Joie Beauty Branding
Design Story
Joie Beauty is an innovative digital platform founded in Sydney that uses color testing AI to help users find their perfect beauty palette. The founder’s experience with AEGI Sydney — a color testing studio — was the inspiration for a more accessible digital solution. The goal was to design a mobile-first e-commerce experience that feels intuitive, empowering, and confidence-boosting, while translating a traditionally in-person color consultation into a seamless online journey.
The total view: 2.5M+
Location
Sydney, Australia
Team
HGH | Joie beauty marketing team
Year
2024
Client
Joie Beauty
Design Challenge
The Challenge
Design a mobile-first beauty experience that translates AI-driven color analysis into a calm, trustworthy, and actionable flow.
The key challenge was maintaining confidence in AI-generated results without the presence of a human consultant, while avoiding technical complexity or visual coldness that could undermine a premium beauty brand.
01 - Establishing trust in AI-generated results
Users needed to feel confident that the analysis was accurate and personally relevant, despite the absence of a human consultant to explain or validate the outcome.
02 - A fragmented and unconvincing market standard
Existing online color testing tools largely fall into two extremes: platforms that feel overly technical and clinical—more like scanning utilities than beauty experiences—or solutions that appear visually casual and unprofessional, undermining credibility.
This lack of balance creates skepticism and makes it difficult for high-end beauty brands to adopt such tools without compromising their image.
03 - Translating color theory into intuitive graphic
Color analysis involves nuanced data that can easily become overwhelming.
The challenge was to communicate results in a way that felt clear, meaningful, and immediately useful—without exposing raw or technical information.
04 - Reducing cognitive load in a self-guided experience
Without expert guidance, even small moments of confusion could lead to doubt or abandonment.
The interface needed to support comprehension and decision-making without demanding excessive interpretation effort.
05 - Maintaining a premium brand experience while conveying scientific credibility
The visual language had to balance elegance and warmth with precision and accuracy, avoiding both clinical coldness and decorative superficiality.
06 - Enabling confident usage from insight to action
Understanding a color result alone was not enough. The challenge extended to helping users move naturally from analysis to product selection, without breaking trust or disrupting the experience flow.
Strategy & Solutions
01 - Building Trust in AI Results
Clear explanations, visual cues, and step-by-step guidance were introduced to demystify AI color analysis.
Instead of exposing raw data, results were translated into human-readable language, icons, and visual summaries—bridging the gap between algorithmic accuracy and emotional reassurance.
02 - Improving Usability & Understanding
The interface was designed with progressive disclosure, simple terminology, and visual comparisons.
This allowed users to understand not just what the result is, but how to use it, replicating the clarity of an in-person consultation in a digital format.
03 - Supporting Confident Decision-Making
Color analysis outputs were directly connected to product recommendations, minimizing interpretation effort.
Users could move naturally from understanding their palette to selecting products—supporting conversion without forcing urgency or disrupting trust.
04 - Scientific Precision with a Human Touch
A restrained visual system, refined typography, and controlled color usage reinforced scientific accuracy.
Soft spacing, gentle motion, and warm micro-interactions ensured the experience felt reassuring and premium rather than clinical.
Reimagining the Color Testing Card
01 - Current Market Tool
Existing color testing cards in the market are typically designed for technical accuracy rather than brand expression.
Their clinical appearance makes them difficult to integrate into high-end beauty experiences, often feeling disconnected from luxury brand values.
02 - Reimagining the Color Testing Card
For JOIE, the color card was redesigned as a brand object rather than a diagnostic tool—balancing accuracy with elegance.
Subtle tonal transitions, refined color harmonies, and material-conscious presentation allowed the card to function both as an analytical reference and a premium brand touchpoint.
Reimagining the Color Testing Card
01 - APP — Clarity, Guidance, and Personalization
The APP is designed as a focused decision-support tool that clearly and smoothly guides users through the process of testing their skin tone and identifying suitable lip colors.
The experience emphasizes step-by-step guidance to reduce confusion and cognitive load.
Content is intentionally limited to maintain trust in the color-testing process and results.
Users receive HSV-based skin tone analysis and are shown examples of celebrities with similar skin tones to increase emotional connection and confidence.
Social sharing is encouraged by allowing users to post their results and celebrity skintone match on Instagram, generating organic brand exposure.
Upsell opportunities are introduced only after results are confirmed, guiding users toward recommended lipsticks or kits without disrupting the testing flow.
02 - E-commerce — Understanding, Persuasion, and Conversion
The E-commerce platform is designed to quickly communicate what JOIE Beauty does and why it works.
Users can immediately understand the brand value, the function of the color testing card, and how product kits work.
Rich content such as product introductions, usage explanations, before/after visuals, and social proof supports purchase decisions.
Promotional elements such as bundles, upsell kits, and discounts are clearly presented to increase conversion.
APP - User journey map
E-commerce - User journey map
Joie Beauty E-commerce
Desktop E-commerce - Home page
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JOIE color testing APP
