Ora
Sephora's Shopping Companion
Ora is an intelligent conversational user interface (CUI) for the French Multinational retailer of personal care and beauty products - Sephora. It was designed as part of the curriculum for an Interaction Design project at Carnegie Mellon's School of Design.
Year
2023
Challenge
Design a conversational agent for a company or organization that facilitates novel and seamless interactions between users and the brand.
My Role
User Research
Persona Development
Journey Mapping
Information Architecture
Interaction Design
Conversational Flow Design
Prototyping
Tools
Figma
Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop
Adobe AfterEffects
VoiceFlow
Introduction
Sephora is a leading retailer in personal care and beauty products, offering nearly 340 brands alongside its own Sephora Collection. With a wide array of cosmetics, skincare, body care, fragrance, and hair care products, Sephora has earned its reputation as "The Beauty Authority."
Problem Space
At Sephora, the experience can feel overwhelming with so many products and trends.
The store is filled with numerous choices, and there’s often confusion from the influence of social media trends.
When shopping for foundation or concealer online, matching shades can be difficult and cause uncertainty.
Research Question
This Conversational Interface Design Project explores
How can we optimize the users' shopping experience to significantly increase their satisfaction in selecting products from a diverse range of options?
Design Methodology- Stakeholder Mapping
Through user journey mapping and discussions with Cast Members, we identified that users often turn to social media and peers, influenced by unrealistic beauty standards.
How can we provide more authentic, personalized guidance? Our goal is to offer tailored recommendations that celebrate individual style and beauty, shifting away from idealized standards and fostering a more positive and authentic shopping experience.
Persona Development
We developed scenarios where a CUI would best assist users, focusing on a beauty newbie shopping for herself and a beauty newbie shopping for a gift. We storyboarded these scenarios and identified key opportunities to integrate the CUI to enhance the user experience.
Brand Guidelines
When developing our vision for Sephora’s CUI, we considered the following brand guidelines:
-
Diverse and Inclusive
-
High-tech and E-commerce Pioneer
-
Experience-Oriented, Not Just Beauty
-
Customer-Centered – Making the customer feel like the Main Character
-
Theatrical – The sales floor is the “stage,” associates are “cast members,” and managers are “directors.”
-
Accessible for All – Offering both luxurious and affordable beauty products.
Design Outcome
Ora
Sephora's Conversational Assistant
Design Features
CUI Features:
-
Personalized assistance from Cast members
-
Positive, gender-neutral and uplifting
-
Friendly, warm and honest
-
Integrates Sephora's proprietary Color iQ technology for shade matching
Motion States Design
We designed motion states for the CUI, mapping them on a matrix of Excited, Positive, Dull, and Negative emotions. These states shape ORA’s tone, conveying messages without words. Our focus was on aligning with the user's mental model, ensuring intuitive representations of speaking, listening, loading, and error states.
UI Design
The UI design seamlessly extends from the current Sephora app and website. The strategically positioned chatbox is a drag-up feature on the app and is located in the right corner of the website and opens up as the user clicks on the Ora logo.
Reflections
Ora simplifies decision-making with personalized beauty recommendations. Future expansions include:
-
Beauty Service Appointments
-
Skincare Guidance
-
Personalized Makeovers
More than a shopping companion, ORA boosts confidence in navigating Sephora’s vast selection, making beauty and skincare more accessible for all.