Case Study · Personalized Skincare
Satvabion Virtual Lab — Custom Formula Builder App
A mobile app that lets customers build their own personalized skincare and haircare formulas, ingredient by ingredient.
Guided Formula Builder
Ingredient-Level Personalization
Botanical, Approachable Design
3
Guided Builder Steps
3
Product Categories
3
Bottle Size Options
2
Entry Paths — Create or Buy
The Project
A Guided Path from Ingredients to a Finished Bottle
Industry
Pharmaceuticals · Personalized Skincare
Platform
Mobile App
Users
Skincare & Haircare Customers
Core Focus
Guided, Ingredient-Level Formulation
Satvabion Pharmaceuticals wanted to turn product formulation, usually a lab-side process, into something a regular customer could do themselves. The Virtual Lab app lets users pick a product category, choose a base and active ingredients, and land on a bottle of skincare or haircare made to their own specification.
Product Discovery
UI/UX Design
Mobile App Development
Content & Copy
QA & Performance Testing
A Closer Look at the Platform
The Challenge
Three Problems We Had to Solve
01
Technical Ingredient Names
Ingredient names like Tridecane or Dicaprylyl Ether mean nothing to most customers, making a blank "build your own" flow feel intimidating rather than empowering.
02
A Growing but Unfamiliar Category
Personalized skincare is a growing category, but formulation itself is technical territory most customers have never navigated.
03
Balancing Simplicity & Control
The app needed to make a scientific process feel approachable, without dumbing it down or losing the customer's sense of control.
Modules & Features
What We Built
Five steps covering the full journey, from a welcoming entry screen to a finished, personalized formula.
01
Welcoming Entry Point
The home screen leads with a simple promise — "Creating a Formula is easy and fun" — and offers two clear paths: Create a Formula or Buy a Formula.
02
Category-First Browsing
Products are organized into familiar groups — Hair Care, Body Care, Eye Care — each shown as a photographed product grid, so customers land in the right territory before formulation begins.
03
Guided Formula Builder
The core builder walks through three decisions in order — Choose Base, Choose Ingredient, and Choose Size.
04
Inline Ingredient Education
Selectable ingredient options and info icons sit next to unfamiliar ingredient names so customers can learn what each one does before adding it to their formula.
05
Transparent, Low-Pressure Interaction
Every ingredient option includes an inline info prompt rather than hiding details in a separate help screen, keeping education part of the flow instead of an extra step.
Design Philosophy
How the Interface Is Designed
A soft green and white palette, paired with hand-drawn leaf and branch line art, gives the app a natural, apothecary feel that fits a pharmaceutical-meets-wellness brand. Product photography sits on clean white cards for contrast, while rounded green buttons and consistent header treatment — logo, menu, profile — keep navigation predictable as users move from browsing into the formula builder.
Key Features
Built to Make Formulation Feel Approachable
Dual Entry Path
Customers can build a custom formula from scratch or buy a ready-made one, depending on how hands-on they want to be.
Category-Based Browsing
Hair Care, Body Care, and Eye Care each get their own photographed product grid.
Three-Step Guided Builder
Base, Ingredient, and Size walk customers through formulation in a fixed, unambiguous order.
Inline Ingredient Education
Info tooltips explain unfamiliar ingredients right where customers pick them.
Size Selection
40ml, 90ml, and 120ml options let customers size the finished formula to how they'll use it.
Botanical Visual Identity
A soft green palette and hand-drawn leaf and branch line art keep the clinical process feeling warm and approachable.
Technology Stack
Built With the Right Stack
Mobile
Flutter
Android
IOS
Backend & APIs
Firebase
Node.js
REST APIs
QA & Testing
Selenium
JMeter
Design
Figma
Adobe XD
Adobe illustrator
Adobe photoshop
Proven Impact
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Yes — saved formulas can be reordered directly, so customers don't have to rebuild a bottle from scratch every time they run out.
Every ingredient option includes an inline info icon that explains what it does, right where customers are choosing it, rather than sending them to a separate help page.
Yes — the guided Base → Ingredient → Size flow is built to extend to new product categories beyond skincare and haircare.
The builder works within Satvabion's approved ingredient library, so every combination customers can select is one the brand has already validated.
Flexible Engagements at this scope typically range from $30K-$80K over 10-14 weeks depending on the number of categories and ingredient options required. We scope a detailed estimate after discovery.