Estee Lauder
Estee Lauder is a prestige makeup brand. As such, it has a significant opportunity to make the beauty industry more accessible. Estee Lauder hosted an accessibility hackathon to find creative and accessible solutions for people with disabilities.
Role: UX Researcher and Designer
Duration: 6 weeks
Contribution: I conducted several interviews with people with disabilities, then suggested that we create a more accessible version of Estee Lauder’s website within the website. I designed the tutorial page and the initial mission page.
Platform: Mobile Responsive Website
Team size: 5
Team Members: 3 UX Designers, 2 Web Developers
We sought to maintain the established brand, while tailoring it to our audience’s needs.
Because Estee Lauder is so established, we felt that they would be more likely and willing to adopt something that fit within what they were already doing.
“I don’t always know which products I’ll be able to use.”
We interviewed 10 people with disabilities. They told us about all kinds of products that were difficult to use - from round containers that were difficult to grip and unscrew, to less pigmented products which required repetitive motions, to glass containers which broke when dropped.
“I know a product will work for me when I see someone with a disability using it.”
Word has spread that competitors have “accidentally accessible” products.
Brands like Fenty, Haus Labs, and Rare Beauty are making "accidentally accessible products," or products that were not necessarily designed for people with disabilities, but happen to work well. This is an opportunity for Estee Lauder to show which of its products are accessible and to make shopping easier for people with disabilities.
This is an opportunity for Estee Lauder to identify and advertise its own accidentally accessible products.
How might we make it so that users do not need to comb through the website to find products that are accessible?
Create a collection of accessible products.
Offer tutorials by people with disabilities, for people with disabilities.
Create icons indicating which products are friendly for which needs.
1. Collection of Accessible Products
We created a section of Estee Lauder's website for their most accessible products. This section was designed to be more accessible than the rest of the website, but we wanted to keep the look and feel of Estee Lauder's brand.
2. Tutorials
Because users bought products when they saw others using them, we created a tutorials section. The products used in the video are listed next to the video, so there is no need to browse the site to find the items.
Suggesting items used in the tutorial
We researched how Amazon and Google grouped similar items and suggested products alongside tutorials.
3. Icons
Icons next to product names indicate which products are accessible for which disabilities.
We believe this will make it easier to find and shop for makeup and skincare products which will work for them. We believe this is a step towards inclusivity.
