University Project
6 weeks
Figma, Balsamiq, Pen & Paper
5 members
Overview
Fast fashion tempts youth with short-lived trends, leading to piles of unwearable clothes, environmental damage, & labour exploitation.
The growing awareness of sustainability and high cost, fuel the need for alternative practices like clothes-swapping events.
Additionally, clothes swapping is business efficient as it follows a circular economy approach.
However, accessibility to clothes trading events remains a challenge.
Introducing Switcheroo
An online clothes trading app to emulate clothes trading and promote sustainable fashion.
For a quick overview of the app, please watch the video.
My Role
As a UX Designer in the project, I:
Led the Wireframing/Sketching stage, playing a central role in the initial interface design phase.
Co-led the interaction design of high-fidelity prototypes.
Collaborated closely with the team in brainstorming and user testing.
Contributed significantly to developing the reputation system.
The Design Process
Empathise
Literature Review, Web Articles, & Blogs
Define
Problem, Audience, & Requirements
Ideate
Storyboarding & Wireframing
Prototype
High Fidelity Interactive Mockups
Test
Surveys & Think Aloud Observations
Reiterate
Reiterate & Improve the Design
Empathising with the User
While diving into the heart of Fast Fashion, we uncovered something interesting—many people possess clothes they no longer wish to wear, for various reasons. Some have outgrown the style and size, while others associate unfortunate memories with them.
However, when we directed our research towards user pain points, we realised that constantly keeping up with new trends or upgrading wardrobes exacts a toll on users, both financially and ecologically.
Fast Fashion adds a financial toll on both, users and businesses.
Fast Fashion has been actively contributing to the global environmental crisis.
To tackle these challenges, we explored the idea of promoting clothes trading and thrifting, viewing it as an eco-friendly and budget-friendly approach. We firmly believed that one person's discarded clothing could become another person's favourite.
Fortunately, our research revealed that many of our target users, particularly young women, found thrifting to be edgy and trendy. This valuable insight guided our focus.
Lastly, we realised that while some users can access thrift shops and clothes trading events, many are unaware of these opportunities.
Defining the Problem
After carefully researching and discussing, we defined our problem statement as follows:
Young people require an easily accessible solution that allows them to keep up with fast fashion trends while supporting sustainability, affordability, and the extended use of clothes.
We set clear goals for our clothes trading solution:
Make it accessible for everyone.
Ensure its affordable and eco-friendly.
Connect people with similar interests who are willing to trade.
Help users find the clothes they want.
Streamline the entire trading process.
Keep it user-friendly and easy to learn.
Moreover, we envisioned our target group as a community of millennials, Gen Z, and females from various age groups, as they are key participants in the fashion industry.
Ideating the Solution
We realized that developing an online clothes-trading platform, such as a mobile application, would ideally solve our problem. Our target audience, which consists of young individuals and frequent online shoppers, is well-versed in using smartphones.
The User Journey
To design the most user-friendly interface, we first envisioned the user journey within the application.
Our standout feature showcases the highly popular swipe-to-match mechanism, which connects users for trading based on a mutual liking of items. Inspired by the success of Tinder, this design decision aims to create a more casual and enjoyable environment, transforming how users engage in social activities. Additionally, ‘swiping’ encourages increased browsing speed through repetitive actions, and promotes quick decision-making through a limited number of actions (Hick’s Law).
Moreover, this matchmaking design model opens up opportunities to build social connections with like-minded individuals who share similar interests, such as their journey towards sustainable fashion.
Analysing the storyboard, we identified gaps in the initial design that needed to be addressed to accommodate all user scenarios.
What if a user doesn't find a match? We needed to provide alternative options or suggestions.
What if a user wants to discard clothes ecologically without participating in a trade? We had to consider ways to facilitate responsible clothing disposal.
Can users trust their trade partner to meet up and complete the trade? We had to ensure measures were in place to establish trust and ensure safe transactions.
Sketching out the Design (Wireframing)
To kickstart the initial interface design, we adopted a fast and cost-effective approach by sketching wireframes. This allowed us to not only visualise the interface, but also explore and compare different potential solutions.
