We (Skin)care
about
We (Skin)care is a student organization at the University of California, Irvine that aspires to foster a community for students who are curious and passionate about skincare and self-care. Through educational meetings, industry guest speaker events, and engaging opportunities, We (Skin)care provides a space for students of any skincare interests.
what i used
Task Management: Google Drive, Slack, monday.com
Social Media: Lightroom, Photoshop, Premiere Pro, + UNUM
Promotional Materials/Infographics: Illustrator + Canva
my role
We (Skin)care was founded in 2020 and I had the privilege of being a part of the founding board as a visual designer. In this position, I created and maintained the branding of the organization in the design of promotional materials, logo design, social media, and website design. From this experience, I found a passion for project management and creative directing.
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The main role of the visual designer was to design digital flyers that promoted meetings on social media. Since it was We (Skin)care’s first year, I also had the opportunity to create the organization’s branding, which started with designing a logo. The logo was produced with a clean, minimalistic, and bright vision in mind. The vision became the organization’s branding and continued on in the creation of my other responsibilities.
One of these responsibilities was managing the skincare product review photos for Instagram. We (Skin)care creates a platform where UC Irvine students can share their experiences and opinions with products to the skincare community. Before they were posted, I edited the photos and organized them on UNUM, a feed layout site, to fit the organization’s branding and Instagram feed theme.
In addition to the product reviews, I helped with initiating ideas for how the organization could be more engaged on Instagram. One way was to post infographics about skincare topics and Speaker Spotlight infographics which recapped guest speaker events. I was responsible for revising the information and designing these to be posted bi-weekly.
Another idea was to add more movement and music to reviews by utilizing Instagram’s Reels. I edited my review using Adobe Premiere Pro, but I was not responsible for editing all the Reels.
When I finish up my skincare products, I enjoy testing new products rather than rebuying what I usually use. However, there are so many products available in the market that it can be difficult to settle on what to try. Reading product reviews helps me narrow down my choices. Based on this, another idea I had was using Instagram’s Guides to help We (Skin)care’s community when they are shopping for new products. The Guides categorize product reviews written by We (Skin)care members by type of skincare product. Viewers can then easily search and read reviews of what they are specifically shopping for.
The ideas for Instagram were put into action and successful in increasing engagement and building a supportive community. In four months, We (Skin)care gained over 1,000 followers and was awarded Outstanding Social Media Engagement by the UCI Office of Campus Organizations.
website design
I also had the opportunity to re-design the organization’s website to better suit the branding. I kept in mind the website’s and We (Skin)care’s goals while designing the layout and style of the website’s pages. Since the purpose of the website is to create a space where interested or current members could go to see information about the organization, forming a clean and clear look was important to me. One of We (Skin)care’s goals is also to share skincare knowledge with the community. So, the “learn” page showcases Instagram infographics and the “resources” page archives past meeting slides for only general members to look back on.
transition process
At the end of the year, the board members were tasked with writing a word document that laid out the respective position's responsibilities for the following year's members. Because the visual designer consisted of many duties, I decided to create a guidebook. Rather than writing a large, lengthy body of text in one document, I thought a guidebook would make the information more visual, concise, and less overwhelming. I used Illustrator to design the cover and Google Docs for the rest of the layout and text.
