Lipstick, Liner and User Experience: Unexpected Insights from a Cosmetics Store
It may surprise you to learn that I don't frequent cosmetic stores. However, I made an exception while on holiday with my wife late last year and decided to tag along as I didn't have any pressing business or frontal lobotomies to attend to, and I'm glad I did.
I was bored for all of 5 minutes when I noticed the craftsmanship of one of the pencils and suddenly found myself intrigued. The quality of the products and manufacturing far surpassed my expectations. They not only looked good but felt good. I started thinking about the engineering, not just of the products themselves but of the factories that produced them. Before I knew it, I was deeply immersed in the brushes (super soft), paints (probably not called paints), powders (remarkably fine), creams (surprising range of textures) and smells (nice ones). This was unexpected fun.
The real insights, however, arrived when I stepped back from the details and observed my wife, an actual user, operating in this environment. The end-to-end user experience was carefully considered, and the store layout made perfect sense, even to a layman like me. The presentation was beautiful, with the various items and colours complementing each other in an appealing visual display that tempted engagement. Every detail conformed to the overall style of the shop, down to the strategically placed cleaning stations, which were exactly where you needed them, with the exact cleaning items required for the products in that section. You literally didn't even need to speak the local language to explore, assess and make purchasing decisions.
What started as an exercise I was less than excited about turned into an inspirational visit with two valuable takeaways directly applicable to my line of work: (1) every single detail matters to your users' experience, especially the ones they aren't consciously aware of, and (2) hire designers who LOVE their jobs, there's no other way you would achieve this level of elegance.
It was also a reminder that one can often find unexpected value in mundane experiences if you slow down and pay attention. So next time you're bored, challenge yourself to consider your situation and surroundings from a different angle.
I've been trying to do just that at times when I might otherwise grab my phone.
Granted, the phone still wins most of the time, but no longer all of the time.
It's refreshing.