BIDDIE

An app in development that focuses on bidding on thrifted finds!

A BUSINESS IS BORN

Biddie came to me in the fall of 2020, though its origins trace back to June 2020, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Mia started selling clothes online during lockdown to make some extra money and soon discovered a vibrant community centered around second-hand shopping and selling. She quickly immersed herself in the thrifting and selling scene, which marked the beginning of Biddie.

PROBLEMS IN PARADISE

Mia and her peers used Instagram for their bidding process due to its convenient features. However, issues soon arose, creating hurdles for both thrifters and bidders. This prompted Mia to pursue the creation of an app that would support all aspects of the thrifting and bidding journey.

STARTING THE GROUNDWORK

Instagram thrifting was a new concept to me, so I needed to research to understand my users better. I gathered information from Mia and followed similar Instagram accounts. After gaining a deeper understanding of the field, I began creating personas and user journeys, identifying pain points, and establishing UX requirements.

Buyer's User Journey

To better understand the buyer's experience with online thrifting, I created a customer journey map.

Steps for the buyer:

Set up an Instagram account
Follow thrifting Instagram accounts and subscribe to stories.
Search for a planned drop time and set aside time for the drop
Wait for the drop
Once the drop has gone live, bid either amount or 'BIN' (Buy It Now)
Send payment and shipping address
Receive tracking information
Receive package
Share on social media

Seller's User Journey

To better understand the seller's journey, I created a customer journey map that showed the steps, activities,

Steps for the seller:

Create an Instagram account.
Promote accounts and follow other accounts.
Share, comment, and support other accounts' posts.
Source items from thrift stores.
Log sourced items into excel or notebooks and note small descriptions alongside items.
Wash all items, think, and re-work!
Take pictures of items on white background.
Edit pictures.
Select a cover picture for the post.
Organize photos into a grid to visualize what they will look like on Instagram feed.
Track description of each item.
Preset post.
Post.
Track bids after posted.
Respond to bidders.
Once the item(s) is sold, message buyers and collect the necessary information.
Generate a package lable.
Prepare package.
Send.
Message buyers tracking.

PERSONAS

After gaining insights from Instagram and conversations with people in the business, I created two personas that I frequently referred to while developing wireframes.
These personas were invaluable in designing the app from both perspectives. Each persona captured the user's demographics, goals, needs, motivations, and frustrations.

WIREFRAMING

SPLASH AND START SCREEN

I started creating mockups for the login and splash screen. I wanted to make the screens as minimalistic as possible not only to make the soon-to-be complicated interface easier to navigate, but to also capture the idea of sustainability that was core to this app.

DETERMINING PROFILE LAYOUTS

I had envisioned the layout of the bidder and seller profiles to look different from one another. For the sellers, I wanted to incorporate crucial aspects such as current inventory, a feed of active bids, an archive of old and future posts, and seller ratings. While with bidders, I wanted to incorporate stats like reliability, previous purchases, and ratings from sellers who have worked with the buyer.

Project on hold.

This project has been put on hold as details of the new and upcoming business are being determined.