# UI/UX

# Product Design

# User Research

# User Research

# Product Stategy

# Product Stategy

Unideal

Unideal

Unideal

Duration

3 months

Duration

3 months

Team

Chenchen, Keyu, Steve, Pavlo

Team

Chenchen, Keyu, Steve, Pavlo

My Role

User research, wireframing & prototyping, visual identity, information architecture, partial frontend development

My Role

User research, wireframing & prototyping, visual identity, information architecture, partial frontend development

Overview

Overview

Unideal is a second-hand marketplace designed specifically for students to buy and sell second-hand items — built around the real friction of moving in and out of unfurnished student housing in Finland.

Unlike generic marketplaces, it focuses on reducing coordination costs around pickup timing, location, and communication.

Unideal is a second-hand marketplace designed specifically for students to buy and sell second-hand items — built around the real friction of moving in and out of unfurnished student housing in Finland.

Unlike generic marketplaces, it focuses on reducing coordination costs around pickup timing, location, and communication.

Inspiration & Motivation

My Moving Story - Empty Apartment

Inspiration & Motivation

My Moving Story - Empty Apartment

Every semester, thousands of international students are leaving, needing to clear their furniture in days. Simultaneously, new students arrive at empty apartments, desperate for essentials.

I arrived in Finland as an international student to find a completely bare apartment — no bed, no table, nothing. Finland has a vibrant second-hand culture, and Telegram groups were buzzing with listings from students moving out. The deals were right there, in theory.

In practice, I wasted hours in endless back-and-forth messaging about pickup times and locations. I’d find the perfect sofa, only to discover the seller was leaving in two days, or agree on a price but have no idea how far the pickup spot actually was. Most deals simply fell through.

I arrived in Finland as an international student to find a completely bare apartment — no bed, no table, nothing. Finland has a vibrant second-hand culture, and Telegram groups were buzzing with listings from students moving out. The deals were right there, in theory.

In practice, I wasted hours in endless back-and-forth messaging about pickup times and locations. I’d find the perfect sofa, only to discover the seller was leaving in two days, or agree on a price but have no idea how far the pickup spot actually was. Most deals simply fell through.

"The items were there. The buyers and sellers were motivated. The process itself was what kept failing."

Existing Solutions

Current Experience

Existing Solutions

Current Experience

Telegram - Most active trading platform among students

Telegram - Most active trading platform among students

  • No structured product display

  • Unclear item availability (sold or not)

  • Constantly monitor the chat

  • No way to search, filter, or categorize items

Tori - Largest trading platform in Finland (Finnish-based)

Tori - Largest trading platform in Finland (Finnish-based)

  • Not friendly to international students

  • No dibs structure

  • Overly complex filter categories not relevant to students

  • No date-based availability filtering

Problems

Why Trading Fails?

Problems

Why Trading Fails?

01

Time

"When can I pick this up?"

Sellers and buyers are often only available for a narrow window — sometimes just a few days. But availability dates were buried in chat history or missing entirely. Buyers abandoned items they genuinely wanted because they couldn't quickly tell if the timing worked.

->

What I learned from this?

01

Time

"When can I pick this up?"

Sellers and buyers are often only available for a narrow window — sometimes just a few days. But availability dates were buried in chat history or missing entirely. Buyers abandoned items they genuinely wanted because they couldn't quickly tell if the timing worked.

->

What I learned from this?

01

Time

"When can I pick this up?"

Sellers and buyers are often only available for a narrow window — sometimes just a few days. But availability dates were buried in chat history or missing entirely. Buyers abandoned items they genuinely wanted because they couldn't quickly tell if the timing worked.

->

What I learned from this?

02

Location

"How far, how long?"

International students are unfamiliar with neighborhoods and transit. A street address means nothing without context. Users constantly switched to Google Maps mid-conversation to check if a pickup was feasible — disrupting the flow and sometimes causing them to drop the deal.

->

What I learned from this?

02

Location

"How far, how long?"

International students are unfamiliar with neighborhoods and transit. A street address means nothing without context. Users constantly switched to Google Maps mid-conversation to check if a pickup was feasible — disrupting the flow and sometimes causing them to drop the deal.

->

What I learned from this?

02

Location

"How far, how long?"

International students are unfamiliar with neighborhoods and transit. A street address means nothing without context. Users constantly switched to Google Maps mid-conversation to check if a pickup was feasible — disrupting the flow and sometimes causing them to drop the deal.

->

What I learned from this?

03

Communication

"What should I do next?"

Expressing interest, agreeing on a price, scheduling pickup, confirming the exchange — all of it happened in the same unstructured chat with no guidance. Users didn't know what steps remained, and deals often fell apart simply from coordination fatigue.

->

What I learned from this?

03

Communication

"What should I do next?"

Expressing interest, agreeing on a price, scheduling pickup, confirming the exchange — all of it happened in the same unstructured chat with no guidance. Users didn't know what steps remained, and deals often fell apart simply from coordination fatigue.

->

What I learned from this?

03

Communication

"What should I do next?"

Expressing interest, agreeing on a price, scheduling pickup, confirming the exchange — all of it happened in the same unstructured chat with no guidance. Users didn't know what steps remained, and deals often fell apart simply from coordination fatigue.

->

What I learned from this?

Design Requirements

Design Requirements

Date availability upfront

Pickup dates shown prominently on listings and filterable from the search page — not buried in chat

Show travel context

Commute time by metro, bus, and walking — not a raw address or distance number that means nothing to a new student

Guide the transaction

A clear flow from discovery to handoff — no ambiguity about what comes next for buyer or seller

User Flow & Information Architecture

User Flow & Information Architecture

Design & Development

Design & Development

Search Page

Persistent filter, instant context

The search page is the default landing point. The filter panel stays visible while scrolling. Only four filters are offered, each essential: pickup date, location, car option and travel time.

Seller selects availability period when adding product

Product Detailed Page

Decide before you ask

  • The page answers the three questions that matter: what is it, when can I get it, and how do I get there?

  • Tag-style chips replace dense text descriptions.

  • Exact addresses are intentionally withheld. The specific address is coordinated privately in chat, protecting seller privacy while still giving buyers enough to decide.

Chat Page

More than messaging

The chat page embeds the entire transaction flow. On the right panel, a todo list tracks progress — complete payment, schedule time, agree on location, confirm pickup — each step toggling from pending to checked as both parties confirm. A subtle "Undib" button is intentionally de-emphasized to avoid accidental cancellation.

Reflection

What I Learned

Reflection

What I Learned

User empathy & Problem finding

Being the target user gave the design a sharp clarity of purpose — every decision could be tested against a real experience, not a hypothetical persona.

User empathy & Problem finding

Being the target user gave the design a sharp clarity of purpose — every decision could be tested against a real experience, not a hypothetical persona.

Communication skills

Translated abstract design concepts into concrete, implementable requirements for engineers

Development cost as a design input — learned to scope features against build effort

Negotiated feature priority using "technical debt" vs. user experience ROI

Communication skills

Translated abstract design concepts into concrete, implementable requirements for engineers

Development cost as a design input — learned to scope features against build effort

Negotiated feature priority using "technical debt" vs. user experience ROI