Thriftly
All-in-one online thrifting tool
Overview
I worked with a team of designers to prototype an app that allows users to search for secondhand clothes across several platforms simultaneously, using a single search. I took ownership of the development of our home page and search flow, from sketching through to our final prototype.
Role
Product Designer
Timeline
Spring 2023
Team
4 Designers
Tools/Skills
Figma, User Research, Usability Testing
Prototype Overview
The Problem
Online thrifting is inconvenient
As an avid thrifter, I often find myself going between 5+ secondhand clothing apps and inputting the same brand/size/style into each.
This process is time consuming, which deters users like me from thrifting online. In areas with limited access to in-person thrift stores, this can drive people towards fast fashion. To promote secondhand fashion & sustainable consumption, I sought to explore:
How can we streamline the ways people shop for second-hand clothing online?
The Original Plan
All-in-one thrifting app (or not?)
I originally came up with the idea to design a search tool that shows results from popular secondhand fashion apps.
I then teamed up with a few friends and we came up with two more features: a crowdsourced donation site feed & and an events page for organizations in need of clothing donation to maximize social impact.
Fueled by Chips Ahoy (pictured), we began sketching and brainstorming potential screens!
Solution Brainstorm
We iterated on a variety of features including search, events, community, and notifications. I designed a basic search flow and a donation feed.
Understanding Our Users
How did I conduct user research?
Before prototyping, we sought to better understand how people approach online thrifting and any possible pain points. These are key insights from a survey, 1:1 interviews, and chatting with people at a secondhand fashion fair:
Users can easily find places to donate their clothes to
Users who don’t online thrift (but do in person) find checking multiple apps for a single item frustrating
Updating the Plan (pt. 1)
Maybe not an all-in-one app…
Users prioritized advanced search/filter options & personalized recommendations.
me at a secondhand fashion fair!
Based on these insights we decided to:
Remove the donation feed
Emphasize the search feature
Focus on designing a comprehensive search experience
Initial Ideas
We each created our own explorations before coming together to finalize our layout. Out of the 15 I made, I decided to present six medium fidelity screens to my team.
These are our final six screens:
Updating the Plan (pt.2)
Before moving on, we decided to get feedback from our peers. We made two major changes in line with what we learned.
Problem 1: The followers and following features felt unnecessary
Problem 2: Ideas felt like two different apps put together
Solution 1: Turn the profile page into notifications tab & eliminate the social aspect
Solution 2: Eliminate the events feature entirely and prioritize search
Visual Style Guide
To center our next iterations, we created this style guide:
Onto High-Fidelity!
We designed our first prototype to reflect the experience of shopping for a pair of low-rise jeans and navigating to your saved tab. I built on my wireframes for the search, item click, and saved pages to create the following screens.
User Testing
We then conducted a usability test to identify usability pain points. With the feedback we received, we collaborated on the following updates:
Updating the saved feature to include collections
Separating filter & sort functions
I then redesigned the layout of the home screen and added more categories
Takeaways
Center user needs and research: Updating the features reinforced the importance of centering my design philosophy in human behavior to create simple user experiences.
Design as communication: Working with a team helped me understand how to navigate conflicting design preferences and how to maximize creative idea flow during the iteration stage.