Platform Reboot
Toss out everything but the baby
Building on the power of our database
The heart of Trampt is our 185,000+ item library and our loyal members who've been managing their collections with us even as the site fell into disrepair. I made several attempts to redesign the entire platform over the years working part-time but it never materialized. Last year I drafted requirements docs, feature matrix, DB modification mappings, and redesigned/coded the entire front-end. Now we're ready to build.
Resisting the urge to design
Knowing that eventually we'd be taking on partners or outside vendors, it was be important to document the entire platform. Scoping documents include Product Requirements, User Journeys/Flows, Content mapping, Competitive audits, trackers for DB changes, routes, API construction, components, and delivery roadmap.
Mobile first architecture
Building for our audience
A significant cross-section of our members are coming from social sites, and a majority of that traffic is via mobile devices. We started by constructing several user journeys from these findings including our sign up process, collection management, and transactional flows for the shop.
Products & Profiles
The core offering
Building the site around products
The page architecture was redesigned to emphasize exploration through related products and profile discovery. Besides a revised content architecture, detail pages include product tagging, purchase history, comments and shop aggregation.
Collect, Discover, Comment, and Transact
Members can mark products they have or want in their collections. They can also create listings to sell products, or buy from third-party vendors and directly from each other. We've also built nested commenting with notification support to help drive engagement from the product page and feed.
Crowd sourced library
Our library operates like a wiki allowing any member to add and edit existing products. Anyone can report issues with products so moderators can review and merge with existing products or rollback changes if necessary.
Products beget profiles
When products are added to the library they're grouped with existing profiles or new ones are created. Members can follow these six profile types: Artists, Manufacturers, Venues, Platforms, Series, and Events to receive updates on their feed. We allow some profile types to be verified so owners can connect their shops, Instagram accounts, and more.
Active members are good members
Building reputation
When a member signs up for an account they have a profile like other social networks. These profiles are an aggregate of their activities, which builds reputation and unlocks badges. We've introduced a gamification model giving away sponsored prizes to members who earn the most reputation driving site engagement and expanding our library.
Aggregated profile feeds
Our feed is a reverse chronological listing of all the activity on followed profiles. We don't need a fancy feed algorithm since we support the site through transactions and sponsored weekly contests.
Transact
Finding exactly what you want
Want it and be notified
Shop listings are grouped by product, allowing members to be notified as soon as one is available. Members can see a breakdown of the transaction history, and price compare across stores & third-party sellers.
Link to a site or sell direct
Any member can link to a white-listed website which is associated to a specific profile on the site. Members with a linked Paypal account can sell products directly or receive offers from other members.
Buy now or make an offer
All transactions on the site are done through Paypal's Commerce Platform. Members can buy directly, make a lower cash offer, or propose trades.
We simply pass-through any third-party shop link or eBay listing to be completed on those sites.
P2P Shop Transactions
Buying and selling in one place
Members are able to search & filter all their in-progress or completed transactions. Site notifications and email responses are built for each step of the process.
Managing the entire process
Members can use transaction detail pages to accept or decline offers, secure payments, add tracking numbers, and review completed transactions.
Outreach
Conventions, Show Openings, and More
A passion for art & design
Over the last few years we've run several shows at New York Comic Con and DesignerCon, as well as attending countless show openings and releases. From the beginning, this community has been extremely supportive and I've been privileged to make some lifelong friends from all over the world. Interacting with artists and manufacturers that produce the stuff I love to collect, has made working on Trampt a truly rewarding experience.
Many of my design adventures for Trampt are available on Instagram.
