Thriftly App
How can we streamline the ways people access second-hand clothing on the internet?
Design Team:
Audrey Chou
Elaine Kim
Jesse Hogan
Jordan Cheung
Timeline: 1 month
Much of the work on this project was conducted in collaboration, but I specifically focused on branding—creating our logo, translating research, and storyboarding. I also spearheaded the development of our saved feature, from its conception through to our final high fidelity prototype.
Problem Framing
Second-hand clothing is growing in demand.
Gen Z consumes much clothing second-hand: it’s often less expensive and more unique than the alternative. With substantial experience buying and selling clothes second-hand both in person and online, our team felt uniquely positioned to address the online thrifting market.
The international clothing and textiles industry is an extremely controversial one, and with criticism and consumer consciousness on the rise, digital products have ample opportunity to step in. Considering the potential to impact consumers, producers, and intermediaries in the global textiles industry, I was motivated by the opportunity to promote a circular economy that places less strain and emphasis on constant production.
Thriftly: An All-in-One App
While apps with similar missions already exist, our team wanted to do something novel, aiming to streamline items available on various platforms onto one interface.
User Research
There are two user camps to prioritize.
After reviewing existing platforms, we conducted in-person interviews and surveyed people online. During this process, we noticed two crowds — those who are extremely familiar with thrifting platforms, and those who had not thrifted or did not know where to start. We wanted to understand and address both needs.
Key Insights
Most users do not find it difficult to locate clothing donation centers
People who thrift in person but not online find that needing multiple apps to find an item is frustrating
Interviewees prioritized having advanced search/filter options and personalized recommendations
Based on these insights we decided to…
Axe our donation feature idea to refine and narrow the scope of our app
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Organize search results by size & style instead of platform for a more curated experience
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Onto Prototyping!
We had ideas! Maybe too many.
In our initial round of sketches, we imagined a wide array of features—including search, events, community, and notifications—with a plan to narrow down what we wanted as our main features. My sketches imagined a few of these.
Fleshing out our UI revealed inconsistencies.
Our first visions for the home and events pages.
Our first visions for a potential profile page.
Our first visions for the search tool feature for the app, the main attraction!
Upon receiving feedback, we further hashed out these two main issues:
Consistency was a concern especially around our saved features (button versus filter)
Focus became more possible when we saw general disinterest in a social feature, and attitudes that our initial prototype “feels like two apps smushed together”
We made revisions in line with this feedback, including…
Removing the profile page (we tried replacing it as seen here with a notification page, but soon removed that page too)
Removing the events feature entirely to hone in more on our search feature
Unifying our brand
In phasing up to a more polished prototype, we settled on a visual style guide for the app (through stubborn and heated arguments about our typeface preferences, as commonplace among designers).
Logo
I took on designing the logo for the app, utilizing our style guide as a starting point.
I really clung to the idea of the clothing hanger as a symbol of the second-hand clothing cycle, given its utility to hold a variety of items throughout its life cycle, just as second-hand items are to hold various lives in the hands of various consumers.
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Okay, closer…
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This will do!
Mocking up a user flow
Using our wireframes and style guide as a base, we began fleshing out more screens to create the app’s navigation. We set a short-term, achievable goal to reflect the user experience of shopping for an item using functional save and filter features.
Mockups of our saved feature, completed by me!
And wanted to get other eyes on our work.
We tested our high-fidelity prototype on a small group of Gen Z users. Their insight led us in new directions.
Research-Informed Action Items:
Reimagine our ‘Saved’ feature (adding categories, folders, search, etc.) to make it easier to navigate and streamline what is being saved (items vs. searches)
Add separate buttons for filter, sort, and save to make it explicit for the user
Update the layout of the home page and ‘Saved’ feature to add more visual interest
Design Evolution & Final Design
Pivot Points
1) Updated Saved Feature (pioneered by me!)
Saving an item now prompts saving to a “collection” (folder)
Every saved item is housed automatically within “All Saved,” maintaining a main hub for saved items
The user receives feedback that they saved an item via a confirmation pop-up
2) Updated Filter & Sort Feature to separate functions of Filter and Sort
3) Updated home page to diversify layout and improve visual engagement
Reflection
Final Takeaways
Existing apps can inspire personal projects (and usually come with their own set of problems to be improved!)
Narrowing a project’s focus is essential, especially on a project with a fast turnaround
Iteration is necessary
I learned from this project that designing in a team comes with its own set of challenges, but also benefits—like friends, and better, more developed work! Given the chance to do it all over, I absolutely would budget more time to work on the project.