Plaza

The authenticity of arts and crafts sellers is unlike any other, yet it is increasingly overshadowed by the overwhelming saturation of content across social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok.

After onboarding and gaining a clear understanding of the problem, I reviewed the team’s existing screens and designs. The UI felt bland and lacked a clear brand identity, so I took the initiative to define a stronger visual direction and collaborated with a marketing teammate to build the brand from the ground up.

After extensive analysis of the current company mission and user interfaces, I identified three major areas of improvement that could be made in order to optimize the application before launching into the Apple Store.

With our new partnership with the Jackalope Arts Fair, establishing a clear brand identity and a functional mobile app by April 23rd became critical. Our goal was to attend the Pasadena Arts & Crafts festival and pitch the concept directly to sellers and buyers on-site.

A key insight shared by both marketing and myself was concern around companies handling payments and orders. In response, our team’s marketer and I focused on building a brand identity that builds trust and reflects user needs.

We scheduled a call with Jackalope representatives to understand their goals for the arts and crafts festival. They highlighted key requirements, most notably an interactive Arts Festival Map to help attendees navigate the event, which we then incorporated into our project scope.

With the existing product requirements and new stakeholder needs in mind, the CEO and I mapped potential user flows for the mobile app. This clarified navigation and ensured each feature aligned with both our original goals and Jackalope’s expectations.

Once the user flows were finalized, we created low-fidelity prototypes of the mobile app. These were tested internally to identify experience gaps and refine the design through rapid iteration.

After defining the app’s general flow, I held informal discussions with the development team to explore ways to streamline the design-to-development handoff. Key pain points that emerged are listed below.

With branding, visual identity, user flows, and a complete design system in place, I created a mid-fidelity mockup that integrated all visual and functional elements of the app.

After completing the mid-fidelity mockup, we met with Jackalope representatives to gather feedback and assess alignment with their expectations. A pivotal insight emerged: the opportunity to integrate Shopify transfers, which became a key feature for smooth user onboarding and overall platform success.

Plaza is a place where all arts & crafts sellers and buyers can come and create their own niche communities and connect with one another all within a single platform.

After several intense weeks of development, we successfully launched the mobile app on the Apple Store. We also had the opportunity to travel to Los Angeles and pitch our product directly to the arts and crafts community at the festival.

After creating the design system, I conducted brief interviews with the developers to assess its impact. Both reported that it was beneficial and greatly improved their efficiency.