The Beauty Assistant

The reservation system of the beauty industry

Overview

During the pandemic, many industries accelerated their digital transformation. Small beauty studios also needed to adapt to this trend.

Today, more and more independent businesses in hair, nail, and eyelash services are emerging.

To manage customer relationships and operate more efficiently, these business owners need a reliable management system.

We identified this need and aimed to create a booking system integrated with LINE, helping beauty studio owners simplify their workflow and solve their daily challenges.

A system for digital transformation
in the beauty industry

Establish a mutually beneficial partnership with the hair salon

Competitor Research

SWOT

Strength

The system is built with a modular approach, allowing flexibility and customization based on business needs.
The team includes experienced developers who can support stable and scalable product development.

Weakness

The design team has limited resources.
While the engineering team is strong, additional support is needed for user experience improvement and product iteration.

Opportunity

The system can be extended to other industries, such as clinics and restaurants, which also require customer management, booking systems, and inventory management.
The service pricing model is flexible and can be adjusted based on different business needs.

Threats

There are already several well-established competitors in the beauty industry with mature backend systems.
Entering this competitive market presents significant challenges.

User Research Result

We interviewed three beauty studios. Each business had different ways of managing bookings, orders, and customer data.

From these interviews, we documented the current workflows of two studios and identified a set of shared needs. These insights guided our feature planning for future development.

Booking Management

Integration with external platforms is highly important, with LINE Official Account (LINE@) as the preferred channel.
Ability to create staff (designer) profiles and assign them during booking.
Display different service durations based on the selected service.

Customer Management

Add VIP tags to identify high-value customers.
Search customers using a unique customer ID.
Filter customers by gender.
Identify Top 20 customers by revenue.
Show customers with birthdays in the current and upcoming month.

Order Management

Display order status, with a focus on “Completed” orders.
Show payment amount and payment method.
Provide flexible search options, including calendar view and yearly filters.
Allow filtering by service category.

Pain Points from Research

Lack of Customer Management Tools

There is no centralized system to manage customer data and profiles.

Limited Revenue Tracking

Business owners cannot easily compare revenue with the same period from the previous year.

Inefficient Order Calculation

Orders often involve complex calculations, such as designer commissions, product discounts, and bundled services.

Persona

Lina

女 | 35 歲 | 美髮設計師 | 已婚

Pain Point

“Running a solo studio means handling everything by myself. It’s exhausting…”
“No matter how I calculate, I always end up missing a few hundred dollars.”
“Customers sometimes don’t show up, and I lose that time slot completely.”

Behavior

Recruits designers or rents out space through social media and job platforms.
Launches promotions such as prepaid packages and product discounts.
Uses LINE Official Account (LINE@) to manage customer communication.
Tracks business data using Google Sheets and Google Calendar.
Manages social media (Facebook, Instagram, Google Maps), though updates are not consistent.

Current Situation

Lina is an experienced hairstylist who runs her own studio.
She is committed to providing high-quality service and personalized care.
As a solo business owner, she handles everything—from cleaning and accounting to customer service and marketing.
Her business focuses on repeat customers and operates mainly on an appointment-only basis.

Perspective

She needs tools that allow quick editing and updates during fragmented time.
After initial setup, the system should enable efficient reuse and customization.
Customer profiles should include notes (topics, recent updates), service history, and purchase records—all in one place.
She wants to view upcoming appointments through a calendar and send reminders via LINE.
She needs to filter customers by different criteria (e.g., birthdays, special occasions) and send targeted messages.
She expects automatic calculation and analysis of revenue (daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, yearly) to better understand her financial performance.

Goal

Create a comprehensive system that helps small studio owners efficiently manage bookings, orders, operations, and inventory—even during busy hours—so they can improve overall productivity.

Main Functions

Customer Data Tracking

Before each appointment, business owners can review customer history and preferences to better understand their needs and deliver personalized services.

Integrated Payment & Settlement

Order reports are calculated in real time, eliminating the need for manual calculations and reducing errors.

The system supports multiple payment methods, and allows flexible setup for discounts, fees, and commissions.

LINE Booking Integration

Over 80% of customers prefer booking through LINE.
Our system integrates with LINE Official Account, allowing businesses to receive bookings anytime—even during busy hours or days off.

Inventory Management

Products are organized into clear categories, with smart reminders for low stock and expiring items.
This helps turn inventory into profit more effectively.

Site Map

UI Design

Booking & Schedule Overview

A timeline layout clearly shows each appointment’s duration, making it easier to manage time and avoid scheduling conflicts.

Personalized Customer Service

Access complete customer profiles, including basic information, service history, and tagged notes.
This helps business owners quickly understand each customer and deliver more personalized experiences.

Real-time Daily Settlement

Automatically calculate daily orders and generate reports in real time.
No more manual calculations or paperwork—closing accounts becomes faster and more accurate.

Smart Inventory Alerts

Organize inventory with clear categories and receive smart alerts for low stock and expiring items.
This helps optimize inventory turnover and increase profitability.
Stay updated with trending and popular products, even during busy schedules.

Takeaway

Through this project, I had my first experience designing a backend system.During the process, I continuously put myself in the user’s perspective and considered different real-life scenarios.

For example, users may want to check customer details while viewing an order, or quickly see the total amount right after completing a service. These small but important details became key considerations in the design.

This experience gave me a foundational understanding of CRM and backend system design. I hope to further deepen my expertise in this area in the future.