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Thrift On Campus
Project: Thrift on Campus
Role: UX/UI Designer

Tools/Skills: Figma, User Research, Ideation, Prototyping

Duration: Six weeks - In progress
Concept:
"Thrift on Campus" is a marketplace app designed for college students to buy, sell, and exchange secondhand items within their campus. The platform is designed for ease of use, ensuring secure, campus-specific transactions with features like in-app meet-up location selection and buyer/seller mode switching. Additionally, the app fosters a sense of community, connecting students through shared commerce and mutual support.
G al:
To create a student-friendly, secure marketplace for buying and selling items within a university campus environment, making it easy to arrange meet-ups and manage transactions.
Problem Statment:
​As a college student, I, along with many friends and recent graduates, often find ourselves with items we no longer use, unsure of what to do with them. These items take up space, especially for those of us in dorms or on rural campuses, and we often have to get rid of them or give them away. But what if we could make a few dollars from those unused items right within our campus?
Many students face common barriers to reselling items on campus concerns about safety, the inconvenience of coordinating meet-ups, and the lack of a centralized platform dedicated to campus exchanges. While existing resale options exist, they don’t meet the unique needs of college students and aren’t tailored to campus life. These challenges inspired me to create "Thrift on Campus," a secure, campus-focused app that addresses the specific needs of students.
I hypothesized that students struggle with on-campus buying and selling because:
Absence of a Centralized Campus Marketplace: Without a campus-specific platform, students miss out on the opportunity to buy and sell items easily within their immediate community.
Safety Concerns: Students need secure, designated meet-up locations within campus boundaries.
Lack of Convenience: Current platforms lack tailored features, such as buyer/seller profiles and convenient pick-up spots within familiar campus locations.
"Thrift on Campus" is designed to address these gaps by creating a convenient, secure, and student-centered platform that helps students declutter, save money, and earn from unused items within their college communities. After all, who doesn’t enjoy making a bit of extra cash while clearing out space? By bringing students together in a safe, campus-focused marketplace, "Thrift on Campus" makes buying and selling easy, rewarding, and accessible for every student.
User Research:
With the help of friends, I conducted research to understand the challenges students and staff face with on-campus buying and selling. I reached out to students on my campus and friends at colleges in other states to compare experiences. Surprisingly, we found that while a campus in the city might seem easier to navigate, the larger the campus, the harder it is to connect with other students to buy or sell items. My friends and I wanted to see if these challenges were common across different campuses, and we reached out to 85 individuals including staff members, teachers, and students from various schools.
Key Findings: I discovered that many individuals felt frustrated by the lack of a secure and accessible platform for campus-based exchanges. Many teachers and staff members mentioned that, during their college years, they didn’t have the technology that could enable these connections, and having a dedicated platform would have made it so much easier for them to buy and sell items within their college community.
Here are a few standout responses to the question, “What has been the biggest challenge you’ve experienced with buying or selling items on campus?”
"It’s hard to spread the word when I have something to sell."
"I don’t know what to do with my stuff when I don’t need it anymore."
"Getting off-campus to buy things is inconvenient."
Through this feedback, I identified the following main pain points:
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Lack of a Secure Platform: Students and staff need a reliable, safe environment for campus-based buying and selling.
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Limited Resources for On-Campus Needs: Many individuals miss out on affordable, secondhand items due to the absence of a centralized marketplace.
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Difficulty with Moving or Selling Unused Items: Without a dedicated platform, students and staff are often left with items they no longer need but can’t easily pass on to others.
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Brain Storming:
After exploring numerous ideas, I narrowed them down to some main opportunity areas:
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Verified Campus Community Only: Require student emails for sign-up, ensuring only verified students can use the platform. This helps build trust among users.
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User Engagement: How might we encourage students to regularly interact with the platform, both as buyers and sellers.
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Trust and Safety: How might we ensure that transactions are safe and students feel secure using the platform?
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Seamless Transaction Experience: How might we make the buying, selling, and pick-up process as smooth and convenient as possible for students?
With these opportunity areas in mind, I came up with several potential solutions to address these challenges.
Trust and Safety
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Campus-Only Verification: Require students to verify their campus email addresses during sign-up. This will help create a trusted environment, limiting app access to verified students only.
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Secure Meet-Up Points: Designate safe and well-lit campus meet-up points for transactions, such as the Student Union or library entrances. Integrate these locations directly into the app.
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Ratings and Reviews: Allow users to rate their buying/selling experience and leave reviews, helping to establish credibility within the community.
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Buyer/Seller Toggle: Add a quick toggle feature that allows users to switch between buyer and seller modes, making it easy for students to manage their items and purchases.
Protoype :
Feel free to explore
Unpacking the solution: With the main features of "Thrift on Campus," I addressed significant challenges like safety, convenience, and the absence of a centralized platform for on-campus buying and selling. However, one question remained: how do we ensure students can easily connect with each other to make secure, local transactions?
Leveraging feedback from surveys and understanding students’ need for a streamlined experience, I incorporated features like designated pick-up locations, buyer/seller mode toggling, and a simplified listing process. These additions create a user-friendly environment where students can list, discover, and exchange items with ease within their campus community.
Future Enhancement:
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Add Ratings/Reviews: Allow buyers and sellers to rate each other to improve trust and community safety.
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Enhanced Location Mapping: Incorporate a campus map for easier meet-up location selection.
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Advanced Filters: Add category and price filters to streamline the item search experience.
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In-app Scheduling: Provide an in-app scheduling tool to help buyers and sellers coordinate meet-ups quickly and efficiently. The feature could show available meet-up points and times convenient for both parties.