OVERVIEW
Have you ever had an allergy reaction or seen your skin break out because of using expired cosmetic products? Beauty Guard is a mobile application that shows a product’s shelf life. Generally, cosmetics last for 2 to 3 years when you store them in appropriate ways. You can never guess how much time is left for a used bottle still work as expected and be safe enough to use unless you look it up online and calculate the dates you opened it.
Beauty Guard is a mobile application that allows people to have important information regarding the current condition of their products and help reduce accidents happening by misusing cosmetics by providing diverse solutions.
CONCEPT BACKGROUND
Why do people need Beauty Guard?
This project started from my experience and my observations of people’s behavior not only at cosmetic stores but also around me. Putting a variety of cosmetics on the face or body is part of people’s daily routine. People are well aware of the importance of expiration dates on food; they check the manufacturing date and expiration date. However, they tend to overlook the shelf lives of cosmetics, which have a high risk of causing diverse skin and health problems.
WHY IS THIS PROBLEM?
Although there is a high risk of infection or irritation when using expired cosmetics, there is no proper way to avoid it except by counting the days since the product was opened, and even do not have enough information to know the conditions of the products, they are using. There is a history of accidents related to the misuse of outdated cosmetic products by some users, and I believe that safety rules when using cosmetics need to be improved from the users’ point of view. There are very few mobile applications related to the cosmetic expiration date in the market and they do not have enough information for users to solve the main problem. People need an easily accessible tool that provides any kind of information about the cosmetics they are using.
OUTCOME
DESIGN PROCESS
PERSONA
After interviewing 12 people aged 21 to 58, I identified 3 types depending on consumption habits. I then examined their awareness of safety when using cosmetics, obstacles to that awareness, and preferences.
KEY FINDING
USER NEEDS
USER GOALS
Be able to determine expiration dates of cosmetic products easily
Having a system that calculates the estimated time since they started using their products
Following a recommended period for repurchasing
Finding a method to recycle expired cosmetics
Being able to look up information about a product in use at any time
Reducing anxiety about the safety of a product in use
Avoiding uneconomical purchasing habits
Recycling expired cosmetics wisely
USER FLOW - MOBLE APP
DESIGN PRINCIPLE
Give necessary information.
Provide necessary information for products including ingredients, shelf-life, expiration date, and solution of cosmetic for users.
Lead ways individuals contribute to save environment from pollution
By improving purchasing habit, people can contribute to reduce wasting that couldn’t use up before expiration date, and also reduce environmental pollution.
Help to improve purchasing habit.
Make people being well aware of shelf life and expiration date of products so that prevent the situation of throwing out before use them all.
Determine how long a product will stay safe and usable under the same condition.
Appropriate methods to store cosmetics make people get confident on using their products by recognizing expiration date and shelf life.
PAPER PROTOTYPE
WIREFRAME
FINAL IMAGE
Conclusion
To resolve problems, I plan to design from users’ point of view by designing a structure that provides the following:
Information about products’ general lifespan
Manufacturing dates of products
Solutions for recycling expired products
Essential information for users about cosmetic products
FINAL THOUGHTS & LESSONS
This idea is relevant to everyone because I reflected on daily problems happening at least once in a life to anybody. I believe that this is an obvious problem that needs a tool or service to support not only users but also retail shops and cosmetics brands for making a great user experience of people’s daily cosmetics products.