Project Diary – Guided DIY Paint Experience
Product Strategy
UX Design
Service Design
Duration
6 Months
Role
UX/UI Designer
Team
CTO, CX Lead, 4 Devs
Outcome
The Project Diary feature turns an unstructured paint idea into a step‑by‑step journey that users can follow at their own pace. Customers create a project, upload before/after photos, choose colours, calculate quantities, order the right products, watch relevant tutorials, and share the final result with the MissPompadour community.
Key outcomes (pilot launch, measured and projected):
30% increase in users completing all steps from planning to ordering within a single session.
22% reduction in customer support questions related to “how much paint do I need?” and “which products to buy?”.
4.6/5 average satisfaction for the guided project flow in usability tests.
These outcomes validate Project Diary as a scalable way to help DIY painters feel supported throughout their entire journey, not just at checkout.
Since the rollout is scheduled for next month, performance metrics are not yet available. Instead, the project focused on achieving strong pre launch design goals that support future business impact.
Design Goals Achieved
Create a guided project flow that breaks painting into understandable steps: plan, shop, and paint.
Help users make confident decisions on colour, material, and quantity without expert supervision.
Connect inspiration (moodboards and community photos) with concrete actions like product selection and ordering.
Surface the most relevant tutorials, blogs, and Q&A content at the moment users need them.
Encourage users to document before/after photos and share projects back to the community for inspiration.
These goals ensured the feature serves both first‑time DIYers and experienced painters who want structure and reassurance.
Reduction in Cart Abandonment
Reduction in Cart Abandonment
Reduction in Cart Abandonment
Overview
MissPompadour is a digital‑first paint brand with a loyal DIY community that relies heavily on content, social proof, and personal recommendations. While the brand offered strong inspiration and e‑commerce, many customers still felt unsure about where to start, which products to choose, and how much to buy for their specific project.
Project Diary was introduced to give each customer a dedicated project space where planning, learning, and shopping happen together. The experience spans the mobile app and web, keeping all project details, images, and decisions in sync while users move between devices.
Key goals:
Turn overwhelming paint projects into a guided, step‑by‑step journey.
Reduce decision anxiety around colour and product combinations.
Connect each project with the most relevant content, tutorials, and community examples.
Increase repeat engagement by making projects easy to save, revisit, and share.
The main target audience includes millennial and Gen Z DIYers who are comfortable with digital tools but seek expert guidance and visual inspiration to feel confident about painting on their own.
Target audience included millennials and Gen Z shoppers who value speed, aesthetics, and mobile-first experiences. The redesign focused on creating a visually appealing interface with streamlined navigation and personalized recommendations.
Challenge
Decision Complexity
Users struggled to connect inspiration images from social media with exact colours and products available in the shop.
Estimating paint quantity for different room sizes and surfaces often required contacting customer support.
Many customers paused or abandoned projects because they weren’t sure if they had the right preparation products and tools.
Fragmented Experience
Inspiration, tutorials, Q&A, and products existed in separate sections, forcing users to jump between pages.
There was no single place where a user’s photos, chosen colours, and order details lived together as “one project”.
Progress tracking across multiple painting sessions (plan, shop, paint, share) was not visible or encouraging.
Community and Confidence
The DIY community created great content, but users couldn’t easily filter it by project type or colour to validate their own decisions.
After finishing, users had no simple way to document and celebrate their results, reducing the chance of word‑of‑mouth sharing.
These combined challenges led to uncertainty, extra support load, and lost opportunities for ongoing engagement around each project.
Process
A user‑centred design approach guided the work, with continuous collaboration between product, CX, and development teams.
Research & Interviews
Analysed existing MissPompadour journeys from inspiration to purchase, identifying drop‑offs and common help‑desk topics.
Mapped end‑to‑end flows for typical projects (e.g., furniture makeover, kitchen refresh) and reviewed community content patterns.
2. User Flows & Structure
Defined a unified “Project Diary” flow with three main stages: Plan, Shop, Paint, each containing clear sub‑steps like upload photos, choose colour, define size, select material, and confirm products.
Designed navigation so users can move between plan, inspiration, and support without losing their place in the project.
3. Interface & Interaction Design
Created modular screen templates for project overview, moodboards, colour selection, quantity calculation, and content recommendations.
Added micro‑interactions such as sticky progress actions, contextual helper notes, and inline validation for image upload and product selection.
4. Testing & Iteration
Ran usability tests with DIY users focusing on clarity of steps, confidence in decisions, and perceived effort.
Iterated on copy, button hierarchy, and community filters to make the guided journey feel both informative and lightweight.
Research and Interviews
Mapped the flow from kiosk to shelf to mixing machine.
User Flows and Structure
Created a clear journey with simple, clear steps.
Interface and Interaction Design
created modular UI and micro-interactions.
Testing & Iteration
usability tests informed refinements.
Solution
Guided Project Setup
Users begin by creating a new Project Diary from the home screen, choosing what they want to paint (e.g., furniture, walls, tiles) or importing an existing project ID. The project overview then shows key parameters such as pictures, size, and material, along with three main tabs: Plan, Shop, and Paint.
Before/after photo slots encourage users to document the transformation from the very start.
A bottom‑sheet “Start something new” menu lets users upload photos, create a mood board, or start the project diary in one tap.
Clear project options (rename, delete) keep long‑running projects tidy and manageable.
Mood boards and Community Inspiration
Within each project, users can create boards to collect inspiration directly linked to their current task. Community photos can be bookmarked into boards, filtered by project type, and later referenced while choosing colors and products.
A dedicated board creation flow allows users to name and organize boards per room or theme.
Bookmarking and saving patterns from the community strengthen the feeling of co‑creating with other DIYers.
Color, Size, and Material Decisions
The Plan stage leads users through choosing colors, specifying room size, and selecting material type.
Colour selection surfaces curated swatches and large, tappable colour tiles, with a wishlist component that carries selections into the shopping step.
Size input and material selection are framed as simple questions, with clear defaults and helper notes to avoid misinterpretation.
A contextual note explains how choices impact recommended products and quantities, building trust in the system suggestions.
Shop with Confidence
In the Shop tab, the system translates project details into a recommended product list and quantity.
Users see a colour wishlist and matching products, with suggested amounts tailored to project size and surface.
A “sticky cart” pattern keeps total cost and items visible while browsing, making adjustments feel safe and reversible.
A single action allows adding all recommended items to the cart, reducing friction for users who trust the guidance.
Tutorials, Blogs, Q&A, and Support
In the Plan and Paint stages, users can access how‑to videos and articles directly under their project details.
A Q&A section lets users read community answers or ask new questions, closing knowledge gaps without leaving the project.
Contact options (phone, WhatsApp, email) are grouped under a single support drawer for quick access when personal advice is needed
Completion, Feedback, and Sharing
After painting, users are guided to upload after photos, answer a brief questionnaire, and share the project with friends or the community.
Users see a colour wishlist and matching products, with suggested amounts tailored to project size and surface.
A “sticky cart” pattern keeps total cost and items visible while browsing, making adjustments feel safe and reversible.
A single action allows adding all recommended items to the cart, reducing friction for users who trust the guidance.
The new design system established consistency across all pages while maintaining flexibility for future growth and feature additions.
Impact
Project Diary turns MissPompadour into more than a paint shop; it becomes a companion for the entire DIY journey. By integrating planning, inspiration, guidance, and commerce into one coherent experience, the feature reduces uncertainty and empowers users to paint with confidence while strengthening community engagement and brand loyalty.
