(THE PROBLEM) AS AN AVERAGE COLLECTOR,

I often found myself struggling to find other collectors to trade or buy from when I pulled duplicate figures or don't get the item I originally wanted.

AFTER SEARCHING FOR ENDLESS HOURS ON THE INTERNET,

Nothing exists ..

Surely, a user-friendly "trading" app unrelated to stocks, bitcoin, bonds, etc, exists somewhere... right? Wrong!! I wasn't able to find anything that came close to what I was looking for. There were a few options that had some potential, but were too broad and were only relevant to buying things, such as Mercari, eBay, or Facebook Marketplace.

BRAINSTORMING AND INITIAL RESEARCH

Let's come up with something

My ideal solution would be a platform that connects collectors, helping them find and trade or buy the items they want from other users.

To come up with a solution, I organized a survey to collect data from 30+ average-serious collectors. I asked questions like "what information do collectors need in order to trade, buy, or sell?" and "what are some of the challenges faced when wanting to trade or sell?" Here are some important points I discovered.

"I want proof of the item and the other person sending out. I also want to make sure that they have traded before in order to decide whether or not to trade or buy from them."

"I would love to be able to search for specific collectables through categories or key words."

"I'm mainly worried about my safety and how I can trust others when asking to trade with me."

"I want to easily be able to see what the other person wants in exchange for something I want."

From these results, I created a user journey map of how a collector might interact and use the product.

WHAT WE ENDED UP WITH (THE FINAL SOLUTION)

Making the experience possible

Here's how we tackled the issues and concerns of potential users:

#1. FOCUSING ON USER'S GOALS

What I have vs What I need.

The idea of wishlists were implemented in order for people to see what items other people were looking for in the case they were interested in trading.

Throughout the process, wishlists were made more accessible through reiterations and user feedback.

#2. ADDRESSING SAFETY CONCERNS

How can we trust other users?

Since many users were concerned about trusting other users, a review system was added to the platform. This ensures that users can use their judgment based on past trades or sales to feel better before interacting with others.

Furthermore, users had their own ways of exchanging and so a terms and conditions section was made to allow state their rules of trading and selling, such as no returns.

#3. ORGANIZING EFFICIENT AND EASY EXCHANGE

Bringing user satisfaction to life

Trade or sale/buy requests can be sent by any user of interest. Offers can expire in order to ensure there are no time-wasters.

Also, payments are made through the app to provide further safety and efficiency for users.

#4. TARGETED SEARCH + SOCIAL

What search methods can we implement for users to easily find what they are looking for?

A simple search system is chosen, but expansive as users can search for hashtags, item name, user names, etc in the same search bar.

Sharing stories and following people who share the same interests allow users to stay up to date with recent posts that they may be interested in.

ONLY IF YOU'RE INTERESTED... (other parts of the design process)

Back to the beginning

To get a start, I drew out paper wireframes of any solution I could think of:

WHAT DO USERS NEED FOR AN EASY EXCHANGE PROCESS?

▹ Request forms, wishlists, personalized terms, and a review system

Filling out trading or selling forms can help users keep track of their trades and sales, as well as manage any payments and shipping agreements. Implementing wishlists will allow users to easily look at what other people are looking for before offering a trade. Users may also want to set their own rules in terms of returns or if they want more information on the product (ex. a video of any damage). The layouts would look something like this.

HOW CAN WE ORGANIZE ALL THIS INFORMATION?

Displaying info as product cards

I found that there was quite a bit of important information user's needed to know before deciding to trade or buy:
‍
1. item name,
2. description of item,
3. post type (trade or sell),
4. condition of item, and
5. what items they can trade for (if trade).

Furthermore, action buttons needed to fit in as well..

Organizing all info and buttons onto a card makes it easier for users to view.

MOCKUPS + PROTOTYPING

Pulling the vision together

◇ Key screens from the high-fidelity prototype:

FURTHER TESTING

Let's test it out // can we improve?

After conducting a usability test with 5 collectors (age range: 18-35yrs) on the hi-fi prototype, I discovered several concerns. The results are organized into themes in the affinity diagram below. It seems the prominent struggles lie in navigation and search.

REITERATING THE DESIGN BASED ON FEEDBACK

Good.. but let's make it great .

#1 NAVIGATION:
a. Users had to navigate to other person's profile to check wishlist items making it very inconvenient

‍b. Users had to go back to user's profile to view terms and conditions

c. It was hard for users to access old messages because there was not a separate messages section.

#2 OPTIMIZING SEO: Users wanted multiple ways to search for items to give more option flexibility and make the search easier.

#3 HANDLING GHOSTING / TIME-WASTERS: Users do not like waiting for others to respond or being ignored by other users.

cohlect .

(THE PROBLEM) AS AN AVERAGE COLLECTOR,

✴︎ let's create something together ❋