project summary
Concept Statement
U-Circle is a platform that allows college students to trade their goods with security. All the transactions would be through the secured system within the platform. Students can easily add tags and descriptions to their product, and browse with key words and filters. It also expend the trade from inside of school to schools within the same city. The key idea of U-Circle is to create a college community for students to buy/sell/give away things with better protection, and create an enhanced experience for college students when trading the second-hand goods.
Target Audience
• Age group: 18~28 (including grads and undergrads)
• Buy and sell second-hand products
• Are now users of college Free and For Sale group
• Need a more secured platform for transaction
• Need to make sure all users are verified
• Need a trading system that provide more security
• Need a easier way for searching needed product
The Problem
Nowadays, a lot of students attending colleges tend to trade furnitures, textbooks and other college supplies through Facebook Free & For Sale groups. There are concerns of security between money transactions and verification of users. Not enough protection for both sellers and buyers has been an issue. Furthermore, the algorithm of Facebook make it difficult for users to search products depending on their preferences. It is also hard for a product to be seen after several hours. A more secured and efficient channel is desperately needed in the student second-hand trading market.
Design opportunities
Things students do on Free and For Sale
• Sell and buy second-hand goods
• Sell and buy education materials
• Sell and buy cars or other transportation tools
• Give aways
• Search for specific product (ISO)
• Offering moving assistants
• Selling self-branded crafts
• Pet adoption or lost pets
• Information sharing forum
Price listings
• Fixed price
• Negotiable price
• Discount offers
• Of best offer
final development
Website Link: U-Circle
user stories
Feature Summary
Buy & Sell
• In site transaction
• Tags of item
• Delivery options
• Price options
• Quick upload
• Broaden audience
• Down payment
Search item
• Location filter
• Budget filter
• Categories
• Communication assistant
• Discover function
• Chatting system
• Tracking item
• Item condition
• Gender filter
Competitive research
Competitor Analysis
Spider maps helps to address the white spaces remaining in the market. There are a good amount of websites for second-hand trading. The following four are considered as the major competitors that aimed at similar values with U-circle. As the diagrams showed, transaction security is currently the hugest white space in the market.
concept rendering
site map
flow chart
Create Account
Post Item
Buy Item
wireframes
Adaptive interface
Since U-Circle is aimed at creating a safe and efficient environment for second-hand product trading, it make more sense to have it on not only desktop web but also mobile interface. With allowing more channel choices for the users, U-Circle can provide a flexible way to allow trades to happen anywhere at anytime.
style guide
prototypes
interface visual
resposive site development
Link to demo website: U-Circle
