Flexy Mobile App
I researched, designed and optimized key touchpoints in Flexy’s onboarding flow. I conducted rapid iteration cycles, refining the experience to make sign-ups smoother and engagement stronger. I worked closely with research and built wireframes and mock-ups based off information.
Role
Designer & Front End
Duration
Aug - Nov 2024
Platform
Mobile & Web
Collaborators
Context
Flexy is a conceptual beauty treatment booking platform designed to streamline appointment scheduling for salons and clients.
Through research and iterative design, I led efforts to improve the user experience, focusing on reducing booking friction, enhancing provider-client communication, and increasing appointment completion rates.
My Role
I was the lead designer and researcher on the team. My team also had two business majors.
Defining the problem & MVP
Problem Statement
Booking salon appointments is frustrating, especially during peak hours or when choosing a specific technician.
Many booking systems lack real-time availability and send unclear or missed notifications, leading to confusion and wasted time.
Users need a smoother booking process, better communication, and real-time updates to improve their experience.
"Booking an appointment shouldn’t feel like a part-time job. I hate calling salons just to be told they’re fully booked"
- Customer
"It’s frustrating when clients don’t show up, especially when I could’ve given that spot to someone else"
- Barber
Competitor Analysis
I studied competitor platforms and their limitations. Many existing tools focused on either appointment booking or reminders but rarely provided both in a seamless way. Some solutions were overly complicated, making them unappealing for smaller salons that needed simple yet effective tools. This led to a lot of businesses booking solely on phone numbers.
Key features for the MVP
Researching our target users and competitors highlighted a gap in the market for booking booking treatments. This analysis enabled us to construct a blueprint of the Flexy app focused on providing a centralised location for beauty services and convenient booking.
- Mobile Interface: Most users prefer booking via mobile.
- Calendar with notifications: Many clients miss appointments due to lack of reminders.
- Pre-pay system: Owners struggle with last-minute cancellations, impacting revenue.
- Time-slots and messaging: Clients often rely on Instagram DMs or texts instead of official booking apps especially for more specialised services.
User Research & Insights
Discovery
To uncover common pain points during booking a beauty treatment service, I conducted 20 user interviews with classmates, alongside a survey receiving 50 responses.
The key insights were
- Most people don't cancel appointments because it is not simple enough and 30% of users will just skip their appointment without notice
- 90% of users rely on multiple apps (Google Calendar, email, and messaging platforms) to keep track of appointments manually.
- Clarity with business to customer is important with 70% of people for clear communications
- Users often face challenges in finding open slots, especially during peak hours and when preferring specific technicians.
Significance
No-shows (30%) happen because canceling is too hard →
Add one-tap cancellation and automated reminders.
90% manually track bookings →
Integrate Google/Apple Calendar sync and push notifications.
70% need clearer communication →
Implement real-time confirmations and automated updates.
Finding slots is frustrating →
Show real-time availability and offer a waitlist feature.
I utilised the interview questions and produced an affinity map, feature prioritization matrix and user-persona. The information architecture was produced by my teammates.
Testing & User feedback
Initial Prototypes
Due to time constraints, I began the design phase with a rough lo-fi sketch then moved fast digitally. These initial prototypes provided a visual example to gather user feedback on and also served as a starting point for testing and iteration.
Key design choices:
- A home page that display preferred services based off distance and rating. They also included specificity tags, price and stars to indicate rating
- A navigation page that displayed all the nearby services within a certain radius based off input address
- A chatting page that displayed common chat features include voice and video call.
- An appointments page that displayed all upcoming and past events which have a 'Remind me' feature
Rough sketch based off functions
First digital wireframe
Second digital wireframe
Improvements Based on Feedback
Running user tests and examining the early prototypes sparked productive discussions within the team, which helped us to identify pain points and determine our desired visual direction.
- Users preferred when the home page is less cluttered
- Users expect the map to be accessible via the bottom navigation bar.
- Too many options in the footer leading to confusion
- Footer icons are too thick
- The specificity buttons are distracting and take away from the experience
Last wireframe and mock-up
Outcomes & Future Improvements
Impact Metrics
After displaying the mock-up to 20 students, 75% of them could see this helping their life and providing a meaningful service.
Final Takeaways
- We designed Flexy with users in mind, making sure booking feels smooth and easy. People don’t want to deal with complicated systems—they just want to book an appointment without hassle. Real-time updates and reminders help avoid confusion and build trust between clients and providers.
- Flexibility and automation were huge in solving common booking issues. One-tap cancellations and automated reminders made things easier for both clients and businesses, cutting down no-shows. Providers still need control over their schedules, but clients also want the freedom to reschedule easily, so finding the right balance was important.
- Testing and feedback played a big role in improving Flexy. Listening to real users helped us refine appointment handling, financial tracking, and the overall experience. Moving forward, we’ll focus on making Flexy even more personalized, adding better tools for providers, and making sure it works seamlessly across different platforms
Adam Dao © 2025
