Upcycle is a circular economy platform that helps people give quality used furniture another life. It connects unwanted items with new owners, reducing waste and keeping useful furniture out of landfill.
Unlike a traditional peer-to-peer marketplace, Upcycle takes responsibility for the interaction. Contributors list an item and communicate with the Upcycle team, while Upcycle manages buyers and third-party channels such as Facebook and Gumtree. This removes much of the effort and uncertainty that can make rehoming furniture feel difficult.
I worked with founder Kyle Wallace to turn the business idea into a clear product proposition, a new brand and a working mobile experience.
My role
- Scoped and defined the MVP with the founder
- Designed the end-to-end user experience, interface and design system
- Built and tested the product in Adalo for iOS and Android
- Managed App Store and Google Play submissions
- Designed separate workflows for contributors and Upcycle administrators
- Connected inventory and operational processes to the customer-facing experience
The challenge
Kyle had a strong purpose and a clear understanding of the service he wanted to create. The challenge was turning that vision into a product simple enough for everyday use and practical enough for a small team to operate.
Existing options required people to photograph an item, write a listing, respond to buyers, manage unreliable enquiries and arrange collection. For many users, especially people with limited time or confidence using marketplaces, the effort outweighed the benefit of donating the furniture.
Behind the scenes, the Upcycle team also needed a consistent way to review items, manage photos, speak with contributors and coordinate activity across external marketplaces.
The product therefore needed to support two connected experiences:
- A trusted, low-friction way for the public to contribute furniture
- A central workflow that helped the Upcycle team manage each item efficiently
The approach
After an initial discovery session with Kyle, I mapped the service from the first submission through to collection and rehoming. This helped us separate the public experience from the operational workflow and identify what the MVP genuinely needed.
For contributors, I designed a guided listing flow that allowed people to add an item, upload several photos and provide the information Upcycle needed. Users could manage their submissions and message the Upcycle team, but they did not have to negotiate with buyers themselves.
For administrators, I created a central view of incoming items. The team could review listings, access photos, contact contributors and manage communication without piecing the process together across separate channels.
Because Upcycle was still validating its service, I recommended Adalo as the fastest way to produce a real mobile product for iOS and Android. It allowed us to build and test the connected workflows without committing to the cost of a custom codebase too early.
I also created a visual identity that felt trustworthy and optimistic rather than corporate. The interface used clear prompts, minimal steps and familiar patterns so that people with different levels of technical confidence could use it comfortably.
Throughout the build, I kept returning to the same test: does this make it easier for someone to give an item away, and does it make that item easier for Upcycle to manage?
The outcome
- Built the Upcycle MVP for iOS and Android within three months using no-code development
- Secured approval from both the Apple App Store and Google Play Store
- Launched the iOS product before the end of 2024
- Delivered a connected experience for contributors and internal administrators
- Created a cohesive brand and design system for future marketing and partnerships
- Gave Upcycle a stronger product story for conversations with corporate partners
- Supported the business as it secured government sustainability funding for future growth and redevelopment
What I learned
Upcycle reinforced that an early product works best when it solves one real problem clearly.
The value was not in reproducing every feature of a marketplace. It was in removing the part people found most frustrating: dealing with buyers and coordinating what happened next.
It also showed how important the internal experience is to the customer experience. A simple contributor journey only works when the team behind it has the information and tools to respond efficiently.
For an early-stage organisation, no-code was the right decision. It gave Upcycle something tangible to test and use, while protecting its ability to learn and change before investing in a larger rebuild.