Tool Trade:
A Secure Secondhand Appliance Marketplace for Students
3 months
Sole designer and researcher
Figma, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Premiere Pro, Google Forms
Interaction Design, Wireframing, Prototyping, Design Systems, User Research
Every semester, thousands of college students struggle to buy or sell appliances affordably and safely. Between sketchy Facebook Marketplace listings and inconvenient pickup logistics, the process is often more stressful than it’s worth and often contribute to unnecessary waste when students buy new items instead of reusing or renting.
Problem Statement:
How might I design an application that makes using and purchasing secondhand appliances a more accessible, affordable, and secure experience for college students?
The Solution:
A mobile marketplace that connects verified students within the same campus to make buying, selling, and renting secondhand appliances safe, affordable, and community-driven.
Key Features:
The app focuses on three key aspects of the process to enhance safety, convenience, and trust:
Onboarding and .edu Verification:
Students sign up using their college credentials and can set preferences for buying, selling, or renting - creating a personalized and safe experience from the get-go.
Secure In-App Messaging:
An integrated chat allows safe, direct communication within the app — no need to exchange personal contact details.
Sorting & Scheduling:
Students can filter results by distance or pickup time, making coordination and transport planning easier.Research and insights:
How do students currently acquire and use their appliances? What might they want from an app for secondhand appliances?
To design a solution that truly met student needs, I began with secondary research on how students approach buying, selling, and sharing appliances. I found that most relied on informal channels like Facebook groups or dorm notice boards, which often felt unsafe, unreliable, and inconvenient.
Method #1 - User Surveys - Collecting Quantitative Data
To start, I conducted a user survey of about 25 students:
- 76% of students already share appliances
- 92% of students are open to selling their used appliances
- 88% of students are interested in buying secondhand appliances
- >50% already own secondhand appliances
- 72% of students dislike dealing with transport and shipping logistics
- Concerns about the legitimacy of transactions
- A preference for working with peers within their own college or community
Method #2 - Personas - Collecting Qualitative Data
Next, I synthesized the survey data into two primary personas to guide design decisions:
A student wanting to make money by renting or selling appliances while avoiding storage issues or waste.
Together, these insights formed the foundation for ToolTrade’s core design principles - trust, transparency, and flexibility:
Community Trust
Limiting the platform’s marketplace to a college or nearby areas builds trust.
User Protections
Creepy parking lot pickups are not fun. Ensuring secure transactions is critical.
Flexibility & Affordability
The college student schedule and tight budget means that flexibility and affordability is a need.
Using these insights, I mapped user stories to understand the main goals and motivations driving interactions.
Method #3 - User Stories
“As a college student, I want to sell an appliance I no longer need so that I can earn money and pass it on to another student who can use it”
“As a college student, I want to rent out my appliances so that I can make extra cash from items I don’t use frequently”
“As a college student, I want to rent an appliance from another student so that I can use it temporarily without having to buy a new one”
“As a college student, I want to buy a secondhand appliance so that I can get what I need affordably and sustainably”
These stories became the foundation for the app’s key user flows — onboarding, sorting, and messaging — ensuring that each flow directly addressed a real student goal.
Method #4 - Use Cases
Jason wants to sell his old table lamp. He will first click on the profile button in the bottom navigation bar, click on the Listings Tab and hit the plus button to create a new listing. He can also add special tags to share info about the lamp.
Charlotte wants to buy a vacuum cleaner. She can look up who may be selling one using the search bar. Afterbrowsing the search results, she can talk to or view information about the renter through their profile before adding the item to her cart. She will then check out and purchase via the Cart Page.
Jason wants to rent out his Roomba for a few months this summer. He can do so by heading to his profile page, clicking on the Listings Tab and hit the plus button to create a new listing to rent his appliance.
Charlotte is interested in buying a new blender. She can look up who in the neighborhood may be renting one using the suggested options. After talking to the renter, she can add the item to her cart. Through the cart page, she would then schedule and pay for her rental.
Seeing how Charlotte and Jason moved through these scenarios helped me visualize the bigger picture. I then organized these interactions into a cohesive system through a structured information architecture.
Reflections & Future Considerations:
These design artifacts — from stories to architecture — helped ensure ToolTrade wasn’t just another marketplace, but a platform that truly fits how students live, share, and trust each other.
With a clear structure and user flows in place, I reflected on what worked, what could be improved, and how the design might evolve to better meet students’ needs in future iterations.
I underestimated how hesitant some users can be or in how many ways I would need to establish or re-establish trust. Future versions could include peer-verification badges, campus moderators, or built-in delivery options. Expanding beyond appliances could grow the app’s impact while keeping community and safety at its core.