Building an On-Demand Platform for Barbers and Shop Owners

Pilo (Marketplace)

Connecting barbers, clients, and shop owners through a mobile-first marketplace.

PILO fills a major gap in the barbering world: empty chairs and last-minute client needs. No existing product offered fast, trustworthy, short-term staffing for barbers and shops.

I led the full MVP design across both client and stylist flows — research, journey mapping, high-fidelity design, and interactive prototyping in Lovable.

Role: End-to-End Product Designer

Industry: Marketplace, Gig Economy

Tools: Figma, Lovable

Timeline: 2025

Problem

All three user types faced friction:

Clients

• Needed same-day or last-minute bookings

• Wanted verified, trustworthy stylists

• Lacked confidence that appointments would be honored

Stylists

• Needed flexible, short-term work

• Struggled to find reliable gigs

• Needed clear expectations before accepting

Shop Owners

• Needed to fill empty chairs fast

• Had no unified place to post and manage shifts

No existing platform solved on-demand barber staffing with clarity, trust, and speed.

Research Insights

I interviewed stylists, clients, and shop owners and mapped their end-to-end workflows.

What stylists told us

• They needed transparency around pay, shop rules, and required tools

• They wanted fast ways to filter shifts

What clients told us

• They needed strong trust signals

• They wanted confidence stylists would show up

Market analysis showed

• Competitors like The Cut and Booksy were designed for appointments — not staffing

• ShearShare supported chair rentals — not short-term shifts

Opportunity: Build the first platform focused on flexible, on-demand barber staffing.

Approach

Discovery

• User interviews

• Journey maps for stylists, clients, and shops

• Competitive scan

• Pain point clustering

Core Flow Mapping

• Posting a listing

• Applying to a shift

• Reviewing applicants

• Verifying profiles

• Managing bookings

High-Fidelity Prototype

• Designed mobile-first screens

• Built an interactive prototype in Lovable

• Prepared scripts for user testing

Approach, Core Flow Mapping

Flow 1, Post a Chair (Shop Owner)

Shop owners can post a chair in minutes by setting clear expectations, amenities, and location, reducing friction later in the marketplace.

Flow 2, Discover and Apply (Barber)

Barbers quickly discover and apply to nearby shifts with full visibility into pay, shop requirements, and availability.

Flow 3, Review and Book (Client)

Clients review verified stylists and book services with confidence, completing the marketplace loop.

Ideation

Ideation focused on reducing uncertainty, improving decision speed, and building trust across all three user types.

Shift Cards

Shift cards were designed to surface pay, location, and shop expectations at a glance so barbers could evaluate opportunities without opening every listing.

This reduced time to decision by allowing barbers to scan multiple opportunities without opening each listing.

Shift card layout evolution

Pay and location surfaced before interaction

Shift cards designed for quick opportunity scanning

Full expectations visible before applying

CTA Language

I tested Apply for a Chair vs Book Shift and landed on language that aligned with trust and commitment expectations across barbers and shop owners.

Language was optimized to reflect commitment level and reduce uncertainty before applying or booking, especially for short term shifts.

CTA wording comparison

CTA language reflects commitment level

Application flow reinforces intent and clarity

Trust signals

Verified profiles, shop ratings, and clear requirements were prioritized early in the flow to reduce hesitation before applying or booking.

Surfacing trust early reduced hesitation and drop off before application and booking.

Trust signals surfaced early in the flow

These decisions created a scalable foundation that supported trust, clarity, and future marketplace features.

User Testing Results

Users tested the full marketplace flow with the Lovable prototype, focusing on discovery, application, and booking tasks across all three user types.

Clients

• Easily posted requests without confusion

• Trusted verified stylist profiles

• Understood shift expectations before booking

Stylists

• Loved location and pay filters

• Found shift cards intuitive without guidance

• Completed applications independently

Outcome

• 100% task completion across key flows

• No critical friction identified

• Design direction validated prior to development

These decisions created a scalable foundation that supported trust, clarity, and future marketplace features.

Final MVP Experience

Users tested the full marketplace flow with the Lovable prototype, focusing on discovery, application, and booking tasks across all three user types.

Everything was packaged in a clean, mobile-first experience.

Outcomes

Although pre-launch, the project achieved:

• Validated flows across three user types

• High trust and clarity scores during testing

• Strong stakeholder alignment for MVP

• A scalable design system that will support future features (chat, reviews, payments, calendar)

Next steps

With initial funding secured, the next phase focuses on scaling PILO beyond the MVP.

The team will prioritize a web application for shop owners and operations, allowing faster listing management and onboarding, while continuing to refine the mobile experience for barbers and clients.

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