Swipin was built around everything that happened before the checkout.
Shopping online had become incredibly good at helping people buy, but choosing was still happening somewhere else, in screenshots, group chats and messages to friends.
Swipin was built around everything that happened before the checkout.
Shopping online had become incredibly good at helping people buy, but choosing was still happening somewhere else, in screenshots, group chats and messages to friends.
Role
Product Designer
Product Designer
Scope
Product Strategy · UX/UX · Interaction Design
Product Strategy · UX/UX · Interaction Design
Period
2020-2022
2020-2022
Overview
Overview
What Swipin was
What Swipin was
Swipin was a mobile social-shopping product built around discovery, recommendations and buying together.
Instead of treating shopping as a solitary funnel, it brought products, people and decisions into the same experience.
Swipin was a mobile social-shopping product built around discovery, recommendations and buying together.
Instead of treating shopping as a solitary funnel, it brought products, people and decisions into the same experience.
My role
My role
I led the product design end to end, from early product thinking and interaction models to visual design, motion and the design system. That meant designing the product while the product itself was still being defined.
I led the product design end to end, from early product thinking and interaction models to visual design, motion and the design system. That meant designing the product while the product itself was still being defined.
Context
Context
Shopping was already social
Shopping was already social
Most ecommerce products were optimized around intent: search, filter, compare, buy. But a lot of shopping happens before any of that.
People discover something, send it to a friend, ask for an opinion, compare alternatives and change their mind three times before opening the store again. The social part of shopping had not disappeared online. It had simply moved outside the shopping experience.
That gap became the product opportunity.
Most ecommerce products were optimized around intent: search, filter, compare, buy. But a lot of shopping happens before any of that.
People discover something, send it to a friend, ask for an opinion, compare alternatives and change their mind three times before opening the store again. The social part of shopping had not disappeared online. It had simply moved outside the shopping experience.
That gap became the product opportunity.
Discovery
Discovery
We almost made swiping the product
We almost made swiping the product
The first versions leaned heavily into swiping. It felt natural for a product called Swipin, it was fast, familiar and immediately separated the experience from a traditional ecommerce grid.
It also worked a little too well.
Products became disposable. Moving through them was easy, but going back, comparing or simply browsing without making a decision was not. We had confused interaction with product value.
So we pulled back. Swiping stayed as part of the interaction language, but discovery moved toward a feed that gave products more permanence and let people explore without turning every item into a yes-or-no decision.
The goal was not to make people swipe more. It was to help them find something worth stopping for.
The first versions leaned heavily into swiping. It felt natural for a product called Swipin, it was fast, familiar and immediately separated the experience from a traditional ecommerce grid.
It also worked a little too well.
Products became disposable. Moving through them was easy, but going back, comparing or simply browsing without making a decision was not. We had confused interaction with product value.
So we pulled back. Swiping stayed as part of the interaction language, but discovery moved toward a feed that gave products more permanence and let people explore without turning every item into a yes-or-no decision.
The goal was not to make people swipe more. It was to help them find something worth stopping for.
Commerce
Commerce
The closer you get to buying, the quieter the product should become
The closer you get to buying, the quieter the product should become
Discovery needed personality. Payments needed confidence.
Some early product pages tried too hard to preserve the energy of the discovery experience all the way through the purchase. Everything felt consistent, but everything also wanted attention.
As users moved closer to buying, we started deliberately removing things. Information became more structured, actions more familiar and motion more restrained. The interface did not need the same intensity at every stage.
Discovery needed personality. Payments needed confidence.
Some early product pages tried too hard to preserve the energy of the discovery experience all the way through the purchase. Everything felt consistent, but everything also wanted attention.
As users moved closer to buying, we started deliberately removing things. Information became more structured, actions more familiar and motion more restrained. The interface did not need the same intensity at every stage.
Buying together
Buying together
The same lesson appeared when we explored shared purchases.
Our first split-payment concepts exposed too much of the system underneath them: participants, payment states, balances and confirmations. Something that should have felt like “let’s get this together” suddenly looked like financial software.
So we reversed the hierarchy. The product stayed central and the payment mechanics became supporting infrastructure. People were splitting a purchase, not managing an account.
The same lesson appeared when we explored shared purchases.
Our first split-payment concepts exposed too much of the system underneath them: participants, payment states, balances and confirmations. Something that should have felt like “let’s get this together” suddenly looked like financial software.
