YUKI PAN
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Fresh Ink:
Shedding light on the tattoo process



OPPORTUNITY

How do people who have never been tattooed make informed decisions about their first tattoo?


For people with no experience, there are not always information sources available for research before getting a tattoo. Traditionally people walk directly into tattoo shops with limited information except to find out on the spot. Combined with a culture of prejudice and misogyny in the industry, it is not uncommon for people getting their first tattoo to end up with unpleasant, negative experiences that are dismissed as the industry norm.
Timeline
8 weeks

Scope
Information architecture, user research, wireframe design


    SOLUTION

    An information site detailing the process of getting a tattoo, key considerations, and ways to find tattoo artists that value inclusivity and artistry hand-in-hand.


    Using education and information to empower new and returning users, reduce anxiety and foster positive experiences by championing transparency and community.

    DISCOVERY

    Where do you find tattoo artists to talk with?


    Just show up! I interviewed tattoo artists, clients and even a tattoo model by just walking into shops and asking for a quick chat. For a bigger picture, I also reviewed existing tattoo studio sites, existing directories and google reviews.



    key insights
    • Existing sites extensively focus on inventorying styles and subjects, but interviewees did not consider this an accurate reflection of how clients match themselves to artists.
    • Emphasis on relationships between clients and artists
    • Profile ratings are always overwhelmingly positive
    • Price was not a reflection of quality: more important for clients to work with artists to produce outcomes they want within their individual budgets
    • Piercings were a common alternative for 'affordable' body modification 

    These outcomes guided the design of the domain model, highlighting key entities and important relationships that the information architecture sought to showcase.



    OPEN CARD SORT

    Understanding mental models towards tattooing for people with no tattoo experience


    An open card sort was conducted to understand how people organise information related to the process of getting tattoos. Participants were invited to come up with their own categories, with only 1 category 'don't recognise' provided for users to place cards they did not understand.
     design
    • 20 cards containing common terms about tattoos.
    • Fully remote, using UXTweak
    • Only users who have never been tattooed, or only tattooed 1-2 times.


    insights
    • Rare occurrences of 'negative' categories for card items containing potential adverse or undesirable side effects; I used the same approach when designing the site map for placing pages and information about these side effects.
    • People mainly sorted information according to unspecific information, artist-specific information, and studio-specific information categories; this insight into users mental mode showed the highest level of object-oriented UX approach which was reflected in both the domain model as high level entities, informing the rest of the information architecture throughout.







    TREE TEST

    Testing and validing improvements to site structure


    2 tree tests were conducted, both remotely, to test and then validate improvements to site structure. 
     design
    • 10 participants
    • Remote, using UXtweak
    • No restrictions on tattoo experience; general public with interest in tattoos were invited

     outcomes
    • More explicit and informative labels
    • Site structure revised with greater breadth
    • Shift to an Object-Oriented UX approach; pages in 'Process Guides' categories were rearranged to only contain pages directly related to the actual tattooing process. Guides about 'Designing and placing a tattoo', and 'Choosing an artist or studio' were moved to 'Inspiration' and 'Artists and studios' respectively.
    • Observation of an alternate user flow where tattoo appointment preparations are associated after having chosen a tattoo artist; sitemap changes were made to accommodate this interlink.

    SITE MAPWith a primarily linear hierarchical structure that switches to a database for particularly information-dense pages, the site utilises a relatively broad structure with limited depth. This was an active design choice as the target group of users new to the tattoo domain may not understand to navigate deep structures.




    EVALUATION

    Organising user feedback on foundational layouts


    An efficient and agile evaluation technique allowed for user-feedback on the basic, most important components before greater time on developing a comprehensive prototype.




     design
    • 3 participants
    • 10 second impression test for each wireframe
    • Scavenger hunt type tasks to evaluate navigation structure

    insights
    • Some elements not as useful for navigation as previously believed.
    • Some friction was observed when users read the artist profile; participants impulsively scanned other parts of the page when looking for contact information.



    REFLECTION

    Narrow early reseach scope might have limited discovery for informing later stage design decisions

    While the decision to include only 'new' tattoo users in the open card sort was well-grounded at the time of UXR design, given the target audience, actually including familiar tattoo users but documenting this information separately could have been helpful to find a broader set of terms for categorisation, informing the design throughout all stages of design.