An augmented reality application that uses image superposition over hand nails to change shape, color, art, and length. Developed in team collaboration with Jonajo Consulting.

To kick-start this project we did a benchmarking exercise or competitive analysis. The objective is to understand the strengths and weaknesses of possible competition in the industry. This was also a good start point to see the technological capabilities of augmented reality on applications that focus on nails.

Before jumping on the design board we needed to understand who we are designing and building this application for. We created an open survey to filter down people with the following criteria: 

- People that get their nails done either weekly or bi-weekly.

- People that use social media to find inspiration for nail designs.

After we created a small database of potential users we interviewed four to create our personas. First, we made a table summary of their responses in six different categories: frequency of nail upkeep, pain points, design preference, do they do it themselves or at a salon, inspiration source, and desired feature. With this table we made a dimension plotting to analyze clusters of possible personas.

We found that all users have the same pain point: searching for specific nail designs is not easy. Users have different tastes in nail designs, if we want to attract users from this industry we must include both simple and complex options. The applications our users go-to for inspiration is Instagram and Pinterest, the latter being the primary source. 

Users are very interested in changing the nail shape using augmented reality. As well as importing their designs or being able to edit an existing design.

Possible opportunities are to develop technology for uploading nail art that can be used inside the application with augmented reality. Linking their preferred social media channels to make sharing faster. Letting users upload photos of their own to save as a reference. Have an internal team analyzing the top photos uploaded by users to create nail designs inspired by those. 

After a brainstorming session on what features we wanted to include on our app that would spark our user's interest, we decided to focus on our augmented reality feature and an effective search engine. 

For our AR we wanted to do more than change nail color, we want our users to be able to change their nail shape, nail length, and apply different complex nail designs. The goal is that the user will like what they see on the screen and later go to the salon to make it a reality. 

The search engine would replace Pinterest as the go-to place to look for nail inspiration. Using the categories for our AR feature we can create a database with different categories that our users will enjoy navigating. Furthermore, we wanted to develop a feature that will allow them to make folders and save designs for future use. 

 After making the tree testing, we realized this method was not the most adequate for our application. Tree testing goal is to help the user find content, but our original goal was to find how the user interacts with the main hand scan feature. Even Though 50% of the test was completed. We need to make another test using low fidelity wireframing to see how the user will interact with our main feature. 

Using our Information Architecture as a guide, we created a set of low-fidelity wireframes for our tests. The goal was to set the skeleton of the app by showing the screens that users will be navigating. 

Tests
We wanted to test if they could use filters on the search. If they can understand the concept of collections as folders by moving images or creating a new one. We also wanted to introduce the first stages of the AR filters and see if they could identify what they do. 

We made an update to our wireframes based on the results of the test and created a second test. On this test, we wanted to learn about the intention of the user. We made tasks with multiple possible options as the correct answer followed by a question such as: Why did you select that filter? We wanted to test if the update to the gallery was efficient, we also changed our menu and wanted to see if this time it was easier to create a new collection and move images. 

 Keeping the word snap for photos taken with the AR feature. Consider adding a tooltip.

Remove quick filters or shortcut labels, since they create confusion. 

Keeping navigation consistent. (Icons and menus on the same side). 

Adding the ability to move a photo when you see the photo details.

Define for developers which screen allows hand gestures (swiping, scrolling).

There is always a time when stakeholders and developers will ask for an MVP. After we did our wireframe testing it was decided that we will only focus on the augmented reality feature for our application. We reached a compromise to also allow the user to save their creations. 

Next Step: User Interface, High Fidelity Prototype and Usability Testing

this is an ongoing project...