So we reversed the hierarchy. The product stayed central and the payment mechanics became supporting infrastructure. People were splitting a purchase, not managing an account.
Two personalities
Two personalities
This created an interesting tension across the entire product. Social experiences reward energy, personality and movement. Commerce rewards clarity, predictability and trust.
Trying to average the two produced something bland.
Instead, Swipin changed tone with the user’s intent. Discovery could be visual and expressive. Transactions could be calm and deliberate. The system connected both without forcing them to behave the same way.
This created an interesting tension across the entire product. Social experiences reward energy, personality and movement. Commerce rewards clarity, predictability and trust.
Trying to average the two produced something bland.
Instead, Swipin changed tone with the user’s intent. Discovery could be visual and expressive. Transactions could be calm and deliberate. The system connected both without forcing them to behave the same way.
Reflection
Reflection
More product was not always a better product
More product was not always a better product
Swipin gave me enormous room to explore. That was useful and occasionally dangerous.
There was always another social mechanic we could add, another reaction, another way to recommend something or another animation that made a transition more interesting. Some of the early motion work fell into the same trap. It looked good, but occasionally made simple interactions louder than they deserved to be.
Over time, the product gained a useful filter: does this help someone discover, decide or buy?
If the answer was no, it probably did not belong.
Swipin gave me enormous room to explore. That was useful and occasionally dangerous.
There was always another social mechanic we could add, another reaction, another way to recommend something or another animation that made a transition more interesting. Some of the early motion work fell into the same trap. It looked good, but occasionally made simple interactions louder than they deserved to be.
Over time, the product gained a useful filter: does this help someone discover, decide or buy?
If the answer was no, it probably did not belong.
Finding the actual product
Finding the actual product
Swipin became simpler as that principle became clearer.
Discovery did not need to force decisions. Social features did not need to recreate messaging. Payments did not need to feel financial and motion did not need to announce itself.
The most valuable design decisions were often the ones that removed the feature we originally thought we needed.
Swipin started as a broad idea around social commerce. What emerged was much more specific: a product built around the messy, social part of shopping that usually happens before anyone presses Buy.
Buying may be transactional. Choosing rarely is.
Swipin became simpler as that principle became clearer.
Discovery did not need to force decisions. Social features did not need to recreate messaging. Payments did not need to feel financial and motion did not need to announce itself.
The most valuable design decisions were often the ones that removed the feature we originally thought we needed.
Swipin started as a broad idea around social commerce. What emerged was much more specific: a product built around the messy, social part of shopping that usually happens before anyone presses Buy.
Buying may be transactional. Choosing rarely is.
Social
Social
Chat was not the product
Chat was not the product
Once someone found something interesting, the obvious next feature was messaging. Our early concepts treated it that way: discover a product, send it into a conversation and continue from there.
Technically, it worked. But it started making Swipin feel like two products stitched together.
The conversation was never the important object. The product was.
So we designed products to live directly inside the social experience. People could share them, react to them and recommend alternatives without losing the thing they were actually discussing.
Once someone found something interesting, the obvious next feature was messaging. Our early concepts treated it that way: discover a product, send it into a conversation and continue from there.
Technically, it worked. But it started making Swipin feel like two products stitched together.
The conversation was never the important object. The product was.
So we designed products to live directly inside the social experience. People could share them, react to them and recommend alternatives without losing the thing they were actually discussing.
Recommendations without the homework
Recommendations without the homework
We made the same mistake with recommendations. Early concepts asked for structured opinions and more explicit feedback. They were clearer, but also strangely formal.
Real shopping advice rarely sounds like a product review. This one. Not that color. You already own three of those.
So we removed most of the ceremony. Reactions became lightweight, recommendations became quick and the social layer focused on the moments where another person could actually change a decision.
We were not trying to build another social network. We were designing just enough social behavior to make shopping better.
We made the same mistake with recommendations. Early concepts asked for structured opinions and more explicit feedback. They were clearer, but also strangely formal.
Real shopping advice rarely sounds like a product review. This one. Not that color. You already own three of those.
So we removed most of the ceremony. Reactions became lightweight, recommendations became quick and the social layer focused on the moments where another person could actually change a decision.
We were not trying to build another social network. We were designing just enough social behavior to make shopping better.