Overview
Getting a tattoo is an intimate and very emotional experience that marks the lives of millions of people nowadays. 17% of the people being asked at least partially regret getting a tattoo.
My goal was to explore the reasons causing that dissatisfaction and to create an app that prevents frustration along the tattoo journey. My role: UX and UI design - research, design, test and refine. Tool : Adobe Xd |
Objective
The aim was to understand the challenges tattoo lovers face and to help them overcome them.
To do so I had to define the problems they encounter before, during, and after getting a tattoo and find solutions for them. |
My design process
Competition climate
Competitive analysis, User research, Problem Statement
My main tasks, in the beginning, were to define the possible problems and their potential solutions.I have run a competitive analysis of two of the existing competitor's apps for tattoo lovers - Tattoodo and Connect'Ink.
Exploring the features they provide and evaluating opportunities they have missed, I could define the role of INK TANK in helping people in their tattoo adventures. Their main weaknesses were:
So INK TANK had already some space to grow better. |
Problem Statement
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Potential Solution
I believe I can solve the problem by building an app that will allow the user to have all the information in one place.
People would browse, save and share design inspiration, get informed about practical and healthcare issues, search for an artist, book consultations, get suggestions based on their personality and body type. |
Who was I designing for?
(surveys and interviews) So, I knew already what's ‘on the market‘ but I still had no idea what people actually need. Therefore, I have stepped out of my guessing state and ran a survey among potential users (tattooed audience) and talked to people who had tattoos or were planning to get one.
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During the interviews, I have spent a lot of time discussing the practical and emotional side of getting tattooed.
Interviewees have shared all kinds of thoughts (recommendations, fears, worries) and I have discovered both the positive and negative aspects of the tattooing process. A lot of their thoughts were in line with the information gathered within my survey, but there were also some true eye-opener quotes. You can check them here: |
What do people struggle with?
(User Personas, User stories, User journeys)
There were many aspects of the process that people had difficulties with:
1. Not enough trustworthy information 2. Poor communication with artists and studios 3. Fears of pain and proper healing 4. Hygiene standards 5. An overwhelming amount of unsorted visual inspiration. So User Personas had to incorporate those real-life issues and that's how Chris and Lina came to life. The future users of Ink Tank were going to be predominantly people with high-quality service expectations, active lives, and strong personal taste. To address and engage those people INK TANK had to provide flawless interaction no matter if they were on the go or sitting in the office chair. |
Pause. Let's not overdo it.
(Reevaluation of the goals)
It was tempting to try to solve all problems with one app and fill it with all the possible features one could imagine. Something which Tattoodo is trying to do and which make it difficult to quickly find what you need without browsing infinite feeds.
There were three main things I concentrated on - to provide accurate information on health issues, to fill the app with visual inspiration, and to let people contact artists directly. My decision was based on the predominant part of the people stating that not enough health information exists, that they want to see other good tattoos, and to be able to get in touch with the artist whose work they like. Moreover, I had run a content audit and user testing on Tattoodo with one of my interviewees to gather some real time feedback and the main pain point quote was: "It's too cluttered, there are so many things, I don't know what to do here". So simplicity had to be INK TANK's power. |
Unexpected Inspiration
(User Flows and App features)
Impossible to predict, but a smooth solution for taking care of people's worries and fears came in handy while thinking about counselors in Germany.
The German Healthcare system lets you speak to a person who takes the time to evaluate your needs and issues and then directs you to a phycologist who could fit your profile best. Following that pattern, an "advisors" section was incorporate in INK TANK, instead of flooding it only with articles and FAQ sections. By creating such a function INK TANK could present itself not only as a visual social network but as a genuinely user caring business that supports human needs. INK TANK's users can talk to experienced tattoo specialists and ask them all the questions they may have and may feel intimidated to pose the artist himself. So the first three flows I started working on were: |
"Send a message to another user"
"Book a call with a tattoo consultant"
Architecture Confusions
(Sitemap and a Reminder That Less is More)
I have created a site map with 2 different entry points - for people who want to get a tattoo and for artists who want to represent their work and get booking via the app.
Already well-known patterns were used as a reference - a combination of the way Instagram and Pinterest work, as well as some of the successful features Tattoodo has implied. Once that was done it was time for card sorting to check whether the paths were easy to follow. |
Running a card sort for the first time I have put all names of categories for an open card sort which led to various interpretations and showed me that the options should be more precise. (ex. I had a card "Messages" and "Send a message" which has confused the participants). Note taken.
Nevertheless, some valuable insight was gathered and a better, clearer site map was created and refined along the way. |
Getting Real
(From Paper Sketches to Clickable Prototype)
I have designed three main flows for both mobile and desktop version and sketched some ideas for a logo of the app and onboarding screens to have a starting base and then transferred them to digital wireframes using Balsamic and Adobe UX. They have incorporated the main functions of INK TANK as well as providing paid options for for some of them. (ex. one could message an advisor for free, but upgrade to a premium membership to have a call with them).
One of the most important things I had in mind was : "Visual content will be the important load. Keep it simple. Don't make complex screens." Later I used these to build the high fidelity prototype and to start testing my ideas. |
The Moment of Truth
(Time to Test)
Testing was essential at this stage so 6 tests with people from INK TANK's target audience (tattoo owners and potential ones) were conducted.
The goal was to check whether they can easily get around the app and to understand its functions and to gather primary feedback on the overall experience. It was also important to observe people's reactions regarding the paid features of the app and when the notifications appear in the flow. Tester's feedback was sorted into Positive and Negative Quotes, Observations, and Errors in a Rainbow spreadsheet to organize findings properly, then affinity map sorting was performed again and the 5 most important issues to be urgently fixed were listed. |
Detailed Rainbow sheet is available here :
Usability test report
(Priority issues)
(Priority issues)
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Opportunity (almost) missed
(The "Advice" Mystery and its iterations)
All the participants managed to accomplish the tasks assigned but to my disappointment, none of them understood the primary feature of the app, named 'ADVICE' - the one suggesting that they could talk to a tattoo consultant.
To overcome that obstruction the name of the section had to be changed, visual explanation in the onboarding to be added and Advisor’s shortcut in the Explore feed to be included. |
(Good News)
Even if people couldn’t guess what stands behind ADVICE, all of them gave positive feedback on its actual functionality once they have opened it and were pleased to discover it. So in the future a successful strategy for presenting INK TANK to the public could surely use that insight.
In addition to that, I have run a preference test on the look of the page to optimize the content. (Did the same for the splash screen and one of the onboarding screens) |
The Evolution of an Idea(l) (feature)
(Preference testing & Iterating the design)
Based on the very first insight, where people shared the lack of accurate and trustworthy information about the tattoo process, and then on numerous tests, the idea of having a person people could talk to and an extensive guide with articles, an intuitive and simple to navigate screen was created.
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Refining the Design.
(UI challenge accepted)
Once the structure of the app was tested came the moment to applying Gestalt laws and Visuals Design Principles to make it easier for people to flawlessly interact with and visually enjoy INK TANK.
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Aiming for Perfection
(UI design & Style guide)
Achieving pixel-perfect results was the most time-consuming activity on the project, but with some devotion, persistence, and feedback from other UX designers, the end look of INK TANK proved to be visually pleasant and flawlessly performing.
I have created a detailed style guide ready to be delivered and to easy to follow or anyone who could work on developing the project further |
Your're welcome to take a look at INK TANK :
What comes next?
Since INK TANK was a passion project so no business development is planned for now.
There are more screens and user flows that could be designed and tested, but the my goal was to experience each and every step of the Human Centred Designing process so the work on it is finished for now. |