Scentra
A mobile app for users to discover perfume
Overview
Role
UX/UI designer, App developer
Overview
Perfume discovery app that contains a database of perfumes organized by notes to help users uncover new scents.
Toolkit
XCode, SwiftUI, Paper and pencil
Background
This project grew out of my personal passion for exploring and collecting fragrances. I noticed a gap in the market; there are very few mainstream applications that let users browse perfumes through a truly user-centered interface. My goal was to design an app that makes discovering new scents intuitive and enjoyable, allowing users to search by fragrance notes, save their favorites, and receive personalized recommendations.
Goals
Create an interactive application with an intuitive and clean interface that allows users to explore new perfumes, save their favorite fragrances, and get recommendations for more scents.
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Design Process
UX Design
Information Architecture:
I started the design process off by creating an information architecture diagram so I could get a sense of what features I wanted to add, and how they all relate to each other. This also allowed me to organize the features in a way that would make it easy for users to navigate.
Wireframes:
I think sketched out some digital wireframes to detail how I wanted the structure of my app to function.
UI Design
Brand Identity:
The branding for Scentra is built around the themes of discovery, individuality, and sensory connection, reflecting a brand that helps users explore the world of fragrance. The name 'Scentra' combines the words 'scent' and 'aura', evoking the idea of a fragrance that captures one’s essence and mood. It represents a place for perfume enthusiasts to explore, curate, and express their unique scent identity. Much like a relaxing fragrance, the branding mirrors a smooth, elegant, and inviting experience.
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The visual identity of Scentra is characterized by soft gradients of lavender and periwinkle, representing calmness and self-expression. Clean sans-serif typography keeps the interface modern and minimal, allowing each perfume’s imagery and description to shine. The overall aesthetic blends sophistication with approachability, echoing the emotional and personal nature of fragrance discovery. Together, these design and branding choices establish Scentra as a brand that transforms perfume browsing into an immersive and memorable sensory journey.
Color Palette:
#000000
#C8C5F0
#BFD7FD
#FFFFFF
Final Prototype
Home Page:
The first page I created was the home page which contained a welcome message for users that described what the purpose of the app. It then contained three buttons that were navigation links to other pages, the profile page, explore page, and curate page.
Explore Page:
Next, I created the explore page which contained multiple horizontal scroll views of different types of perfumes. The perfumes were organized by different categories such as popular picks, vanilla scents, and more. You could then scroll through each individual category, or scroll down the page to see more options. If the user was curious about a specific perfume and wanted to see it in closer detail, they could click on the perfume and a modal view would pop up giving the user an enlarged view of the perfume’s details. If the user then decided they liked the perfume and wanted to save it for later, they could press the star in the top right corner of the perfume.
Profile Page:
This brings us to our next page, the profile page. This page contained a profile icon meant to symbolize where user’s profile pictures would show up if added. Instead of adding an image to SwiftUI to create the icon, I decided to challenge myself by creating the icon using a Zstack and two circles along with a path. Creating images was always a challenge for me in this class so I was happy to utilize it in my final project. Below the profile icon, there is a favorites section that initially appears empty with a message saying that the user currently has no favorite perfumes, and that they can add favorites through the explore page. Once a user does add favorites, the perfumes show up in this section in a horizontal scroll view.
Curate Page:
The curate page is the last page I created and I wanted to implement a way for users to get perfume recommendations. They can press the curate button that displays an animation for a few seconds before returning four different perfumes selected for the user. All of the information about the perfumes is displayed here, and the curate button can be pressed and will come up with four new perfumes each time it is pressed. Animating the button was a really fun challenge, and it was even more challenging to figure out how to tie the end of the button’s animation in with bringing up the four perfumes.
Walkthrough:
This project was created as part of my app development coursework. The video walkthrough below provides a complete demonstration of the app’s features and functionality.
Outcomes
Challenges
One of the biggest challenges of this project was transitioning from web design experience to learning SwiftUI in just a few months. Early on, I also struggled with structuring the data for perfumes, initially using lists to hold details before realizing that arrays were far more efficient for scalability. Another challenge was ensuring consistency in branding and UI design, which required balancing functionality with a polished, cohesive aesthetic.
Lessons Learned
This project reinforced the importance of grounding design decisions in user research rather than relying only on personal perspective. If I were to restart, I would conduct user interviews early on to validate assumptions and refine features. I also learned the value of establishing a strong design system from the beginning to create cohesion and visual interest. Looking ahead, I want to automate the addition of perfumes so I can expand the catalog of items without manually entering the data, and implement advanced features like a search bar to further enhance discoverability.