In my perspective, the following key UI elements formed the core functionalities of the user interface, ensuring a seamless experience throughout the trading process.
Inspired by the popular Instagram Profile Page, the user profile gives a quick intro about the user and their unique clothing style.
Upload clothing items and share basic details about them, like style and size, making it convenient for potential trading partners to evaluate and choose.
Like flipping through a magazine, swipe through different clothing items and match with like-minded individuals interested in trading.
Finalise and confirm the trade on the app to complete the trade cycle on the system.
I dedicated my efforts to enhancing the design and addressing the previously identified gaps. I sketched two potential solutions to find the most effective approach in supporting and accommodating users who could not find a suitable match for trading and those who wished to discard their items responsibly.
A 3-way trade system may increase the likelihood of finding a match for users by connecting three individuals instead of just two.
A giveaway/request system is dedicated to users who wish to donate or request items without a trade.
After thoughtful consideration, we realised that while a 3-way trade system seemed promising, it could increase complexity and potentially discourage users due to the additional time required. We, therefore, decided to proceed with the request/giveaway system instead, as it not only provides support for users who couldn't find matches but also allows individuals to donate or request items without the need for a trade.
However, despite our efforts, some gaps persisted in the design.
What if users were searching for specific types of clothes? We needed to cater to users’ preferences and ensure a personalized experience.
Users could potentially abuse the giveaway/request feature. We had to prevent users from making excessive requests without contributing to the community.
Users should stay connected with their past matches for future trade opportunities. Facilitating ongoing connections and fostering a sense of community within the app was essential.
Users could still not check if their trade partner's past swaps had been satisfactory. We recognized the importance of building trust and ensuring reliable trading experiences.
NOTE: Due to time constraints, we had to address these remaining gaps while developing the high-fidelity prototypes.
Bringing the Design to Life
We crafted an interactive high-fidelity prototype to ensure a comprehensive understanding of the product's functionality, and facilitate usability testing through a realistic and immersive experience.
The first significant design addition in this iteration was introducing a reputation system to address the reliability of trade partners. This system operates in 2 ways:
Know your Trade Partner
Rate your Trades
Star Ratings and Optional Reviews for their trading experiences.
Earn Badges
Recognition for sustainable fashion practices
To avoid abuse of the request marketplace, we introduced the concept of Request Credits (RC): a coin system that facilitates giveaways on the app.
To request an item from the request/giveaway marketplace without a trade, users need RC, which can be earned in 2 ways:
Giving away an item for free: As a goodwill gesture, users can request an item from another user.
Paying a small $20 deposit: Refunded when they give away the item.
The UI for the system consisted of 4 primary elements:
Giveaway/Request System
A ‘How Does RC Work?’ section describing the concept of RC and the Giveaway/Request Marketplace.
An RC Hub containing users’ current listings and giveaway/request history.
Browse Request Market to view available giveaways, send requests, and negotiate meetups through chat.
Review and manage existing requests, covering both sent and received requests.
Filters on the Swipe Screen
We added a hamburger menu on the swiping screen that includes filters.
Customise clothing preferences based on gender and location radius.
Past Matches & Impact Screen
Finally, we added the matches screen and an impact page, allowing users to stay connected and feel gratified, respectively.
Reconnect with their previous trade partners and view trade history.
Showcase the positive impact of users' efforts after each successful trade
The primary challenge in this phase occurred while designing the interactions for the swiping screen. However, with perseverance and many late nights, I overcame this challenge and achieved the desired outcome.
Time to Test our Design
How did we test?
To assess the usability of our system and understand how effectively it helps users achieve their goals, we employed two evaluation techniques: Think Aloud Observations (TAO) and System Usability Scale (SUS).
While TAO allowed us to gather qualitative feedback, providing detailed insights into usability issues and helping us determine whether Switcheroo aligned with their mental models, the SUS helped us gauge the app's usability and learnability.
Combining these techniques, we comprehensively understood the system's usability with high-level quantitative and low-level qualitative feedback.
What did we find?
