in order to see how they responded to the new site. We wanted to make sure our suggestions enhanced the users experience on NENA's site and allowed for us to make any changes before giving the final presentation to the client.
FEEDBACK:
General feedback:
-Good website flow
-Cohesive look
-Clean aesthetic
-Easy to navigate
“Most brands don’t explain what it is in their products, I liked that I could read exactly what these ingredients are doing to my skin.You don't see that a lot.” -Traci
“I really liked the shop...it made a lot of sense to me with how I want to look for and find items I want to buy” - Jason