Ki Labs

The first smart skin reader to craft personalized cosmetics

Skin care - AI
Seville - Spain

Services we provided

Branding, Product Design, Frontend Engineering, Backend Engineering

Deliverables

Webapp

Team involved

recognitions

+70K analyzed faces

4.7/5 reviews on Trustpilot

links

Visit the app

Summary

Ki Labs is the first 100% personalized cosmetic brand in the market. Thanks to an innovative web app that scans and detects the needs of each skin type, it formulates a unique cream for everyone.

This AI-powered digital experience results from the collaboration among its pharmaceutical founders, the venture builder Fusión, and the product design and development know-how of Z1.

Rising from a failed yet validated venture

Javier Baquero, a pharmaceutical chemist and one of the founders of Ki Labs, imagined a democratized use of personalized cosmetics thanks to technology. Some years ago, he started a business where you could get personalized cosmetics after visiting one of the 800 pharmacies where they installed a machine to analyze people’s skin.

“Ki Labs is born from all the experience that comes from a failure. With my previous startup, I validated the public interest in personalized cosmetics, which was overwhelming, but the technology still had room for improvement.”

This software returned results that allowed pharmacists to formulate a tailor-made cream for each person on the go. On a commercial level, it was a resounding success, but the business model wasn’t scalable nor completely clear, and the company ended up closing.

In 2024, after all the knowledge gathered, Javier felt ready to start a new business in this field again and got back on track. He joined forces with Fusión Startups, the Andalusian incubator in which Z1 participates. Later on, two new matches happened: Patricia López, founder of the startup MyHyxel, and Lara Manteca, pharmacist and entrepreneur, joined the company as its co-founder and CEO, respectively.

“Ki Labs brings together everything I am passionate about: natural beauty, technology, and the e-commerce sector. It was impossible not to join this adventure.”

Building trust at first glance

Javi Baquero knew that capturing your product’s value in a message that is as simple and engaging as possible is critical to any project's success. “Nowadays, there are many ways to reach people, but only a few to convince them you are the best option” is one of his mantras.

Our team agrees that the same applies to UI design. With Ki Labs, we knew we were facing a very complex project that had to be comprehensible and easy to navigate.

The bustle capitalism generates is such that you cannot afford to fail when transmitting how you will meet your users’ expectations and what benefits you will bring them. To succeed in a wildly competitive sector such as cosmetics, you must generate trust at first glance.

A pleasant user journey

We aimed to create an alluring and engaging digital experience for Ki Labs so that its users could effortlessly get their skin diagnoses and order their unique cream.

During the onboarding, we collect users’ basic data, such as gender and date of birth. Then, we dive into specific info that helps diagnose and generate the formula, like where they live or their primary concerns regarding their skin.

Right after, the web app asks you to take a picture of your face to scan it and rate various aspects of your skin according to different levels, like spots, pores, wrinkles, and sensitivity. This analysis, along with the other information provided, enables the formulation of the best combination of ingredients for that specific user’s skin.

A brand connecting with the origins

In parallel with UI design, we worked on creating the brand. Finding the perfect name for a new cosmetic company is a hard job. There are way too many players around. Literally, 90% of the names you can think of that have cosmetics in all languages are already being used. We decided to go back to the origins of what this startup does: they formulate totally individualized cosmetics; each one is unique.

The precursors of this ancient discipline were the alchemists, “alquimistas” in Spanish, al-ki-mistas as in the international phonetic alphabet. A thousand years ago, alchemy was one of history's purest and most technological sciences. We decided to return to that time, and we opted for KI from alKImia.

Ki has it all: alchemy and femininity; it is short and memorable. The word Labs in the name is not a coincidence: the project has an innovation component in the manufacturing and active ingredients it uses that are only available in the highest-level medicines.

Regarding the color palette, we combined the elegant, sophisticated, and timeless black with pink and blue tones to produce an exceptional iridescent result. This glowing combination really represents the movement of the ingredients of Ki Labs’ creams, the concept of personalized formulation, and the adaptation of the products to the infinite number of existing skin types.

“Our goal as designers was to create a straightforward customer journey and buying funnel, so users could buy the cream directly from the screen where they have their diagnosis and the ingredients are explained.”

AI powering personalization

Technology is vital in Ki Labs and its core is the use of Artificial Intelligence to “read” the needs of every person’s skin. Users take a picture with the app so it can scan their faces to formulate the perfect formula. To achieve the expected result, we included indications for a perfect shot and integrated geolocation, which detects UV index, pollution, and humidity, directly influencing the creams’ formulas. We also included key questions for users to understand their expectations and goals regarding their skincare.

The picture is sent to the backend, which analyzes the skin parameters and transforms the results into pictures with all the skin imperfections and details that users can see on their devices, and most importantly, understand what’s going on with their skin.

We developed Ki Labs using React, Django, Vite, and third-party integrations.

“Ki Labs clients can use the app in any browser or device. It required a lot of testing so it works smoothly everywhere. It was a compelling challenge.”

Sales from day one

The reception of Ki Labs has been remarkable. Lara Manteca remembers excited the moment the web app did the first face recognition and diagnosis: “it felt like magic, but it’s not; it’s science!”

In two weeks since the product launched in June 2024, almost a thousand people jumped on the platform, getting sales from day one. But this journey has only just started.

Now, with +70K analyzed faces, they continue learning from their users as they plan to launch more products to complete the whole facial care routine. Their goal is to revolutionize the cosmetics market and according to the feedback they’re collecting and the innovations they are incorporating, they are on the right track to achieve it.

“It is incredible that we had an MVP with sales from day one in less than two months since I came to Z1 with my idea. Considering the technical complexity of Ki Labs, this can only be achieved with people who are used to working at the highest level.”

“I was surprised that it is 100% personalized for my skin through AI diagnosis. I am using it daily, and I will surely buy the same one again.”

“I recommend it! The digital diagnosis with a picture amused me, as did the personalized cream. Just for me, my skin notices it. I took the plunge and bought it in less than 5 minutes. Three days later, I had it in my mailbox.”

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