Alana, a mobile marketplace ensuring fraud-free purchasing

Role

Design Project Lead

Timeline

January to May 2024

Team

5 Designers, 3 Developers

Tools & Skills

Figma, UXR, Branding

Background

Designing to build customer confidence

Alana is an app combating the rise of bootleg products where users scan a product's barcode to verify its authenticity. Alana struggled to break into the market due to failing to hold the attention and trust of customers.


I led four designers to deliver a refined scanning experience and introduce a personalized marketplace that elevates Alana's mission of authentic purchasing.

Alana is an app combating the rise of bootleg products where users scan a product's barcode to verify its authenticity. Alana struggled to break into the market due to failing to hold the attention and trust of customers.


I led four designers to deliver a refined scanning experience and introduce a personalized marketplace that elevates Alana's mission of authentic purchasing.

Research & Findings

Alana didn’t feel trustworthy & lacked purpose for first-time users

Through user interviews, we found that Alana struggled with user engagement due to failing to convey the trust that their brand promises. We looked to other apps' with clearer scanning experiences to see where Alana could improve.


We concluded that in order for Alana to stand out in the market as a fraud-free shopping app, it needed stronger clarity and its scope of functionalities to expand in a way that emphasizes trust and authenticity.




Through user interviews, we found that Alana struggled with user engagement due to failing to convey the trust that their brand promises. We looked to other apps' with clearer scanning experiences to see where Alana could improve.


We concluded that in order for Alana to stand out in the market as a fraud-free shopping app, it needed stronger clarity and its scope of functionalities to expand in a way that emphasizes trust and authenticity.


Goals

Expanding on the mission of fraud-free shopping

I held a whiteboarding session with my designers to brainstorm potential ways Alana could grow, resulting in these features that emphasize personalization:


  • A marketplace tailored to users' lifestyles based on scanning history, encouraging frequent product scanning.

  • Deeper profile customization through organization and sorting of products.

  • Change in color branding towards green to evoke authenticity.


Wireframing

Fleshing out new features

We made sure to flesh out our ideas by considering the edge cases, such as users scanning a product not in the database or wanting to edit their scanning history.

Final Designs

Alana Reimagined

Shop for real products, tailored to you

Shop for real products, tailored to you

A marketplace that not only ensures fraud-free products but products that suit your needs.


The new 'For You' page drives engagement through product recommendations based on user activity (saving, liking, scanning a product).

A marketplace that not only ensures fraud-free products but products that suit your needs.


The new 'For You' page drives engagement through product recommendations based on user activity (saving, liking, scanning a product).

Scan with ease

Scan with ease

Scanning barcodes is now more intuitive, with a clearer frame and less obtrusive interface.


If a scanned product hasn't been added to the database, users will now be prompted to add it.

Scanning barcodes is now more intuitive, with a clearer frame and less obtrusive interface.


If a scanned product hasn't been added to the database, users will now be prompted to add it.

Curate your own experience

Curate your own experience

Keep track of products of interest you've browsed or scanned.


Users can organize products into collections and review their product history to shape future recommendations.

Keep track of products of interest you've browsed or scanned.


Users can organize products into collections and review their product history to shape future recommendations.

Reflection

Final Thoughts

Working on Alana taught me to design in a more out-of-the-box approach. I'm very proud of the solutions my team developed that even the stakeholders felt elevated Alana's mission of trustworthiness!


With our new design, I now see Alana standing out from other retail apps by providing a strong sense of comfort and peace of mind from fraudulent products.


If given more time, I'd have liked to do more extensive iterations on the marketplace through usability testing to inform deeper design choices and adjust for further edge cases.