Rare Beauty: Landing Page
Project type
Brand Strategy & Concept Design
Role
Designer, Researcher & Stratgeist
Programs Used
Figma & Adobe Photoshop
Date
March 2023
Overview & Objective
This conceptual project reimagines Rare Beauty’s digital presence in response to public backlash surrounding its celebrity founder in 2023. the brand is known for its inclusive product range and mission to break unrealistic beauty standards. While the brand promotes empowerment and celebrates individuality, offering 48 foundation shades and contributing 1% of sales to mental health initiatives, its close connection to Gomez's celebrity image has caused complications. By shifting the focus from Selena Gomez to real users, the brand can better align with its values of empowerment, inclusivity, and self-expression. I designed a landing page feature that centers everyday beauty, fostering authentic community engagement.
Objective: To develop a UI concept that enhances user trust and engagement by featuring real makeup users and influencers on the homepage. The goal was to present Rare Beauty as more than a celebrity brand, one that truly celebrates individuality through its audience.
Target Audience
Rare Beauty’s primary audience in 2023 was predominantly female (80%), with the largest age group being 25–34 years old (35.29%). This group values authenticity, self-expression, and socially conscious branding, making trust and brand alignment crucial for ongoing engagement.
Challenge
Rare Beauty’s heavy association with founder Selena Gomez backfired in November 2023, when her statements on political issues triggered public backlash. The controversy resulted in a drop of over 16,000 website clicks and sparked the viral hashtag #BoycottRareBeauty. This exposed a disconnect between the brand’s inclusive, empathetic image and its perceived identity as a celebrity-driven platform, highlighting the need for a more community-centered approach. [sources: NewsWeek & SimilarWeb]
Additionally, while the brand does offer a “community” section on its site, the content is rarely updated and lacks detail about the products shown. Users appear without any explanation of the makeup they’re wearing, making the section feel more like static promotion than real community engagement. This disconnect weakens the brand’s stated mission of celebrating individuality and showing real, diverse beauty.
At the time of designing, Selena Gomez appeared on the site at least four times, while the community section remained static and lacked context, making the brand feel more celebrity-driven than community-led.
Solution
To address the disconnect between Rare Beauty's inclusive mission and its celebrity-centric execution, I designed a conceptual landing page that re-centers the brand around its community. The feature “Rare Routine” builds on the brand’s existing community concept, but improves it by offering a more dynamic, personalized experience.
Key improvements include:
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A rotating gallery of user-submitted makeup looks that update weekly.
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Product breakdowns for each featured image, explaining what was used
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Social handles are credited, giving users a chance to be celebrated and seen.
By visually reducing the prominence of Selena Gomez and amplifying the everyday consumer, the design brings Rare Beauty closer to its brand values, creating space for users to feel genuinely represented, not just featured.
Click on the image below to see the prototype
Reflection
This project pushed me to think beyond visuals and into strategy. I learned how a brand’s values can fall flat when execution doesn’t match, such as Rare Beauty’s static community section and overuse of founder imagery. Designing a feature that re-centered real users helped me explore how UI can build trust and bring brand purpose to life.