Barber app which helps customers stay productive while waiting for a cut
Introduction
Project overview
The Squires is a fictional UX design project. Paired with another General Assembly (GA) student I was presented with a design problem concerning the long waiting periods for walk in barbers and asked to design an app which increased customer retention while boasting productivity during wait periods.
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I managed all aspects of the project, from the initial user research and ideation, through to prototyping and user testing.
Project details
Client: UX student
Year: 2021
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Project type: Conceptual, Solo
Role: UX Student Designer
Duration: 2 weeks
Tools: Miro, Marvel and Figma
Success criteria
The overall objective of the redesign was to identify the problem areas and propose solutions to improve the overall customer experience.
Starting point
I began this project by interviewing the student who presented me with this problem. I wanted to know the answers to 3 key questions 
What are we making?
Why are we making it?
What difference will it make to his life should the solution work?
Process
Empathise / Define / Ideate / Prototype / Test
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With the challenge set, I worked for 2 week to create a Mid fidelity Productivity App for mobile. This also included an exploration of 'Productivity', Competitive Analysis and Synthesising Insights leading to a final solution.
Building User Empathy
User interview
"I like to have the 'whole' barbering experience' and value professionalism as my time is important".
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My experience of user research up until this point had been difficult to gather. In response the the problem I was given, I made a number of assumptions which led me to question whether this was a genuine problem or simply the experiences of a few disgruntled customers. If walk in barbers are so problematic, I asked myself, why not just book an appointment?
Design Challenge
The scope of the problem (waisted time, impatience) felt small and insignificant. I had further discussions with the student I was paired with which brought up interesting discussions re how the desire to look good linked to increased self worth and self esteem, but ultimately, these lines of enquiry lost traction and came to a dead end.
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The light bulb moment
In order to get my teeth into this project, I brought up my dilemma in my one-to-one with the course tutor and this led to a 3 way discussion with my fellow student. It was agreed to refocus this project on the theme of ‘productivity’.
Sketches
Solution thinking
I decided on three solutions: Firstly to have a time-slot customers could set which would include an optional alarm notification. Secondly to add a countdown feature to let customers know exactly how long they will be waiting for (based on the users desire to run local errands should he have enough time while he waits) and thirdly to create the productivity featured.
Mid Fidelity
New Features
The mid fidelity mock ups above highlight 2 new features from user insights: a notification function telling customers when their haircut will be inc a countdown clock and the ‘Productivity section’ which allows customers to review personal goals while they wait.
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Moving towards ideation
After sketching, I created a mid-fidelity wireframe in order to test with users and validate my proposed solutions, I asked three users to:
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Book a haircut and receive a time notification
77xx use the virtual waiting room to carry out a task while they wait
User testing and iterations
All users managed to successfully complete both tasks.
2/3 users requested the following iterations.
High Fidelity
Images below illustrate the mobile designs inc the new features.
The Barbershop Experience
User insight highlighted the need for customers to understand the barbershop experience and what to expect before they arrived. This led to further explorations into ‘service design’ from which I incorporated a video feature with the services on offer.
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Final thoughts and reflections
I’m pleased with how my first UX case study turned out.
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As a designer, I realised how important empathy is when working on briefs. For me, I need to understand the story and why the problem matters.
Did I ask the right questions to get to the heart of the story? My own biases and want to explore broader subject matters concerning image and self confidence drew me away from the core issue. While honing in on ‘productivity’ gave the project a new lease of life, this again pulled me away from the brief.
Creating authentic solutions requires us to truly understand the need.
Authenticity is key.
