DEPOP
An unsolicited redesign of the popular fashion marketplace
Background
Depop is a popular fashion marketplace app for young individuals. It has a global community of sellers and shoppers, and aims to make fashion more inclusive, diverse and less wasteful.
I started using the app after a friend recommended it to me. I really liked the idea behind it but I soon noticed that the app was unnecessarily complex and a few sections were repeating.
I decided to redesign it to reduce complexity and improve the user-experience.
A good user-experience would build a trust relationship between the user and the brand which would lead to increased sales and reduced fashion waste.
Methods
•User Interviews
•Affinity Mapping
•Persona
•User Journeys
•Kano model
•Sketches
Tools
•Figma
•Miro
•Adobe Illustrator
Deliverables
•Wireframes
Key Learning Takeaways
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Taking feedback from a software developer
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Working within technical constrains
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Making the most out of very little data
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Deeper understanding of Figma and Adobe Illustrator
Process
I gathered data from the most recent app reviews and organised them using affinity mapping. Still, I noticed I did not have a full picture of the users’ motivation and pain points. I did two user interviews via Skype focusing on users' Depop shopping habits and preferences, and added that data to my original affinity diagram.
image 1. Interview with a Depop shopper
The main themes that emerged were that users:
•Searched Depop for unique items and styles they could not find in other apps and not for branded clothing.
•Found Depop’s personalised suggestions (‘My DNA’ tab) repetitive and did not use it.
•Used multiple ways to search for items as the app often came up with less relevant results.
Image 2. Affinity mapping
I created a persona that combined the main information from my research; this helped me empathise with the users and reminded me for whom I am designing for. I did competitive analysis on Ebay, Vinted and Shpock apps to compare the ways they organised information and what they offered.
I also created user journey maps to see all the steps a user would have to take to find and buy an item and the challenges that would appear. I explored two scenarios, a searcher and a browser type of shopper, as they both reflected Depop user behaviours.
Image 3. (left) Persona, Image 4. (right) User journey mapping
I made rough sketches and a list of ideas on how to simplify the app, keeping in mind the main user pain points. Some of those ideas, albeit quite basic, required services that Depop could not currently offer, such as parcel tracking and dedicated customer service, and were rejected. I used the Kano model to prioritise my ideas, as it had been a framework I wanted to explore more and this was a good opportunity. This proved to be challenging as I had to make quite a few assumptions about the business investment and constrains.
Image 5. Ideas and Kano Model
I shared the ideas I had shortlisted with a software developer and asked for feedback around technical constraints. Based on the feedback I received I rejected ideas such as improving the item tagging and decided to focus on simplifying the main screen and the search screen of the app.
I sketched solutions focused on reducing the complexity of those two screens in a way that would increase sales and remain consistent to the character of the app. This was not easy as I did not have any user analytics and had to make some assumptions. My main focus was to maintain the popular sections of the app and the ways users were exposed to new items but organise them in a more accessible and intuitive way for the user.
Image 6. Annotated sketches
I scanned and annotated my sketches in Miro and then took them to Figma where I made low and high fidelity wireframes and a clickable prototype that can be found here. Throughout the design process I was consulting with a software developer and made adjustments to the button sizes, the size of the top bar and the margins.
Image 7. Low fidelity wireframes in Figma
Image 7. High fidelity wireframes in Figma
Outcomes
Main screen
I simplified the main screen by consolidating all three different tabs that exist in the original app (images 8, 9 and 10) into one main screen (image 11). The redesigned main screen consisted of elements from the Explore tab (top round buttons) and the main feed. This way users could see the activity of the sellers they follow and get themed suggestions about other sellers by Depop. I also removed completely the ‘My DNA’ tab, as users did not find it helpful or use it very often.
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Images 8, 9, 10. (top) Original Depop main screen,
Image 11. (bottom) Redesigned Depop main screen that combines the Feed and elements from the Explore tab to simplify the UX
Search screen
For the search screen, I created three buttons with the main item categories sold on Depop (Womenswear, Menswear and Other) and added an image grid with selected items by Depop. This was originally in the Explore tab of the main screen ('Things we love', image 9). I wanted to maintain this grid as it helps users discover new and unique items and sellers, and is essential to the character of the app. It also made sense to me that this was in the search screen. Lastly, I completely removed the brand categories as users were not very interested in brands.
Images 12. (left) Original Depop search screen, Image 13. (centre) Redesigned Depop search screen with buttons for the main item categories and the image grid from the Explore tab,
Image 14. (right) Womenswear subcategories
Next Steps
As a next step I would conduct usability testing to detect any issues with my design (such as discoverability problems) and points for further improvement. I would then refine my solution accordingly.