FreeSpot
Role: Project Manager / UX/UI Designer
Timeline: 15 days
Tools used: Figma
Overview
My team of 4 UX designers and I ran a 15-day design sprint to redesign the FreeSpot iOS app, which provides a free marketplace for people to request and give away free items. We worked closely with the founder of Freespot through design workshops and generated a testing plan to guide the business through continued usability testing and iterations to improve app usability.
The Challenge
As an early stage startup, FreeSpot saw unexpectedly fast growth during the pandemic. The founder had not previously conducted any user research, and was eager to understand who his users actually were. Mystery users, search usability issues and a lack of clear structure to listings had made it difficult to determine which improvements should be prioritized. The 15-day timeframe and clear usability issues meant that prioritization for this project was crucial.
My Design Process
Research • Understand • Translate • Craft • Test • Iterate
The Solution
To improve the usability issues around both finding and posting free items, the redesign prominently features a clear and interactive slider to target requested items and items being offered to give away.
The large category blocks that dominated a large chunk of the screen real estate were replaced with easily scrollable horizontal groupings, so users could browse and hunt for items that catch their interest, rather than relying on the error-prone search feature.
Constraints
The amount and severity of usability issues needed to be our main priority for the 15-day design sprint redesign. Though we identified two clear personas (a “giver” and “receiver” of free items) we made the decision to primarily focus on one persona, the “giver”, because there were a disproportionate amount of “receivers” in the app, which we hoped to balance out.
Understanding our Users
We discovered through the interviews that the two most important aspects of giving and sharing with others is safety and convenience. Users feel most comfortable using a platform that gives them the added ability to screen and vet users they do not know personally.
Additionally, many users prefer to give their belongings away to people within their social circle. They do, however, find that online marketplaces offer great exposure to broader audiences with whom they can share or receive items from.
Marcella the Giver
Wants:
To make sure her items go to someone in need and not the landfill
The flexibility to drop things off or have them picked up at a convenient time for her
Frustrations:
Needing to actively manage listings in complicated marketplaces
Too much back and forth to coordinate a pickup
Needs:
Convenient, efficient way to get rid of items she no longer needs
To feel safe when someone comes to her home to pick up an item
“It makes me happy that something I no longer need will help someone else.”
The Problem
How might we help Marcella efficiently and safely give away the things she no longer needs to someone in need?
Priorities for the Redesign
We utilized two key methods to align on the features we would focus on designing: a MoSCoW map and Feature Prioritization Matrix.
The discussion and debate raised by these methods enabled us to align on the features that will provide the most value for our users. We focused on best serving Marcella by providing more structure and consistency in the marketplace experience.
Reflection
It was both a challenge and delight to have so much room to explore, since we were introducing UX methodologies to this product for the first time.
We were pleased to see that though no official UX research was conducted prior to ours, the product was still well-defined and aligned well with user needs. As the usability issues improve and the location feature is implements so users can know where items are located, we’re confident this product will continue to flourish and provide value for local communities.
