Case Study: Luma

Luma is a conceptual beauty service booking platform designed to help cautious clients confidently discover and book qualified service providers. I led this project to explore why existing booking platforms often fail to build trust and reliability for users, and to design an experience that prioritises confidence, safety, and seamless appointment management.

Overview

FYI

Brief

Luma is a conceptual booking platform reimagining how people discover and connect with beauty service providers. While existing platforms optimise for speed and availability, many fail to address the confidence gap clients experience when choosing who to trust. This project set out to design a consumer-first experience that elevates credibility, transparency, and emotional reassurance across the booking journey. The result is a trust-led platform that helps users move from uncertainty to confident action.

Problem

For many clients, booking beauty services doesn’t just feel inconvenient — it feels uncertain. Early research revealed that users often hesitate to book appointments because they struggle to determine which providers are qualified, reliable, and aligned with their expectations, leading many to delay or avoid booking altogether. This problem matters because repeated negative experiences, such as last-minute cancellations or disappointing results, removes trust and make users increasingly cautious when choosing new providers. From a product perspective, when users lack confidence in the providers listed on a platform, booking hesitation increases and repeat usage declines.

Approach

As a Product Designer, I worked across the full Double Diamond process: Discover, Define, Develop, and Deliver. Based on early research insights showing that clients often feel uncertain about provider reliability, qualifications, and service outcomes, I focused on social listening to investigate the conversations surrounding booking hairstylists and better understand the emotional barriers behind booking hesitation. I created personas to clarify user goals, fears, and decision-making behaviours, recognising that confidence and trust were stronger drivers of booking behaviour than demographics alone. Empathy maps and experience mapping were used to capture not only what users do, but how they feel at each stage of the booking journey, informing the platform’s tone, trust signals, and reassurance features.

In the Develop phase, I translated these insights into experience concepts, user flows, wireframes, and low-fidelity prototypes, iterating based on feedback and internal testing. Finally, in the Deliver phase, I refined the selected solution into high-fidelity designs, validated the experience through further evaluation, and prepared the final prototype showcasing Luma’s confidence-led booking experience.

Goals

Improve booking confidence and reduce anxiety
Reinforce reliability throughout the appointment lifecycle
Reduce friction across the booking journey

Discover

Research. Research. Research.

Market Research

As part of my research, I signed up to several existing booking platforms as a consumer to gain a first-hand understanding of the end-to-end user journey and overall experience. Experiencing the onboarding, discovery, and booking flows directly helped me better empathise with users and identify moments of friction, uncertainty, and trust breakdown.

Through this process, I began to uncover clear gaps and potential opportunity areas. However, rather than moving immediately into solution ideas, I first focused on defining the core user needs and problem space to ensure that any proposed solutions were grounded in real user challenges.

Insights that can be drawn from the table are:

Insight 1: Ease of Entry Has a Direct Impact on Perceived Quality Users interpret complex onboarding as unnecessary friction, not professionalism. When users are forced to create accounts or verify information early, they don’t feel safer — they feel slowed down and less inclined to complete a booking.
Why this matters:
This supports the idea that trust must be earned before commitment is requested, not the other way around.

Insight 2: Existing Platforms Rely on Shallow Trust Signals Star ratings are treated as a proxy for trust, but they don’t answer the questions users actually have.
Users are left to infer safety, quality, and professionalism on their own — often outside the platform.
Why this matters:
This creates space for a platform like Luma to move beyond ratings and offer clearer, more meaningful trust signals.

User Research

As part of my research, I conducted social listening across platforms such as Reddit and TikTok, analysing conversations and widely discussed incidents involving hairstylists — ranging from last-minute cancellations and poor communication to unprofessional behaviour, unrealistic salon policies, and concerns around training and qualifications. Due to lack of availability I couldn’t conduct any user interviews however the discussions I cam across on social media provided valuable insight into the real frustrations and anxieties clients experience when booking beauty services.

