Better questions for better data.
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Applications
iOS, Android
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My Role
• user research
• prototyping
• UX
• UI
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Challenge
How can we improve the value and quality of the skin data that we collect through the gpskin Barrier?
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Background
The gpskin App collects data on two primary biomarkers to evaluate skin health: Transepidermal Water Loss and Stratum Corneum Hydration.
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The Problem
However, without further details on the user and conditions in which the measurements are made, the usefulness of the data is limited.
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The Goal
To encourage and guide users to input more details around their data with ease.
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Aligning Stakeholders
Aligning stakeholders for the goal
This was an important project that was going to require a commitment of resources from the team and budget, so I needed to make sure that everyone (including the CEO) were clear on why we needed to discuss and improve our app for better data.
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Gathering Feedback
How can we improve the data?
From our discussions with customers, skincare brands and dermatologists, these important questions needed to be answered in order for anybody to fully understand the meaning of the data.
What is the skin type of the user?
Knowing a user’s skin type can help us generate personalized content for that user.What goals does the user have for his or her skin?
Similar to know the skin type of a user, understanding skincare goals can help us personalize content for that user.Is this data before or after skincare products were applied?
That simple detail makes a significant difference in the meaning of TEWL and SCH.What time of the day were measurements made? Morning? Mid-day? Night? Were they made at the same times over a period of days or weeks?
This information would help us map out a realistic baseline skin health for the user.What skincare products were being used?
Understanding what products are being used can help us understand what is affecting a user’s baseline skin health.What body part, in detail, was measured?
Because your skin health changes based on each region of the body. If your forehead is healthy, it doesn’t mean your chin (or the rest of your body) is as healthy as your forehead.
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Wireframe
The first thing we needed to address was creating a section that would allow us to learn more about a user’s skin type and skincare goals.
The second thing we did was update the measurement and results process to allow and encourage details to be input.
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Prototyping
Below is a preview of a prototype we quickly developed for user tests:
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User Testing
We recruited a total of 10 users in our target demographic for in-person interviews to gather feedback and criticism on the user journey, usability, and test the success rate of specific tasks.
Tests were done at the end of 2 week sprints on a Tuesday. We called these Testing Tuesdays. Recruiting and scheduling testers wasn’t easy because we were based in Seoul, Korea and our target audience was English-speaking females. To overcome the challenge of finding English-speakers in a country full of Koreans, I tapped into a Facebook group of ex-pats based in Seoul to recruit testers. It worked!
Below is a sample sheet of notes I would have in front of me as I would interview the tester:
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Discovery
We discovered three key findings that would help shape the future direction and priorities of the product:
1) Skin Type and Skincare Goal
Users don’t mind providing more information about their skin type, if it means that they’ll get to understand their skin better. In fact, they would be happy to answer very lengthy questionnaires (dozens of questions) for the sake of learning more about their skin.
2) Product Input
Users don’t mind inputting all the products they use for the sake of tracking them for the first time digitally, and being able to monitor how effective the products are.
However, they hated typing in every character for a product.
3) Design Carries Weight
Users were put off by the lo-fi prototypes - wouldn’t recommend to friends because of state of design.
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Results
Below are the final results of the app that we implemented based on user feedback and company goals. The updated features allowed us to answer every one of our questions on how we could improve the data.
For the next iteration, we plan to implement skin type questionnaires for users who don’t know what skin type they are.
New Create Profile screens
Add Measurement Details screens
