A Creative Hair Streaking Solution
Doris Dev was approached by the innovative team at Hally Hair to design their latest creation - the Shade Stix. Hally Hair was founded by Kathryn Winokur with a mission to empower individuals to confidently experiment with and express themselves through hair color.
The Shade Stix project aimed to go beyond the product's utility and create a memorable, truly unique Hally Hair experience. The team envisioned a hair streaking product that would allow children and teenagers to easily apply temporary color to select sections of their hair.
Hally Hair I Shade Stix
Services Rendered
Industrial Design
ID Foundation
User Research Sparks a Hair Color Revolution
Doris Dev faced the challenge of creating Hally's inaugural physical product while defining the brand's physical language by expanding on the graphic language. Extensive user research revealed that many temporary hair color products feel unpleasant and can ruin a carefully styled hairdo. Furthermore, these products are typically limited to specific hair types and are applied via spray, powder, or pen. Most importantly, they often lack a crucial step in the process - evenly distributing the product once applied to the hair.
Design Development
Designing a Playful and
Practical Solution
The physical design of Hally's new product was intended to be playful, experimental, and memorable, with an emphasis on easy use. The Hally font family's "l" inspired the soft curves on the top and bottom of the container, capturing the contrast between playful curvatures and linear transitions. The product also had to be able to stand alone on a shelf.
During the Industrial Design development process, a new category of "Hair Makeup" was created that had to feel natural and not mess up one's hair.
To achieve a mess-free, even distribution with intuitive application, user-testing was conducted with kids, teenagers, and their parents. The wand performed best during the tests, and the applicator system was the most effective since it dries faster with brushing. The wand has wide gaps with tiny teeth that follow the hair strand and do not interfere with natural texture or curls. A flute was added to help distribute the product, and a flexible comb was included to aid in distribution without breaking up curls. Unlike competitor products that employ waxes, liquids, or chalks, Shade Stix uses a special lotion formulation that is uniquely designed to apply color onto any hair type, texture, color, or style. The entire application method has been reconsidered to make color application fun and intuitive.
The Results
The Shade Stix successfully launched in May 2022 and is available at major retail stores such as Amazon and Target. While Hally Hair offers an array of temporary hair coloring products, Shade Stix are the brand’s first foray into easy, temporary hair makeup. Through Shade Stix, Hally Hair created a new approach to temporary hair makeup. Customers appreciate the product's reliability, affordability, and quick-working color application.
“The unique spoolie applicator allows you to brush on color sans mess. Give yourself bold highlights in orange, purple, pink, blue or red. The tube also has a handy compartment on the bottom where there’s a hidden comb that you can use to sheer out the pigment or to distribute the color through the length of your strands.”
Image credits: Hally Hair & Doris Dev
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