While reviewing this content, I focused on answering the following research questions:

Where do you go to find a good hairstylist?
What things do you look for in a hairstylist before booking them?
What are somethings that can put you off booking a hairstylist?
What makes a hairstylist trustworthy?
What part of the booking process feel annoying or stressful?
What do you wish you knew before booking a hairstylist?

*Competitor Analysis Table*

Define

Let’s Make Sense of This…

Data Collation & Synthesis

Following the data gathered from user research, I synthesised the findings into an affinity map to identify recurring patterns and insights. From this process, I prioritised the two most prominent themes that consistently emerged across the research.

Insights that can be drawn from the affinity Map are:

Insight 1: When communication is inconsistent or difficult, users interpret it as unreliability — even before a service is delivered. Why This Matters: When users experience this, uncertainty increases and trust begins to erode. This often leads to hesitation, repeated confirmation-seeking, or even booking abandonment.

Insight 2: Clients no longer assume beauty service providers are qualified — they actively look for proof of competence, safety, and honesty before booking. This isn’t just about skill.  It’s about risk, trust, and feeling safe in someone else’s hands. Why This Matters: Beauty services involve personal risk, and when qualifications or professionalism are not clearly visible, users feel uncertain about their decision. This uncertainty often leads to additional research or booking hesitation.

Defining the User and Problem

Insights that can be drawn from the Experience Map are:

Insight 1: Lack of communication before appointment and after booking increases anxiety and reduces trust level. Users are not sure if the appointment they have made has even been acknowledge by the service provider nevertheless confirmed. Why This Matters: This matters because it means even before service is provided there is already a discomfort the client is experiencing and is entering the appointment with a bad perception of the service provider.

Insight 2: There doesn’t seem to be any consequences for the service providers when they have provided a poor service or let a client down, which is even more frustrating for the client. Why This Matters: This matters because clients feel completely helpless and as result not only stop trusting service providers but also the platforms that host them.

User Story

As a cautious regular, I want to clearly see a provider’s qualifications, reviews, and experience so that I can confidently choose someone I trust and would be happy to return to.
As a cautious regular, I want reassurance that my appointment is confirmed and on track leading up to the appointment so that I don’t need to follow up manually.
As a cautious regular, I want to easily contact my service provider through the platform so that I can quickly resolve questions such as finding the location or clarifying details.

Problem Statement

Cautious regular clients need a way to confidently identify and book qualified service providers, because users no longer assume provider competence and increasingly look for clear proof of training, certifications, and professionalism before committing to an appointment.

Hypothesis

We believe that introducing verified service provider profile cards for clients seeking trustworthy providers will increase booking confidence and platform trust. We will know this is true when we see an increase in completed bookings, repeat bookings, and overall user retention driven by higher trust in providers on the platform.

*Affinity Map*

*Persona*

*Empathy Map*

*Experience Map*

Ideation

Here’s What I think we Should do…

For this project, once I reached the ideation stage, the depth of the earlier research meant the problem and primary user needs were already clearly defined. This provided a strong foundation and allowed me to identify potential feature opportunities without needing to ideate from scratch. Instead, I focused on prioritising features based on how strongly they addressed core user needs and the impact they would have on improving the overall booking experience.

Feature 1: Appointment Tracking

Before Appointment: To reduce uncertainty leading up to appointments, the platform provides clear pop up that booking has been made and the provider has been alerted. Users can check their booking status and any updates at any time within the “My Bookings” section, while email and message notifications are sent upon confirmation to ensure users feel reassured and informed.

On the day of appointment: On the day of the appointment, users are presented with a focused appointment view that surfaces the most relevant information at a glance, including the scheduled time, exact location with access notes, and any necessary preparation reminders. Live status updates, such as “30 minutes to your appointment,” alongside automatic reassurance email and message notifications. This will help users feel informed and confident throughout the experience.

Feature 2: Service Provider Profile Card

To strengthen trust before booking, each provider profile clearly displays key credibility indicators, including certifications, training history, and insurance status. Once credentials have been reviewed, a “Verified by Luma” marker is shown on the profile, helping users quickly recognise qualified professionals.