During the usability testing of our app, we encountered unexpected challenges that deviated from our initial expectations. Two key issues emerged from the testing process.
Issue 1:
The swiping mechanism for liking/disliking clothes was not as intuitive as anticipated. Some participants even struggled to locate the like/dislike buttons.
Issue 2:
Almost all users perceived the request/giveaway marketplace as overly complex and disconnected from the rest of the app. A more user-friendly and integrated UI was needed.
Additionally, a new requirement surfaced in response to feedback from participants.
We needed to moderate inappropriate posts and behaviour within the app to foster a clean and respectful community environment.
Some other minor yet essential issues included:
All details need not be mandatory when uploading a clothing item.
The swiping screen lacked important item details, making it difficult for users to make informed decisions.
Filters were hard to locate and limited, and users were unsure if their suggestions had been applied.
Users could not find the trade history feature, which made it inconvenient for them to review their past transactions.
The inbox icon for accessing past messages was misleading, causing confusion among users.
Lastly, the SUS score for the app was:
69/100, indicating an Above Average rating
This suggested room for improvement in the app's intuitiveness and learnability.
Reiterate and Improve
While the team focused on addressing other issues, my colleague and I dedicated our efforts to revamping the design of the Request Marketplace. We made significant changes to improve its functionality and integration within the app.
Firstly, we removed the RC Hub and distributed its features throughout the app. The request inbox was now seamlessly integrated with the trade inbox, ensuring a more streamlined user experience.
Additionally, the ability to toggle items for trade or giveaway was incorporated into the Item Details screen, making it more intuitive for users.
We placed the Browse Request Market feature in the Navigation Bar, making it easily accessible from anywhere within the app. Users could now explore the request marketplace effortlessly.
Lastly, we implemented a graphical onboarding module to facilitate user understanding and learning, and included multiple help screens throughout the app. These resources were readily available to users, providing guidance and assistance whenever needed. Our aim was to make the app quick and easy to learn.
Onboarding Help at the Start of the App.
RC Help to Understand & Use Giveaway/Request Marketplace.
Swipe Help to Understand the Swipe Functionality.
Other improvements made by the team included:
Users can now block, report, and unmatch a trade partner, along with flagging a post as inappropriate, providing a quick way to clean the community.
The hamburger icon was replaced with a funnel icon representing filters. An Apply button and extra filter categories were introduced. (Nielsen’s Heuristics #1 & #4)
Item details can now be viewed by tapping a clothing item on the Swipe Screen.
The inbox icon was replaced with the chats icon to follow consistency & standards (Nielsen’s Heuristics #4)
Finally, after addressing all the necessary issues, our app was ready and better than ever.
Final Thoughts
What have I learnt?
Design is an ever-evolving process and can always be improved.
Just because a feature is intuitive to me does not mean it is intuitive to the users.
We must follow the users’ mental models for a more efficient and user-friendly design.
Business Benefits
Clothes trading promotes a circular economy, reducing the environmental impact and demand for new garments.
Big clothing brands can engage customers, build loyalty, and showcase sustainability efforts by supporting clothes trading platforms.
Valuable insights into consumer preferences can enable brands to adapt their designs and offerings to stay relevant in the fashion industry.
Next Steps
Organise community-based gatherings to foster socialization among users with a shared interest towards sustainable fashion.
Use crowdsourcing heuristics to define the community's purpose and values through eco-friendly or environment-themed events.
Make the RC system more visible and inviting by introducing a recommender system that suggests items users have shown interest in or similar items liked by other users with similar preferences.
Conclusion
Switcheroo is a fun and user-friendly platform facilitating online clothes trading, promoting 'slow fashion' as an environmentally friendly alternative to fast fashion. It stands out with its unique swipe-to-trade mechanism and encourages a swapping culture. Unlike other platforms, Switcheroo requires users to give away items to receive new ones, discouraging hoarding behaviour.
Thank You
This project would not have been possible without the support of our lecturer, tutor, and the rest of the team. This app design was adapted and extended to a real-life app called MatchTee, co-created by one of our team members Matthew Kwon.
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