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April 2024 - present
Founding Product Designer
100% of students said that their buying and selling workflows would improve with Agora, and that they would prefer Agora to GroupMe and Facebook
120+ beta testers in the first month and more to come!! š„³š„³
The name Agora was inspired by the agora of Ancient Greece, a central hub and marketplace for civilians.
The original Agora
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The app Agora
It all started when I wanted to sell concert tickets. I went into my university's buy and sell GroupMe and was absolutely overloaded with messages. There was no way my message was going to stay relevant for more than an hour. Facebook was no better that time I was thrifting -- I had no way of seeing the price of each item.
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After surveying 25 student buyers and sellers from 6 different universities, IĀ found that buyers and sellers share the same goal of buying/selling an item as quickly as possible since they are students with limited time.
Buyers want to...
ā¢ Find items easily
ā¢Ā Understand item details without having to message the seller
ā¢Ā Communicate with the seller without having to move to a different platform
Sellers want to....
ā¢ Get visibility on their item
ā¢ Get their item sold as quickly as possible
ā¢ Get a good price on their item
ā¢ Communicate with the buyer easily
After interviewing users and sorting their needs into affinity maps, I generated 3 problem statements that each address the larger goal of making it easier for students to buy or sell quickly.
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HMW make it easier for buyers to find items and sellers to get their items seen?
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HMW help buyers understand item details?
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HMW help buyers and sellers communicate with each other?
I took inspiration from major e-commerce brands like Mercari, Poshmark, and eBay to evaluate how they help millions of users buy and sell items.
š¢ Ā Actionable offer button Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā
š¢ Ā Clear item information
š¢ Ā Intuitive search and filters
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š¢ Ā Predetermined categories
š¢ Ā Saved items in profile
š¢ Ā Categories in the shopping page
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š¢ Ā Expiration dates on listingsĀ Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā
š¢ Ā Strong UX writing
š¢ Ā Elaborate search and filters
Before designing, I thought about what features would exist in Agora and how they'd connect to help students buy and sell items easily. For instance, Home and Discover improves searchability and visibility, Create allows sellers to input item details, Messages improves communication, and Profile gives access to previous activity.
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By introducing predetermined categories, searching, and filtering, buyers can find whatever it is that they need, which turn helps sellers get visibility on their item! Buyers can also access previous activity like saved posts, pending and past offers, and previously bought items so that they can locate the seller if they ever need to.
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The name and price of each item on its image helps buyers understand item details without having to view the post description or message the seller for more info. The expiration date and the number of buyers interested clarifies the item's availability. The seller information helps buyers evaluate seller and item trustworthiness.
From the original post, buyers can make an offer or send a message to the seller. Offers and messages are sent directly to a private chat between the buyer and seller, where the seller can take action on the offer or message. Everything is streamlined to take place on 1 platform, in 1 place.
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Testing hi-fi designs with 5 student buyers and sellers revealed the effect of visual design principles on user behaviors. After making the offer button bright yellow, adding "Offer," and placing it where most users are positioned to tap, 100% of users were able to find the offer button and were more likely to make an offer.
Initially, student buyers wanted to see the highest offer so they could determine if they wanted or could afford it. However, from a seller and business perspective, displaying the highest offer deters buyers from making an offer and lowers the chances of getting the item sold for a higher price. Replacing the highest offer feature with an expiration date provides more urgency to make an offer.
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Asking sellers to accept, counter, or decline the offer ensures that an offer's status is accurately documented and that the buyer receives their item. In the original design, the seller can type without having to interact with the 3 options, but the final design ensures that the seller selects an option before typing a message.
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Moving the confirmation message to the top frees up the screen so that the buyer can continuously browse, fulfilling user and business needs. Changing horizontal scroll to vertical scroll fits existing mobile browsing patterns and encourages more browsing.
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I chose Poppins for typography and yellow as the primary color to give the app a bright and friendly feel that encourages students to interact with the app. Additionally, IĀ chose blue and yellow because blue is a color associated with Greece and yellow is a color associated with wealth.
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Get started with Agora
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Select your university to get connected to other students, then mark your preferences for a personalized home feed
Make an offer or message the seller
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Interested or want to know more about an item? Reach out to the seller, and your offer or message will go straight to a private chat between you and the seller
Search and filter for what you're looking for
No more endless scrolling or asking if someone is selling what you want ā use the search bar to find whatever it is you need. Sorting and filtering is there to help you narrow down your preferences.
Discover what's out there
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Browse through great deals and cool categories to find the next thing that you're looking for
Create a post
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Sell your item to a specific category so that anyone looking for it can find it easily. Attach a price, condition, and photos to each item to make it clear what you're offering
Messages
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Ask for clarification or negotiate an offer, right on the same platform that you used to find the item. Anything that happens between a buyer and seller for an item will happen here
Profileā
View your posts, saved posts, offers, and previous transactions. Update your settings whenever you need to
After a 2nd round of user testing, here's what student buyers and sellers said aboutĀ Agora:
"I thought it was really easy to navigate through the different listings! I wish we had this instead of GroupMe."
āI like that you can negotiate and track offers because I don't really have that feature anywhere else.ā
"It would be so nice to sublease my apartment on here so it doesn't get lost like it does on Facebook."
"Since I go to a lot of concerts, this would help me find out if anyone's selling a ticket to an artist that's in Houston."
šĀ Ā Think about how user needs might conflict with business goals
Users stated that they wanted to know what the highest offer for an item is, but IĀ realized that would just deter them from making an offer and possibly lead to a lower final price for the seller's item.
š¦¾Ā Ā Explore automation to help users do less work
Why ask the user to state whether or not their item was received when the system can identify it based on what's said (or not said)Ā in the chat?Ā Also, home feed preferences don't need to be adjusted when the system can cater to the user based on their viewing activity.
š£Ā Ā Take things step by step
Designing a whole app for the first time meant breaking everything down into steps like doing research, defining the problem, and creating wireframes. Not only did this help me manage my time, but it also helped me reflect on what each step taught me.