Develop

Time to Bring it to Life!

Sitemap

User Flow

Paper Wireframe

I initially sketched Option 1, but found the layout visually dense for a profile card and required too much interaction from the user. To improve clarity, I sketched other versions of the profile card and ultimately selected Option 2, which presents the same information in a more concise, accessible format, reducing cognitive effort for users while maintaining informational depth.

*View Service Provider Profile Card*

*Appointment Tracking*

*Service Provider Profile Card - Option 1*

*Service Provider Profile Card - Option 2*

*Appointment Tracking - Before Appointment*

*Appointment Tracking - On the day of appointment*

Deliver

Time to Put it to the Test.

For this project, I conducted user testing across both core features. For the service provider profile cards specifically, I implemented A/B testing to evaluate different layout approaches. Given the many possible ways a profile card could be structured, this method allowed me to identify which variation best supported clarity, trust, and booking intent for this platform.

A/B Testing

To determine which profile card layout better supports confident decision-making and encourages bookings, I conducted an A/B test comparing two interface variations. Both versions contained the same provider information—qualifications, reviews, experience, and booking CTA—but differed in visual hierarchy and information density.

Hypothesis
I hypothesised that Variant B would result in higher booking intent and faster comprehension because the prominent visual header establishes immediate trust and context, while the simplified information hierarchy makes key details easier to scan. As well as this the “Review” section feels a lot more light - weight and easy to interact with in comparison to the the “Review” section on Variant A.

Objective

Identify which layout improves booking intent
Measure which design communicates provider credibility more clearly
Evaluate which interface is easier for users to understand at a glance

Test Setup
I used a repeated measure approach for this testing, which meant that the same group of users trialed both variants.

Variant A: Compact, information-first layout

Variant B: Image-led layout with simplified supporting details

Users completed a prototype task where they reviewed a provider profile and decided whether to proceed with booking.

Success Metrics

“Book Now” click-through rate
Time to identify key provider information
Self-reported clarity and trust perception

Analysis & Outcome
Findings showed that 66% of users preferred Variant B, citing its more spacious layout and clearer visibility of the business name. In contrast, Variant A was frequently described as visually cluttered, with users taking longer to locate key information compared to the more structured hierarchy presented in Variant B.

Based of these results I decided to go ahead with designing Variant B as the final prototype as it supported clearer scanning, stronger credibility perception and more confident booking behaviour.

*Service Provider Profile Cards Wireframe*

My Final Thoughts…

Possible Impact if Luma was brought to life

If brought to life, Luma could shift beauty service booking toward a confidence-led marketplace, where trust, professionalism, and reliability drive user decisions. By making provider qualifications, credibility, and appointment status more visible, the platform could reduce booking anxiety and enable more informed choices. Over time, this approach could help raise industry standards by rewarding professionals who prioritise transparency, skill, and consistent service quality.

What I Learnt

This project reinforced how impactful testing can be throughout the design process. Conducting A/B testing demonstrated how comparing interface variations provides clear evidence for selecting the most effective design direction. It also highlighted the importance of prioritising real user feedback, reminding me that design decisions should be informed by user insights rather than assumptions.

What I would do differently

If I were to approach this project again, I would complement social listening with user interviews to gather deeper, more targeted insights. While analysing comments and discussions provided valuable context around user frustrations, direct conversations with participants would have enabled more specific responses to key research questions and strengthened the overall findings.

How this project strengthened my skills as a Product Designer

This project significantly strengthened my UX and product thinking skills, particularly through conducting a thorough research process that made defining the user and their core problem more focused and intentional. It was also my first experience running A/B testing, allowing me to develop a new skill that I plan to continue refining in future projects. Most importantly, the project deepened my understanding of empathy in design, reinforcing the importance of designing with a clear awareness of users’ emotions, motivations, and real-world experiences.

BeLingual

Role: Product designer

Product: BeLingual is a language learning platform that not only improves learning for students but streamlines duties for teachers.

Duration: 4 weeks

Tools: Figma

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