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UX of Hair

By: Kye Li Chia, Akriti Goel, Hong Zhou, Rebecca Hodge, Sushil Suresh


Background


Brief:
Design a way to intensify how we experience human hair.

Research Method(s):
Bodystorming, Directed Storytelling


Research


Directed Storytelling:
To explore ways to intensify the way we experience human hair, we conducted a directed storytelling session which involved a few general questions about participants' experiences with hair: 

  1. Tell me a story about a time when you had an interesting experience with your body or head hair.
  2. Tell me a story about a time when someone made a good or bad comment about your body or head hair.
  3. Tell me a story about a time when your gender or sexuality affected the way you experience or express your body or head hair.

Directed storytelling interviews. (These clips were recorded with participants' consent.)
From our directed storytelling, we encountered topics about expression through hair, self-consciousness surrounding body hair, judgment in the workplace and hair loss.

Bodystorming:
We conducted bodystorming exercises exploring various hair-related scenarios, such as a teenage girl noticing her body hair, individuals being remarked upon for their body hair, balding individual in a social situation, and a hair color change following a holiday near the equator.

Bodystorming session of a balding individual in a social situation.

Based on the bodystorming exercise, we observed that participants expressed increased discomfort and feelings of shame when unfavorable comments about hair, such as the mention of "unwanted" body hair or balding, were highlighted.


Research Analysis


From our research methods, we found a pattern where hair loss occurred quite commonly. This shows that it plays a much bigger part in our daily lives and is an experience shared by many, even though it isn’t talked about openly. For these reasons, we decided to follow this into our conceptual ideas.

Analysing and finding connections between the information extracted from our directed storytelling interviews.


Research


Directed Storytelling:
To dive deeper into the topic of hair loss, we conducted a second directed storytelling session focused on more specific inquiries related to their experiences with hair loss:

  1. Do you have any experience with hair loss that you would be willing to talk to us about?
  2. Tell me a story about the hair loss you have experienced.
  3. How did this make you feel?
  4. Are there times you feel more conscious of this?
  5. What was your initial response?
  6. How did you go from there?
  7. How do you feel about it now?
  8. Do you think anything could make you feel more comfortable about this/What did make you feel more comfortable with this?

Second directed storytelling interviews. (These clips were recorded with participants' consent.)

The transcripts of the 14 directed storytelling interviews.


Research Analysis


We mapped out the responses from our directed storytelling sessions according to different themes. The major themes that emerged are self-acceptance and empowerment through speaking to others in a similar situation.

Categorising data according to themes. The strongest themes are the rows highlighted.


Ideation


We brainstormed ways to empower participants in overcoming hair loss through self-acceptance and connecting with others in similar situations. After analysing and discussing various design ideas, we chose the concept of postcards featuring handwritten messages and imagery from individuals who have experienced hair loss.

Brainstorming ideas and selecting the most appropriate ones to run through our participants.


User Testing


We embraced the concept of co-creative practice, involving individuals with lived experiences in the design process. Engaging with our participants, we sought their opinions and feedback to ensure our ideas were suitable for those who had experienced hair loss. We conducted tests for two versions of the experience: an in-person physical interaction and an online anonymous interaction.

  1. Physical exchange of handwritten letters within a small group:

Physical exchange of handwritten letters within a small group. 

2. Anonymous digital sharing among our participants:

Love and breakup letter voice recordings of participants for the anonymous digital sharing.

Anonymous digital sharing feedback from participants.


Design Process


In our final prototype, we integrated the tactile aspect of handwritten letters, the rawness of voice notes, and the anonymity of the digital experience. To add authenticity, we gathered love and breakup letters penned by individuals who have undergone hair loss, aiming to foster a sense of community and support through our postcard design featuring these personal notes.

Love and breakup letters from our participants.


Final Outcome

Physical Postcard:

Exchange of physical postcards.
Physical postcard. A voice recording of the letter is attached to the QR code.

Voice recording of breakup letter.

Digital Postcard:

Digital postcard. A voice recording of the letter is attached to the QR code. 

Voice recording of love letter.


Bibliography


Koksal, O. (2021) The cultural significance of hair, CREAM. Available at: https://cream.ac.uk/the-cultural-significance-of-hair/ (Accessed: October 27, 2022).

(2019) Hair Love. YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNw8V_Fkw28&ab_channel=SonyPicturesAnimation (Accessed: October 27, 2022).

Jalil, S. (2020) How to run a productive bodystorming session?, Telstra Purple. Telstra. Available at: https://purple.telstra.com/blog/think-with-your-body---how-to-run-a-productive-bodystorming-sess (Accessed: October 30, 2022).