Designing a Skincare Brand That Strengthens Your Microbiome
Chick Skincare Products
Overview :
Through a startup accelerator, I partnered with the two co-founders of the probiotic skincare startup Chick. As the company’s first designer, I designed the company’s branding, products, and digital presence from the ground up. Through this, I gained valuable experience in entrepreneurship and business fundamentals.
I conducted market research and user interviews to identify consumers' pain points and values to better understand how Chick could impact people. Then, I created archetypes of our target customers and need statements. Bringing it all together, the founders and I finalized the company's mission statement and core values, which the logos and packaging were built on. Leading the entire design process, I pioneered the company's branding, resulting in increased customer engagement and accelerating Chick's product launch timeline while ensuring a positive impact on our target audiences.
My Roles
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Brand Strategist
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Brand Designer
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User Researcher
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Market Analyst
Methods and Skills
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Figma and FigJam
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Customer Discovery
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Market Research
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User Interviews
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Research Synthesis
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Brand Establishment
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Figma and FigJam
Timeline
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4 weeks (Part 1)
Highlights.
The Problem
There is an abundance of issues skincare consumers face and Chick needs to focus on who they should impact and how to communicate their company's goals and values
Guiding
Question
How do we identify the issues consumers face with skincare and how can Chick impact these people?
The
Solution
Gain clarity on the skincare market and consumer needs through research and interviews so Chick can establish its target audience, core values, and company mission
Chick is a Probiotic Skincare Startup.
This startup was started by two twins, Mary and Christina, and gained funding through venture competitions. After winning a summer acceleration program, they hired me as a designer.
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I spent the summer in a shared workspace with multiple mentors and other interns working on different startups. During this internship, I worked side-by-side with the founders and learned about business strategy and extensive experience with entrepreneurship.
Customer Discovery
Honest Products Appeal to Consumers.
Market Research Insights
The market favors Novel Products with Multiple Long-term Benefits.
46% of consumers switch out products because of novelty, while 33% of consumers found a better quality product.
To start this design journey, I wanted to understand market trends. Mintel and secondary research gave me insights into what products are doing well and why. I found that products that have multiple benefits and long-term effects are bought more often.
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Consumers switch products based on novelty and better quality, especially for acne treatment. This allows for new and exciting products to succeed on the shelf.
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Finding these insights made me confident in Chick, as they are a probiotic skincare company. A probiotic formula is both novel and multi-benefit as probiotics can help with a variety of skin issues.
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​But I needed to hear from consumers directly, so I could ask more specific questions.
Consumers look for scientific credibility (especially from experts) and novelty.
consumers pay more for:
38% trusted brand name
31% gentle formula
30% developed with experts
26% unique formula
39% of consumers will pay more for products that have long-term effects or have a variety of benefits
people are looking for a new product to fix their problems. 40% of consumers have not found a product that benefits their skin.
First-round User Interviews
Consumers Value Ingredients, Reputation, and Aesthetics with Skincare Products.
Now, with the research insights, I wanted to move on and talk with people who use skincare products every day. I wanted to understand what people value and how they make decisions about buying a skincare product.
Fortunately, the workspace my team worked in was full of other startups and interns. I could interview a plethora of young people and gain insights from them. When people weren't busy, I asked them if I could ask them some questions for about 20 minutes. I talked to about 25 people.
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In addition to this, I called almost all of my friends, asked them a series of interview questions, and tracked their responses through FigJam boards. I would write their responses out and then put them on Post-its. To get the most out of their responses, I would use FigJams AI tools to group each sticky note and then write a summary.​​​​​
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Key Insights
Clean and Organic, no Synthetics.
No Purchases without Credibility.
Simple and Clean Means High-quality.
Second-round User Interviews
Consumers are Drawn to Products that are Science-based, Honest, Organic, and Visually Appealing.
Now with the first round of interviews, my founders and I looked to see where we had gaps in our insights. We shifted our interview questions to be less broad and more specific and revolved around the goal of Chick.
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I wanted to understand better people's knowledge of probiotics and what comes to mind when they hear the word. Getting this feedback would later help me strategize how the company should come across with branding.
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In these interviews, I also learned more about how people feel about a company's lack of honesty in their marketing and branding. Hearing these pain points gave me ideas on how we could communicate ourselves as a company, and gain people's trust. A key emphasis in these interviews is that consumers need to trust a skincare brand before buying anything, but many factors go into building this trust.
