Shear Envy Beautique: An appointment booking responsive website

Student Project
https://justinfuss.com/project/shear-envy

The Problem:
Shear Envy is a beauty salon that has recently opened up for business in the Pittsburgh area. The salon has been open for a few months and has an existing brand and customer base, but no existing website. They are a young and hip company that wants to be on the “cutting edge” of digital services. Shear Envy needs an online product that will afford their customer base the same ease of use/convenience they would get by going to a cheaper chain location. Specifically, they need an online appointment booking platform that rivals any of their chain location competitors.

The Approach:
I applied the Design Thinking approach based on an iterative process to explore possible problems, barriers and pain points among Shear Envy's customer base. It was important to work directly with clients of Shear Envy to understand their online booking needs and struggles. The insights gained from my research with them shaped the design decisions I made throughout the process. Project duration: 80 hours.

Reflection:

Working on this project gave me appreciation for researching with a relevant user base. The insights I gained from the Shear Envy clientele were pivotal in the success of the product. Working with a real client for this project was a first for me. It gave me the ability to gain insights from real users, but also created some limitations along the way.

This project was also my first experience designing with a "mobile first" mindset. I was able to see the benefits and challenges of designing mobile screens first then reworking them for larger form factors. My biggest takeaway from the "mobile first" process is that designing desktop, tablet, and mobile in conjunction while staying cognizant of the differences between them is a beneficial plan of action.