Founde

Product Design for Marketplace App

Founde is a mobile-first marketplace for vintage and handmade goods.

Client

Founde

Services

UX Research Product Design

Industries

E-Commerce

Date

June 2025

Goals

Founde engaged me to design a mobile-first marketplace tailored to design-conscious users. Together, we defined three core goals:

Streamlined Experience: Enable users to discover, post, and communicate with minimal effort.
Design System: Build a lightweight system to guide UI decisions and maintain consistency.
Brand Identity: Create a minimal, elegant brand aesthetic that feels both approachable and elevated.

Process

I began with competitive analysis to identify proven marketplace patterns, then translated insights into wireframes and high-fidelity prototypes in Figma. Testing on device through Figma Mirror and iterative reviews with design leads guided refinements in accessibility, spacing, and interaction design. To ensure cohesion, I built a mini design system covering typography, color, and components that supported both usability and brand identity.

Research & Insights

Analysis of platforms like Facebook Marketplace, Etsy, Mercari, and 1st Dibs surfaced two key opportunities:

Streamlined Interaction: Facebook Marketplace’s direct “Message Seller” flow informed intuitive communication patterns, refined using Apple’s Human Interface Guidelines.
Discovery & Curation: Etsy inspired features such as personalized feeds, advanced filters, and saved listings to foster exploration and a sense of curation.

These insights shaped a product that is simple to use yet visually elevated.

Solution

The prototype reflected Founde’s brand identity—minimal, elegant, and discovery-driven—through warm neutrals, saffron gold, and deep charcoal, paired with clean sans serif typography and a distinctive serif logo. Core solutions included:

A personalized For You feed tailored to user preferences.
Floating icons on Ad Pages to spotlight product photography.
A mini design system for consistent typography, color, and components.

Validation testing with Figma Mirror and design leads resulted in refinements that improved accessibility and polish:

Accessibility: Larger text in message previews, DM chats, and listings; enlarged icons for easier tap targets.
Layout & Spacing: Adjusted navbars and icons for iPhone edges, added notch-safe spacing, and refined overall clarity.
UI Enhancements: Replaced Ad Page header background with floating icons, and added screens to expand and validate user flows.

Outcome

The engagement resulted in a polished, mobile-first prototype that positioned Founde as a marketplace where usability meets sophistication. By combining competitor insights, iterative validation, and a strong creative direction, I delivered an experience that is streamlined, consistent, and visually timeless—reflecting both Founde’s brand vision and the expectations of its design-conscious audience.