​​​I followed the same process as I did with the first round of interviews, but got more diversity in responses. This time around, we started conducting something we called Guerilla Research where we would go to stores that we think our target audience would shop at. The founders and I would sneakily walk around Whole Foods or Trader Joes and ask people these questions. ​I ended up interviewing roughly 40 people for this section.
Sample Data Entry from An Interview
Critical User Insights.
Authenticity and Transparency is key
Lead with Scientific Facts
Simple means Legitimate
Organic Formula or Bust
With a clear understanding of the paint points and tendencies of skincare consumers, we could strategize who and how Chick can benefit people.
Customer Discovery and Establishing Brand Values
We Need to Be Transparent and Bold.
Building Customer Archetypes
Chick Should Target Young Health-Conscious Women.
Through user interviewing, our team quickly realized that consumers could benefit from our products, but we weren't exactly sure who. We needed to figure out who we wanted to target, and why.
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People who struggle with skincare issues tend to be young adults who deal with hormone imbalances. Women also are typically the main consumers of these products.
​These two demographics are too ambiguous and need more details. Using FigJam, the founders and I honed in on the customers we wanted to attract. With our two archetypes, we tried to be as specific as possible, which was difficult but fun.
Outdoor-loving, Probiotic-Enthusiasts Living in Liberal Cities
Archetype 1 - Ruby
Interests
Needs
Goals
Motivations
Influences
Pain Points
Trendy, Health-conscious Women Living in Wealthy Urban Areas
Arcetype 2 - Caroline
Interests
Needs
Goals
Motivations
Influences
Pain Points
Creating Need Statements
Our Products Address the Needs of Consumers.
Shaping our ideal customers allowed us to focus on the challenges consumers face. With these in mind, I was able to create need statements that identified and addressed each of the biggest challenges consumers face.
The founders and I carefully analyzed both the user's insights and the personas created to come up with these statements.
As a risk-taking and experimental young person, I need effective novelty, so that I can satisfy my sense of adventure and desire for the unconventional.
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As someone who is wary of chemicals, I need a natural and organic solution, so that I feel like I am making the cleanest and healthiest decisions possible.
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As a health-conscious individual frustrated by deceit, I need transparency and simplicity, so that I can feel like I am not being taken advantage of.
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As a research-oriented young adult experiencing decision fatigue, I need evidence-based information explicitly communicated, so that I can make definitive decisions.
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As a young person bored by “hyper minimalism”, I need a balance of vibrancy and reliability, so that I can get see the true personalities of others without sacrificing my high standards for quality.
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Mission Statement and Values
Chick Looks to Shift the Focus of Skincare from Skin Sterilization to Skin Strength.
Looking at our need statements, my founders and I created a mission statement that encapsulated what Chick's goal is as a company. Step by step we were able to get to a focused objective as a company. Our personas helped shape our need statements, and from there we decided how we wanted to impact consumers. We also established our core values based on what challenges our company can provide solutions for.
Having a mission statement and clear values is the foundation of our branding, and provides clear constraints to ensure the design reflects our core beliefs.
Boldness.
Chick is upfront about their mission and their products. We want to clear as possible for consumers
Scientific Basis.
Chick products are rooted in scientific research and use cutting-edge probiotic formulas to strengthen skin
Transparency.
We want our customers to trust us, and we do this by communicating how our products are made and what's in them
Authenticity.
Our products make people feel confident and support natural beauty through organic ingredients and formulas
Learning to Leverage User Interviews.
Take Aways
Working for a startup helped me develop skills that I wouldn't have gotten from my design classes. I conducted user interviews and established a company’s branding guidelines, which helped me shift my thinking from a creative design standpoint to a product-thinking mindset. Here I was setting up the framework for a company which is invaluable as someone who has just focused on design principles and personal creative voices. Working towards a product that could ACTUALLY impact someone was meaningful and made this process super enjoyable. I loved talking to people, hearing their problems, and figuring out how my designs could eventually affect them was empowering. As cliche as it sounds, building a company around the needs of others felt like I was going to impact consumers. Practicing human-centered design is something I value and this project helped me realize how much I value it. This project vastly developed my UX research skills and prepared me for future product design projects and solitidifed my passion for UX research and design.