Into the Gloss is the pioneering beauty blog that served as the foundation of the renowned beauty and makeup brand Glossier. They interview the leading experts and trend setters in the beauty and skincare industry, and create authentic editorial content for their readers.
With this project, we set out to reimagine the platform’s visual identity and user experience.
Glossier’s flagship blog Into the Gloss has remained stagnant in terms of architecture and layout since its inception.
In 2022, we wanted to give it a makeover to regenerate enthusiasm amongst the ITG community, support Glossier and match the demands of today’s digital audience.
I worked alongside an Experience Strategist during the research and strategy phase, followed by wireframes, and I undertook and led the visual design of the new experience.
We started by auditing the current experience, putting ourselves in the shoes of the user to understand where the current experience and interface falls short on the most fundamental level.
catalogued across the editorial website
identified across different subjects, themes, and topics
Readers are frustrated when trying to find subjects and articles they are looking for due to the vague and unclear categorization of articles. They expect to have a more comprehensive navigational experience that can support both broad and very specific searches.
Readers get bored midway while reading the articles as they are primarily textual irrespective of the content. Readers expect visually diverse hierarchy and layout appropriate to the type and nature of the content.
Readers are left confused by the inconsistency of the navigational and narrative experiences across desktop and mobile. While it is harder to find and read content on mobile, the desktop website doesn’t allow readers to log in, connect to Glossier, or save interesting articles.
This analysis involved understanding what was successful for these competitors, and pitfalls to avoid in order to identify the white space for Into the Gloss.
audited, including both direct and indirect competitors
Having limited sources to conduct audience analysis, we started our research by understanding the key demographic groups of our target audience to see if we could spot any initial patterns or insights.
Not surprisingly, the two main target demographics were found to be Millenials and Gen-Z. It was important to understand the thinking, goals, and behaviors of these two distinct audience groups to understand what readers were expecting from Into the Gloss.
The demographic research was followed by a deep dive into audience sentiment on various social media platforms – to gain direct insights into what the readers were excited by, wanted to see more of, and were dissatisfied by when it came to Into the Gloss.
Readers cared about finding the right skincare routines and products, and are left dissatisfied when they are not getting expert advice on wellness they seek
Readers are disappointed at the lack of relatable and unsponsored/unfiltered content that Into the Gloss promises due to infrequent posts and limited variety in opinions and subjects
Readers are frustrated about the dying comment section as they value community opinions and reviews when making beauty choices and decisions
Based on the findings from the demographic research and social media sentiments, we were able to classify the readers into three user groups, identifying the goals, triggers, challenges, and opportunities for each.
Subsequently, we created user personas and mapped out their journey through the experience to uncover specific points of friction for each user type that needed to be resolved.
When we started conceptualizing the new ITG experience, the key discovery came from looking at the initial days of ITG and Glossier: key instances where the brand had experienced success by using the blog as a crowdsourcing medium to empower the community to influence the development of Glossier products.
The research helped outline the white space for Into the Gloss based on three pillars – Discoverability, Engagement, and User Loyalty, each a key step in the user’s journey from their point of entry to the promise of return.
This discovery encouraged us to reframe the initial project goals, highlighting the brand focus on wellness with their ideology of Skin First. Makeup Second, to unify and integrate the blog and Glossier on a much more deeper level than simple pathing and CTAs, creating a unique experience and setting Into the Gloss apart from any generic beauty and wellness blog.
The process started by developing wireframe sketches to lay a solid foundation for what the vision would mean in a tangible and practical product, figuring out how the components and modules would interact and follow one another to create a seamless user flow.
We created a component-based design system laying the groundwork for a simple but scalable user experience, that is engaging, immersive and complete.
I designed the high-fidelity pages by integrating the User Experience Strategy and new UI Creative Direction to create a flexible and dynamic modular system, particularly focusing on executing and designing 6 key aspects.
I designed working prototype in Figma for desktop and mobile to visualize every stage and interaction from start to end of the user journey and experience.
Refreshing and supplementing the existing visual identity of sleek sans-serif and predominantly black and white palette, I incorporated the iconic Glossier pink as well introduced a delicate font and bright pastel pink for a youthful, yet sophisticated look and feel, as well as capturing the essence of beauty and wellness.
I also created a suite of elegant silhouetted stroke icons as well as bespoke icons for each subject category to fit the modern and elegant visual design.
