Mehu
A local hair salon owner asked us to design and develop an app for his business. Every day he sees people peek their head into the salon, take a quick look at all the people waiting in line, and they immediately head out of his salon. He wants to let people reserve their place in line from anywhere—turning peek-ins into life-long customers. In addition to a queuing system providing accurate wait times, the app also needs to let people book future appointments with specific stylists.
We didn’t know much about running a salon or, frankly, the beauty and wellness industry at large. We spent a lot of time learning from our client about haircare, to understand his customer’s motivations and expectations.
Our client came to us in March 2016 with decades worth of software ideas and features, but he wanted to ship a first version of the app in August to a handful of local salon owners. With a short timeline to design and develop an app, we set out to define the core and essential features, creating the proverbial minimum viable product. The app needs different interfaces for customers (the people getting their haircut), salon owners, and stylists.
This project was done in collaboration with Neutral Design Studio and Meme Betadam.
We didn’t know much about running a salon or, frankly, the beauty and wellness industry at large. We spent a lot of time learning from our client about haircare, to understand his customer’s motivations and expectations.
Our client came to us in March 2016 with decades worth of software ideas and features, but he wanted to ship a first version of the app in August to a handful of local salon owners. With a short timeline to design and develop an app, we set out to define the core and essential features, creating the proverbial minimum viable product. The app needs different interfaces for customers (the people getting their haircut), salon owners, and stylists.
This project was done in collaboration with Neutral Design Studio and Meme Betadam.
I created a flow chart depicting interactions between customer and stylists. This helped the team get on the same page about the journey that each player in the system would experience while using our app.
I translated this flow chart into a clickable prototype, using Sketch to create the interface and Invision to link the interfaces together. At this point, we hadn’t created a brand, color scheme, or even settled on a name. That's why our prototype looks like a stock native iOS app. This style also let the team focus on the function of the prototype, and not how it looked. In our Slack channel and during weekly feedback sessions, we continuously refined the prototype until the entire group was happy with the feature-list presented in the mockups.
I translated this flow chart into a clickable prototype, using Sketch to create the interface and Invision to link the interfaces together. At this point, we hadn’t created a brand, color scheme, or even settled on a name. That's why our prototype looks like a stock native iOS app. This style also let the team focus on the function of the prototype, and not how it looked. In our Slack channel and during weekly feedback sessions, we continuously refined the prototype until the entire group was happy with the feature-list presented in the mockups.
The prototype serves as a communication tool, letting the team envision how the app would feel once built. It let us decide on a feature list for the MVP. It answered questions like: should we include another screen to provide more details on a haircut style? Should the app let users pay the service provider? Questions like these bubbled up at each meeting, but the impending August deadline helped cub our appetites for more and more features.
Once we defined what the app would do, and we had determined the overall flow and navigation, our programmer started working on the app. As he began building the database, Meme and I embarked on creating the visual identity and name for this service.
Once we defined what the app would do, and we had determined the overall flow and navigation, our programmer started working on the app. As he began building the database, Meme and I embarked on creating the visual identity and name for this service.
We cycled through hundreds of names, which gave us options but it also made it hard to sift through and pick the right one. We stepped back and defined the feeling and core beliefs the brand should embody. These characteristics helped us whittle down our options, and we eventually agreed on Mehu.
What the heck does Mehu mean? Our client was born in Ghana, and in ghanaian, mehu means “to bring together.” The app hopes to make lasting connections between stylists and customers. We feel the meaning of Mehu perfectly characterizes the best qualities we want to instill in the brand, while capturing the heritage of the company’s founder.
What the heck does Mehu mean? Our client was born in Ghana, and in ghanaian, mehu means “to bring together.” The app hopes to make lasting connections between stylists and customers. We feel the meaning of Mehu perfectly characterizes the best qualities we want to instill in the brand, while capturing the heritage of the company’s founder.
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With a name decided, it was time to create a logo. We burned through dozens of logo ideas, but we ended with a bookmark-shaped “M” badge, relating to the notion of finding the best hair stylist among all the options in your area.
The accompanying color scheme and branding guidelines make it easy to create future Mehu interfaces and marketing materials. The blue and pink tones were selected to connect with any gender, and they can be used interchangeably in marketing materials. In the app, we wanted to use blue as the primary color and pink as a secondary accent color for critical actions and bits of information.
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The second and final prototype adds branding and color, along with vivid photography highlighting the end-goal our users will achieve—looking fresh. Mehu went into testing in September 2016 and feature development and improvements will continue throughout 2017.