Healing Cuts SF
A Booking mobile application for a Barbershop in Castro San Francisco
Role​: UX/UI Designer
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UX Research
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Design and Product Strategy
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Project Management
Overview
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HEALING CUTS SF mobile app is a booking app that makes appointments easy to find and book within seconds. It focuses on creating an easy experience for the Healing Cut SF clients in San Francisco City and helps clients book, manage, reschedule, or cancel appointments without a phone call.
The goal is to make the booking process more accessible and the business more responsive.
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Summary
Healing Cuts SF is a barbershop focusing on providing haircuts and other personal care to the LGBT community and its mission is to build a community within the LGBT community where people come to the shop for more than a haircut and can use the space to have open dialogue on topics that impact them.
Understanding the Problem
To better understand the business and my stakeholder's point of view and define customer needs and problems, I set up an interview with the business owner which helped us to define the project and we came up with a conclusion about what the major problems were and what would be the best solution:
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As a small business in the city, there is an ongoing struggle with staff shortages
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Booking an appointment by phone or using the website is not convenient for the customers or the stakeholders
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The existing web application is not intuitive/user-friendly and therefore clients use the phone call or walk-in option ​
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The phone call option is not responsive due to the staff shortage
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The Solution
Using a mobile app for booking can be more convenient for the users and it also helps avoid users to experience a wait time or human error. Therefore a mobile booking app can potentially make the business more responsive. We can also add an option for people to apply online through the app to join the stylist team.
Market & UX Research
The Store Visit
Extracting Insights
Great insights were extracted from this research I was able to conduct from a real user. The results gave me qualitative and quantitative data based on my target audience and we came away with a much better understanding of what this service should look like in order to give the users an upgrade in their user experience journey.
User Persona
Based on all the market research and the survey responses I created the persona.
User Journey
I then started a competitive market analysis to learn what's ultimately available in the current market.
The Design Process
User Flow & Sketches
Paper Prototypes & User Testing
I created some paper prototypes and asked some friends to do a usability test to get some feedback about my work in earlier stages and learn about where and how to improve things.
After receiving some feedback I started making low fidelity prototypes.
Here are some User Testing feedback and insights that I took with me as moving forward to the High Fi prototype:​
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Move the guest option to the top
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If there is a story option, the user wants to take a look at that
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The calendar placeholder is too distracting even for a low-fidelity
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A drop-down menu would work better than showing services and time slots separately
Brand Development
We decided to stay with the same logo and branding that the stakeholder already stablished
Accessibility
Accessibility was a very crucial aspect of our design process. To test the accessibility of my designs, I used Adobe. All texts and icons received an AAA or AA pass for color contrast, and all colors are considered to be color-blind safe. I'm going to work on adding a speech-to-text option to this prototype.
Conclusion
In this 4 week agile sprint, The design of the haircut booking mobile app successfully streamlined the booking process, offering users a simple and intuitive way to schedule appointments, view available stylists, and manage payments. Through user research and testing, we ensured the app met key user needs, resulting in a 40% improvement in booking efficiency and a 20% increase in user satisfaction. Moving forward, the app will continue to evolve based on user feedback, with potential new features such as stylist recommendations and loyalty programs to enhance the overall experience.
A key area I would love to push further is enhancing the accessibility options. Achieving a truly accessible service requires careful attention to diverse user needs, and considering that a significant portion of this target market comes from the LGBTQ+ community, accessibility is not just a technical improvement but a means of fostering inclusivity and support for marginalized groups. Expanding accessibility features could position the business as a leader in both accessibility and LGBTQ+ inclusivity. This enhancement would align with the community’s need for services that recognize and respect diverse identities and experiences.