With easy access to information and diverse interests, people are exploring more hobbies than ever - from photography to DJ-ing. This enthusiasm for new experiences has a hidden cost: unused equipment piling up when people move on to different activities.

Other marketplace apps serve broad audiences with tons of choices, but they miss unique needs that hobby enthusiasts have: trust concerns, poor transaction options, and no community insight.

Through user research, hobbyists showed me several problems with traditional marketplace apps. Collectors and hobbyists need an easy way to get accumulated equipment out of their homes without losing money. People want alternative ways to get rid of collected equipment beyond just buying and selling.

In order to build out an entire app with a completely new concept, I needed to first research some competitive, established marketplace apps that are used globally, as well as seek insight from users who frequently shop on marketplace apps.

Through competitive analysis, I chose three companies that lead the field with their marketplace interfaces (eBay, Mercari, and OfferUp) and I interviewed 5 people who could give feedback on their experiences with buying and selling online, focusing on pain points around trust, pricing, and community features.

No existing platform adequately serves hobby enthusiasts' specific needs for community connection, knowledge exchange, and alternative transaction models while maintaining safety and ease of use.

Research insights directly informed my list of possible features to create, each mapping to specific user needs and findings from various methods. Core feature categories included safety, community building, transaction variants, user experience, and specialized tools.

Drawing from my interviews, users prioritize simplicity and specialized functionality; this informed my navigation structure and UI, with special emphasis on the “listing” screens being intuitive and quick to upload/list.

Core design principles: clarity over complexity, trust built through transparency, community-first interactions, flexible transaction models (eventually transitioned to trade only).

Low to High-Fidelity Evolution

Between low-fidelity wireframes and final screens, I made key changes based on user feedback and usability testing. The biggest change was simplifying the transaction model to focus on trading - users loved this as a unique, valuable feature.

I improved the listing process by adding hobby-specific templates with condition fields, which fixed user confusion about what information to include. The bartering assistant changed from a hidden feature to a prominent tool that helps users evaluate trade fairness after they struggled with this in testing. I also refined navigation by replacing unclear icons with intuitive symbols and added safety features for in-person meetings that users expected but were missing from initial wireframes

User-Centered Design Impact

Every design decision addressed specific problems I found through interviews with five different hobbyists. The streamlined listing process helps time-pressed users who need to photograph and list items in under five minutes. The detailed specification templates work for expert users who need comprehensive technical information. The trading system serves users who prefer community exchanges over just money transactions.

Safety features and verification respond to concerns from parents about meeting strangers. Calendar integration helps busy families coordinate meetups. This approach turned a standard marketplace concept into a specialized community platform that handles the complete hobby lifecycle from discovery through abandonment, creating value through both transactions and relationships.

After initial research and feature development, I ran comprehensive usability testing to validate my assumptions and find areas for improvement. This phase tested the app's most innovative features—especially the trading functionality, while making sure basic marketplace operations stayed intuitive.

I made prototypes in Figma and created a user test through Lyssna. I tested with the same five participants from initial research to maintain continuity and use their existing project context. This let me compare what users said they needed in interviews versus how they actually used the prototype.

Testing confirmed that Re/X addresses real user needs and showed critical areas to improve before launch. It validated my assumptions about trading functionality and community value while revealing specific usability problems that could prevent adoption.

Most importantly, testing confirmed users value the app's different approach to hobby equipment exchange. The trading functionality works as a compelling alternative to traditional marketplace transactions. The improvements based on testing feedback positioned Re/X to better serve its target audience while keeping its unique value in the competitive marketplace.

Testing showed that successful app development requires continuous refinement based on actual user behavior, not just what users say they want. Even well-researched concepts benefit significantly from prototype testing before final implementation and launch.