Engineered (0 → 1) a secure student verification feature for Depop users, enhancing trust and promoting in-person transactions.
Overview
It all started with a partnership between Berkeley Innovation and Depop, a circular marketplace of more than 35 million users buying, selling and discovering desirable, affordable, second-hand fashion.
Depop asked us to answer the question: “How might we make Depop the first place that style-conscious students look for clothes?”. In addition, we were to research five sub-themes which guided a research report.
Depop site homepage
After analysing our HMW, I guided our team through methodical research: we administered a survey to 80+ students and conducted 15 in-depth interviews/10 guerilla interviews to capture depth, breadth, and detail, respectively. Our insights determined two sets of personas: the first captured general fashion habits and the second defined students' relationship to Depop.
Below, you'll find our takeaways from examining college students' general relationship with fashion.
Thrifting is inherently social, with many people drawn in after being introduced to it by a friend.
People use style to explore identity and want clothing to be accessible and easy to judge visually.
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For shoppers across all demographics, cost is the primary factor driving purchase choices.
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Shoppers rely on thrifting as a primary means of finding unique, fun, or rare fashion finds.
People typically give items to friends or donate first, then throw away, sell, or repurpose the rest.
Shoppers buy clothes when they find a good deal, as a personal reward, or for special occasions.
Keeping these pain points, motivations, and Depop-specific challenges in mind, our team prioritized the factors that would most meaningfully improve the Depop experience.
Builds community❓
Secures trust ❓
Affordable❓
Promotes creativity❓
Some of our brainstormed ideas:
Verification system
Price matching
Linked listings
In-person events
Returns
Instagram integration
A second round of interviews revealed that peer connection was students' top priority. Using this insight, alongside affordability and creativity, we designed features that reflected these needs.
88%
of students shared they wanted greater visibility into peers’ fashion habits and more opportunities to connect through fashion.
70%
of student survey respondents expressed interest in tools for visualizing and planning outfits, particularly for special occasions.
32%
used other social media like Instagram, Pinterest, TikTok, and Youtube to track fashion trends, shop, and curate their personal style.
Campus Circle is a localized Depop marketplace that enables college students to buy and sell clothing exclusively within their campus community. By promoting in-person exchanges between verified students, it eliminates shipping hassles, simplifies returns, and reduces costs. Built around affordability, creativity, and trust, Campus Circle transforms college campuses into vibrant, community-driven fashion marketplaces while fostering stronger student connections.
Ultimately, we decided to move forward with a solution built on the established communication systems, aligned with Depop's resources and branding, was easy to implement and had the greatest impact on trust, convenience and access.
Thank you Depop team, Josh, Andie, Anya, Jolla & Brian for your teamwork! I learned a lot about rejecting previous biases, the importance of advocating for my design-thinking, and the power of student creativity this semester.
Depop "pop-up" events"
Campus leaders
Outfits (bundled listings)
In the months following our report, Depop introduced several new initiatives, including large-scale community events, a college ambassador program, and "Outfits," a feature that closely mirrors our proposed Linked Listings concept. These updates align closely with many of the opportunities highlighted in our recommendations! Yay, team :)