Product design
Product strategy
Customer experience
SHAPING ESPRUCE’S STRATEGY AND USER EXPERIENCE TO REIMAGINE HOW MODERN SALONS CONNECT.
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Overview
I launch a salon-tech platform that could scale. From early-stage discovery to market launch, our role went beyond design; we co-built the product vision, experience strategy, and behavioural interventions that shaped Espruce into a differentiated, desirable service.
0-1 startup journey, from idea conception to MVP execution and reaching 50+ salons and 100+ customers in two metro cities across India. This included branding, product design/UX, Business Strategy, and end-to-end service design. A hustle that lasted two year with a decade worth of learning, while collaborating with other startups, business individuals, and diverse teams.
Positioning that fuels passion
A position at the intersection of culture, creativity, and community, built specifically for the Gen Z audience that craves individuality and rejects outdated beauty norms. By leveraging real-time trends and spotlighting emerging aesthetics, the platform becomes more than just a utility; it becomes a source of inspiration. Central to its strategy is a disruptive reorientation of the beauty ecosystem: instead of sidelining stylists under salon brands, Espruce brings them to the forefront, acknowledging them as the true drivers of client loyalty and style innovation. This collaborative model not only empowers the stylist community but also fuels organic growth through mutual advocacy. With a brand identity that is young, fluid, and unafraid to challenge tradition, Espruce redefines what it means to engage with beauty in a digital age, turning every look into a statement and every user into a trendsetter.
espruce
63% of Gen Z prefers brands that help them explore and experiment with their identity. Espruce is not here to keep up, we’re here to set the tone.
espruce.
Confidence in motion
We crafted an identity that is unapologetically bold. It’s for the ones who color outside the lines, who match neon nails with dopamine dressing, and treat every selfie as a statement. Our brand is young, free-spirited, and refuses to conform.
Definiting trends
In a culture shaped by TikTok and fast-changing aesthetics, Espruce helps users stay ahead by surfacing trending looks and styles. With 63% of Gen Z seeking brands that fuel self-expression (WGSN, 2023), Espruce isn’t chasing trends—it’s setting them.
Focus on Gen Z
Espruce is built for Gen Z—a generation that creates trends, values individuality, and demands authenticity. With 40% of global consumers now Gen Z (McKinsey, 2022), Espruce offers a beauty experience that’s social, personal, and unapologetically bold.
Stylists first: Always
People follow stylists, not salons. Espruce brings stylists to the forefront, giving them visibility, independence, and loyal audiences. They’re not just partners—they’re the platform’s power. When they win, we grow.
espruce@2023
Brand identity video
Industry and behavioural insights
The research nurtured a crisp direction and a set of insights that could be followed through for the rest of the project. We validated our findings and worked towards crafting a brand that represents that.
$10.55 B
Indian beauty and salon industry size
8.6%
CAGR
Influencer-Driven Discovery: YouTube, Instagram, and Pinterest are primary sources of beauty trend inspiration
Increased Grooming Frequency: Men and women now visit salons ~2.5–3x/month
Rise of Personalization: Consumers seek curated grooming routines, skin diagnostics, and personalized hair regimes
Hair Dominates Spend: 80% of salons are hair-focused, generating 63%+ of revenues
Design, architecture, and UX
Our key insights helped us shape the design and architecture of our platform. We designed key features and offering while keeping in mind the users loyalty to stylists, trend following culture in the industry, and a need for trust while trying out new services.
Our insights reflect in the anatomy of our app's information hierarchy and features.
Search as the backbone of navigation
Categories that reprsent the consumer's mental model
We crafter clear categories (Salons, Stylists, and looks) which allowed users to navigate through the platform.
Quick service filter for effective search
Salons service requires less browsing, our research revealed that customers often already know the service they want to avail even before they open the app, so we focused on making it easier for them to navigate to that service and evaluate their options.
Booking access at fingertips
Our key feature was booking appointments with the salons and stylists and we wanted to users to manage their bookings in just one click rather than having to find it deep hidden in the menu.
Advertising space for new offers and services
Location that confirms your current address and provides recall value in new locations
We speak to our customers
We ran multiple controlled sessions with our users to study the usability and the behavior pattern on of customer.
24/32
Preferred the option of booking the stylist for a home visit
32/32
Majority of our users unanimously admitted that having review system helps increasing trust in the salons
06/32
Preferred waiting in the salon itself instead of pre booking their appointments
18/32
Found the appointment booking facility helpful for their daily use
25/32
People preferred having the option to book stylists
28/32
Loved the idea of being able to track their stylists availability
Looking back, it feels less like building a startup and more like walking a path that was shaping me as much as I was shaping it. Every day carried its own set of challenges, sometimes small and sometimes overwhelming, but each one taught me something deeper about work, myself, and others.
I learned that leadership is not about telling people what to do but about holding space for them, listening, and creating an environment where their best work can come forward naturally. Resilience came in moments when things did not go as planned, and instead of giving in to frustration, I had to remind myself to trust the process and to see setbacks as part of a larger unfolding.
Working with other teams taught me humility and patience because collaboration is not about winning arguments but about weaving different energies together into something stronger than any one of us could create alone.
It's like Swami Vivekananda said..
"You have to pay as much attention to the means as to the end. That's the only way to work."
Founder
Product design
User research
Shivansh.
Shivansh Verma 2025