Kpop Trading Card Application

The inspiration for this app stemmed from a personal frustration with the current challenges of trading photocards, those business-card-sized images of K-pop group members found randomly inside albums. I sought to challenge myself by identifying a unique and niche opportunity—an untapped market with no existing products.

Methods and Tools:

  • Market Research

  • Competitive Analysis

  • Architecture Diagram

  • Exploratory Research

  • Wireframing

  • Prototyping

  • Figma

Foundation

Photocard trading primarily takes place on social media platforms like Instagram and Twitter, where users utilize hashtags to indicate their willingness to trade or sell photocards. It's an intriguing adaptation of existing platforms for purposes other than their original design.

Given this landscape, the app's primary focus will be facilitating the exchange and sale of photocards, along with providing users with a convenient way to catalog their photocard collections.

In an effort to streamline the design, I opted to begin the application with a focus on one K-pop group: BTS. By concentrating on the most popular group, the goal is to garner sufficient attention initially, paving the way for potential expansion into applications for other groups or broadening the existing application to encompass a diverse array of K-pop groups.

The app's overview required a space for users to seamlessly add, edit, and view their catalog. It also needed a section where users could specify which photocards they are interested in trading or selling. Additionally, there should be a dedicated area to explore other users' photocards that align with the selected filters.

UI Design

22 high-fidelity wireframes in both light mode and dark mode were created. Below, you can explore the visual interface for both modes, accompanied by accessibility checks with a primary focus on visual contrast.

 
 
 
 

Structure and Prototype

Given the straightforward nature of the application, I opted for a bottom navigation layout with just four buttons: Home, Collections, Trade, and Profile. This streamlined approach ensures that essential functions are easily accessible without overwhelming users with unnecessary navigation options.

Moreover, I've emphasized the significance of the two primary flows: "Adding to Collection" and "Adding a Trade Filter," as mentioned earlier. These flows represent the core focuses of the application.

A prototype was also created, setting the stage for the next phase of user testing in the evolution of this application.

Conclusion

This app addresses the challenges of trading K-pop photocards, offering a streamlined platform that simplifies and enhances the user experience. The strategic decision to focus initially on BTS allows for concentrated efforts, with potential future expansion, and the app's design emphasizes simplicity with a bottom navigation layout and two key user flows. Creating high-fidelity wireframes and a prototype demonstrates a focus on visual precision and accessibility, laying the foundation for upcoming user testing and continuous improvement.