Just Acne
A new approach to all-inclusive skincare solutions.
The Challenge
The subscription skincare space is incredibly saturated with promises of personalized all-in-one solutions.
A Los Angeles dermatologist wanted to launch a new subscription-model dermatology service, Just Acne, offering true medical expertise to adults struggling with skincare.
How might we differentiate Just Acne in a highly saturated competitive market and offer a unique value proposition to their target audience?
My Role & Responsibilities
Design Strategy
Competitive Research
Brand Identity Design
The Process
Competitive Analysis
Customer Journey Mapping
Logo Development
THE PROCESS
Through competition research, we quickly realized that one-size-never-really-fits-all.
Just Acne’s key competitors, including Curology, Rory, Hers, and Apostrophe, all tout highly customized solutions designed for your skin.
The reality: their solutions are only temporarily effective for 30% of the population. The shared features between these key competitors are:
Self-diagnosis through a brief online questionnaire
Upload photos of your skin
Offer a “one-size fits-all” topical cream solution with the ingredients adjusted slightly
Emphasis on ingredients in their product or the product itself as the end-all-solution
We identified a shared customer pain point: acne isn’t something you can fix on your own.
Although challenges with acne may affect everyone, from infants to senior adults, we focused on the following demographic since the competition was highly targeted towards teenage acne solutions.
TARGET AUDIENCE
Adult working professionals with expendable income
Women in their 30s / 40s
Parents on behalf of teenage children
SHARED PAIN POINTS
Frustration with trying too many over-the-counter acne products
Wasting money on ineffective solutions)
Inability to get an in-person appointment with a registered dermatology professional
Lack of clear education and expectations on what to expect when it comes to long-term results
After synthesizing our competitive research, we identified 3 differentiating opportunities in the space to deliver on a unique value proposition.
These became our guiding principles and brand values as we developed the visual identity for Just Acne, and ultimately the customer experience.
Education.
Ongoing educational support before, during, and after the prescriptionAll-inclusive solutions.
Whether it’s topical or oral prescription, Just Acne provides adjustable solutions based on a variety of personal factors, including age, gender, skin type, hormones, and more.Partnership.
Access to a medical professional is a proactive and continuous relationship that evolves over time.
I facilitated a “Voice of the Customer” workshop with key stakeholders
We mapped the current expectation of the customer journey, highlighting key moments of the journey to deliver on our brand values.
Initial draft of customer journey map
I conducted an in-depth competitive analysis to identify the strengths and weaknesses were of each competitor.
We mapped the visual identity of each direct competitor, documenting color usage, voice & tone, and brand imagery.
In-progress: Visual Competitive Analysis
Understanding the customer, the competitive space, and unique journey touch points gave us a solid foundation to begin developing the Just Acne visual identity.
THE SOLUTION
A brand identity that imitates the feeling of visiting your favorite doctor.
I generated 3 distinct visual concepts to carry throughout the customer brand experience.
These cased on the competitive analysis, market opportunities, and key differentiators, we landed on a hybrid of Concept 1 + 3 to anchor the visual identity of Just acne.
During one of our weekly strategy sessions, I had a conversation with the client about the company name.
Me: “During our kickoff call, you had mentioned the possibility of extending the Just Acne brand into other areas of dermatology.”
Dr. S: “Yes, we eventually want to offer medical expertise to customers struggling with rosacea, eczema, hair loss, to name a few.”
Me: “So eventually the name “Just Acne” would evolve to include ‘Just Rosacea, Just Eczema, etc.’?”
Dr. S: “Exactly. We chose ‘just’ to communicate that we are an ethical and honest solution to skincare and it’s easy to work with us.”
Since ‘just’ would eventually scale into a parent brand of multiple entities, the logo design needed the ability to evolve over time.
Snapshot of initial logo exploration
After considering multiple options, we landed on a simplified abstract mark, paired with a unique typeface, to launch the Just Acne brand.
Final logo concept
Once we established the visual identity and style guide for Just Acne, we moved into the next phase of the design process: the UX/UI for a personalized customer dashboard.
Want to learn more about this project?
Contact me at lucy@darbydesignco.com to schedule a conversation.