Color Match: An Imaging Based Mobile Cosmetics Advisory Service

In this paper we describe an exploratory study of a mobile cosmetic advisory system that enables women to select appropriate colors of cosmetics. This system is intended for commercial use to address the problem of foundation color selection. Although women are primarily responsible for making most purchasing decisions in the US, we found very few studies to assess the adoption of retail related mobile services by women. Based on surveys, semi-structured interviews, and focus groups, we have identified a number of design factors that should be considered when designing mobile services for women consumers. The results of our study indicate that while usefulness is an important factor, other design aspects such as mobile vs. kiosk, installed vs. existing software, technical comfort vs. social comfort, social vs. individual, privacy and trust should also be accounted for.