Timeline
Sep-Dec 2024 (16 Weeks)
Team Credit
Emily (me)
Anita
Liwen
My Role
Product Design
Interaction Design
Design Research
Brand Design
Information Architect
Design System Lead
Prototyping
Usability Testing
Project overview
User Casey
"I buy stuff like screwdrivers and car vacuums, use them once, and then they just sit there collecting dust. There has to be a better way!"
Use BURO!
A community-driven borrowing and lending app that’s all about convenience, security, and trust!
Introduce to
Main features 01
Browsing Made Easy & Flexible
Users can search by date or explore nearby items, featured lenders, and community picks. With customizable borrow periods, flexible returns, and smart filters, finding the perfect match.
Borrow a screw driver
Main features 02
Secure & Seamless Transactions
With supervised processes and well-kept records, both borrowers and lenders can feel at ease, ensuring a smooth and worry-free experience.
Video logs help keep records
Higher rating, more BAGELS(BURO currency)!
Impact Metrics
High User Satisfaction & Trust
The market is way bigger than imagined.
Asking 42 people what they do when they need stuff like screwdriver sets or car vacuums—those “once or twice a year” items. Here’s what they had to say!
97% people we reached out to had this problem.
81.3% of them choose to buy a new item.
43.8% of them choose to go without the item.
Interview
Trust and safety always come first when people think of borrow and lend.
Interview budget-savvy borrowers, generous lenders, and marketplace pros to uncover how people share stuff, especially with total strangers.
Persona
Designing for Casey, the budget-savvy grad in a shared NYC apartment, juggling life as both a borrower and a lender.
The interviews revealed that users don’t fit into just one role—those who lend are often happy to borrow too! So, the same persona is being explored from two different angles.
Borrower Casey
For Casey, asking is the hardest part—fear of rejection, sketchy deals, and the pressure of finding a lender fast. Quick finds, hassle-free lender chats, and clear pickup/return steps could make borrowing stress-free for her.
Lender Casey
Trust is Casey’s biggest concern when lending. She worries about whether borrowers will take care of her items and only feels at ease after inspecting them upon return. To feel more secure, she prefers lending to mutual connections or those with reassuring attributes.
Competitor Analysis
Users love efficiency and flexibility.
Conducted an in-depth analysis of 9 direct and indirect competitors—including rental, second-hand, and peer-to-peer services—to uncover which features users value most when borrowing, acquiring, and returning items from others.
01
Flexible pickup and return
Readers can request books to their home branch for convenient pickup and return them at any NYPL location using the drop-off box.
02
Effective listing process & setup
Facebook Marketplace follows a simple structure with a photo, item title, and description.
03
Vetting the items
Nuuly shares past renter feedback on item pages, helping new renters know what to watch out for.
How might we...
Ideation
Building seamless and flexible borrowing and lending flows.
We explored different ways to make borrowing and lending seamless. Using the 'must, should, would, won’t' matrix, we sorted ideas by priority, focusing on what users need most while keeping future enhancements in mind.
By sketching out rough low-fi models, we mapped the game plan for both roles, making sure every click and swipe had a clear path forward.
01 Borrower searching flow
02 Borrower pickup & return
03 Lender drop off & pickup
Usability Testing
User testing reveals the need for chat and safety features
Testing with 6 users showed a need for chat options to build trust and monitoring tools for error recovery. Users want smooth communication and a safety net when things go off track!
01. Making pickup crystal clear
Borrowers skim, not read. Many missed the disclaimer and assumed the address was exact. To fix this, I simplified it to show just the city or neighborhood and added a clear pickup method tag for instant clarity.
Before
After
02. Smoother Pickups, Less Confusion
We made meetups easier with real-time tracking, in-app messaging, and clear video logging prompts. Now, pickups are seamless, organized, and built on trust!.
Before
After
Style and Value
Everything that makes BURO own its identity.
Given BURO's community-driven nature, aiming to create a dynamic and cool style guide that ensures all visual elements are cohesive and appealing to young adults.
Why Bagels?
You might be wondering—why so many bagels, and why use them as BURO’s currency? Because they’re iconic, shareable, and just like borrowing, best when passed around!
How Casey Use
Scenario
Seamless Borrowing: From Request to Return
Casey’s new bookshelf had arrived, but there was one problem—no screwdriver. Buying one? Too expensive. Asking neighbors? Too awkward. Then she remembered BURO, the easy borrow-and-lend platform.
Casey as Borrower
Harry as Lender
Part 1 - Borrower Make Request
Casey searched for a screwdriver available from Nov. 8-12 and found the perfect match—owned by Harry. She selected a pickup and drop-off time and left a note to ask for more details.
Part 1 - Lender Approve Request
Harry received Casey’s request, checked their profile, and felt confident they’d be a trustworthy borrower. He approved the request!
Part 2 - Pickup Confirmed
Casey met Harry at the pickup spot and uploaded log videos. Harry reviewed them, confirming a smooth handoff.
Part 3 - Mid-Point Check-In
Since this is a longer rental, Casey uploaded a mid-point log for Harry to review. At this stage, Casey can choose to return the item early or extend the borrowing period as needed.
Part 4 - Final Handoff & Reviews
When the borrowing period ends, Casey meets Harry to return the screwdriver. This time, Harry records the video logand performs a function check before leaving a final review for Casey.
Casey can review Harry immediately after returning the item.
If both receive good ratings, they earn BAGELS as a reward! 🥯✨
Try It Out!
Explore our two prototypes—one for the borrower path and one for the lender path. See how each experience comes to life!
Borrower Path
Lender Path
Long-term Growth
What’s Next for BURO?
With a solid foundation in place, we're looking ahead to bring BURO to the next level. From refining the experience to launching in the market, here’s what’s coming next!
01. Test & Refine
Validate changes and address edge cases.
02. Secure Investment
Pitch BURO to the market.
03. Grow the Community
Launch marketing efforts and reach our first 10K users!
