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Target Group

Outdoor Enthusiasts and Sun Seekers Age Range: 18-45 years old Lifestyle: Enjoys spending time outdoors, whether for leisure, sports, or work. Motivation: Prioritizes skin health and wants to prevent sun damage without disrupting their activities. Tech Comfort: Familiar with mobile apps and wearable devices, values convenient and intuitive solutions. Challenges: Struggles with remembering to reapply sunscreen and determining when protection is no longer effective.

Problem Analysis

Inconsistent Sunscreen Application:
- Many users forget to reapply sunscreen or miss spots when applying, leading to uneven protection.
ELimited Awareness of UV Levels:
- Users often fail to monitor current UV radiation, increasing their risk of overexposure.
Uncertainty About Sunscreen Effectiveness:
- Difficulty in determining when sunscreen has worn off or needs reapplication.
Managing Multiple Users:
- Families find it challenging to track and manage sun protection for different members with varying needs.
Discreet Protection:
- Users want a monitoring solution that doesn’t draw attention or interfere with their activities.

Goals

Improve Sunscreen Application:
- Provide features like a camera-based scanner to identify missed areas of sunscreen application.
Increase UV Awareness:
- Display real-time UV radiation levels to help users assess outdoor safety.
Simplify Family Sun Care:
- Enable multiple user profiles to monitor and manage UV protection for families.
Ensure Discreet and Reliable Monitoring:
- Design a waterproof, durable sticker for daily use, even during swimming or physical activities.

Solution

While working on the project I came to the following solutions:

Integrated Camera Scanner: A feature that uses the camera to identify areas where sunscreen has not been applied.
UV Monitoring Sticker: A discreet, transparent patch that tracks UV exposure and syncs data with the app.
Smart Notifications: Alerts for sunscreen reapplication and high UV levels based on personalized settings.
Multi-Profile Management: Supports multiple user profiles, allowing families to monitor UV protection for everyone.
Educational Resources: In-app tips and articles on effective sun protection and UV awareness.

In the next section of this case study, you will find an overview of the findings, wireframes, prototypes, usability tests etc.

Desk Research

The desk research for Solar Shield focused on understanding user needs, analyzing competitors, and evaluating existing solutions in the sun protection market. Through affinity mapping, key insights were identified, including challenges with sunscreen habits, low UV awareness, and a need for intuitive, family-friendly tools. Competitor analysis highlighted gaps such as poor UX, limited personalization, and inaccurate UV detection. Existing solutions like UV cameras, reminder apps, and wearables often failed to address these issues effectively. These findings informed the development of Solar Shield, ensuring it delivers accurate UV monitoring, multi-user profiles, and a user-friendly experience.

User Research

The user research for Solar Shield involved a comprehensive approach to understand user behaviors, preferences, and needs regarding sun protection. A survey with 50 participants and three in-depth interviews provided valuable insights into sunscreen habits, UV awareness, and expectations from a monitoring tool. To contextualize these findings, storyboards and user stories were created to illustrate real-life scenarios and challenges users face. User requirements were then defined based on this research, emphasizing features like accurate UV monitoring, multi-user support, waterproof functionality, and personalized sun protection recommendations.

Prototypes

The prototyping phase for Solar Shield followed a structured approach to refine the app and physical product design:

Initial Scribbles: The design process began with hand-drawn sketches to explore layout ideas and visualize the core functionality of both the app and the physical UV-monitoring sticker.
Wireframes: Based on the scribbles, low-fidelity wireframes were created to establish the basic structure and hierarchy of the app’s interface. This step focused on usability and ensuring all key features were logically placed.
Figma Prototypes: The wireframes were translated into high-fidelity designs using Figma, where visual details, branding, and interaction elements were added. This stage brought the app’s interface to life while maintaining usability.
Clickable Prototype with User Flow: A fully interactive prototype was developed in Figma to simulate the user experience. The user flow was designed to ensure smooth navigation, including key tasks like linking the UV patch, scanning sunscreen, and monitoring profiles.
Paper Prototype for Physical Product: A paper prototype of the UV-monitoring sticker was created to test its size, placement, and interaction with the app. This allowed for iterative improvements to ensure practicality and user comfort.

These prototypes were essential in validating design decisions, refining user flows, and ensuring both the app and the physical product meet user expectations.

Usability Test

To ensure Solar Shield met user needs and expectations, three usability tests were conducted, each lasting 40 minutes. Participants interacted with both the mobile app prototype and the paper prototype of the UV-monitoring sticker. The usability tests provided valuable feedback on both the app and physical product, highlighting areas for improvement and confirming user satisfaction with the design and functionality. The structured process ensured that Solar Shield is intuitive, user-friendly, and meets real-world needs.

Final Product

The Solar Shield project was a conceptual design created as part of a university assignment. While the app and prototypes were not developed into a final product, the project was an invaluable learning experience. It allowed me to apply UX design principles, conduct user research, and test usability in a structured and professional manner. The project received positive feedback and earned a high grade, reflecting its strong foundation and thoughtful execution. This experience has strengthened my skills in user-centered design, prototyping, and problem-solving, making it a standout project in my portfolio.

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