PS but at the start. I realise this may not be that interesting to the everyday person or even within the product design community but for potential employers – here’s a sample of my market research and product analysis abilities.

TL;DR I am redesigning the MECCA MAX single shadow compact and making it modular.

For those that don’t know, I work another job alongside my engineering job. I work at the beauty store MECCA! Their in-house brand, MECCA MAX, released single eyeshadows a couple(?) weeks ago (the days and weeks all blur together now).

I really like the concept of single shadows because I’m sure almost everyone who owns an eyeshadow palette has a couple shadows that are barely used in the palette, I know I do. Single shadows allow you to create your own eyeshadow palette where you like and will use all the colours (ideally).

There are definitely other brands out there that do this. The single shadow is usually packaged in either their own compact (like the MECCA MAX ones), or in a plastic/cardboard sleeve. The main brands that come to mind when I think about single shadows and DIY palettes is Makeup Geek and INGLOT.

Makeup Geek was the first brand that I saw do this and I’ve always thought it was pretty clever. You can create a DIY palette with shadows and face powders (blushes, bronzers, highlighters) – whatever could fit into the magnetic palette. They use to have circular pans but have since redesigned their packaging so the pans are square. I personally like the square pans more because there are less awkwardly shaped gaps between the pans.

INGLOT has a similar system to Makeup Geek but what I adore is that the pan dimensions are relative to each other. The eyeshadow pan dimensions are 1:1 and the face pan dimensions are 2:1 so the pans fit nicely next to each other and the edges are all aligned. Because of this, there are little to no gaps when put in the palette, unlike Makeup Geek. I understand why there are sizable gaps in the Makeup Geek palettes – it’s so you can use your finger to take the pans out. With the INGLOT system you need to use a pin or a thin object in the smalls gaps of the corners between the pans to lift the pan out.

What I also like about both of these is the packaging the single shadow comes in. It’s minimal, recyclable and much less wasteful than a whole compact. The problem with single shadows coming in their own individual compact is that it’s a big waste of material (usually plastic) and manufacturing power/material when you depot the shadow. There’s not much you can do with it once you depot it other than chuck it out. Also, it can be very hard to depot. Some companies do make it easier but it still leaves the issue of a pretty useless empty compact.

You can buy smaller empty palettes but what happens when you buy more? Upgrade to a larger empty palette. But then what do you do with the now smaller empty palette? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

So that is what I have set out to do! Redesign the MECCA MAX single shadow compact to make it modular to allow for DIY palette creation without having to depot the shadow or throwing out an empty compact afterwards.

Next post: Sketching…and a little more market research!