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Case study

Sherry.

Tool sharing that turns neighbours into a small, working circular economy.

Sherry — hero
Year
2024
Type
Mobile app
Role
Solo design
Timeline
8 weeks
Tools
Figma · FigJam · Framer

The problem

Tools sit unused in most homes; sharing fails on trust, not technology.

The outcome

Selected by faculty as one of two pieces demoed to the cohort.

Highlights

  • Sherry — Onboarding — agreeing to the social contract upfront

    Onboarding — agreeing to the social contract upfront

  • Sherry — Listing a tool — title, condition, insured price, location

    Listing a tool — title, condition, insured price, location

  • Sherry — Borrow request — the lender, the item, the trust signals

    Borrow request — the lender, the item, the trust signals

  • Sherry — Badges — visible reward for circular behaviour

    Badges — visible reward for circular behaviour

The problem.

Most households own tools they use a few times a year. The opportunity to share is obvious — but the trust layer isn't. Accountability, returning items, what to do when something breaks. I designed for those first.

The approach.

  • Step 01

    Picking the model.

    Where could circular live in Malmö?

    Mapped different shapes a circular economy could take here — peer-to-peer between neighbours, library-as-intermediary, library-to-library lending. Each had a different trust profile. I committed to the intermediary library model: legible accountability, fewer awkward stranger interactions.

    Sherry — Picking the model.

  • Step 02

    Contributor's journey.

    Drop-off sets every expectation that follows.

    Walked the contributor's arc — sign-up, listing, the trip to the library, the hand-off. The drop-off moment turned out to carry the whole emotional weight: this is when someone decides whether their thing is in safe hands.

    Sherry — Contributor's journey.

  • Step 03

    Lender's journey.

    The library mediates, so strangers don't have to.

    Mirrored the path from the lender's side — need, browse, request, pick-up, return, renew. The library sits in the middle: it absorbs the awkward bits of peer-to-peer (vetting, accountability, the handover) so neither side has to perform trust at a stranger.

    Sherry — Lender's journey.

“I optimised for trust before speed.”

The solution.

Sherry — Onboarding — terms made explicit before any account exists
Onboarding — terms made explicit before any account exists
Sherry — New listing — set the item, the condition, the insured price
New listing — set the item, the condition, the insured price
Sherry — Borrow request — vetted profile, item details, send
Borrow request — vetted profile, item details, send
Sherry — Lender accepts — contract terms surface before pickup
Lender accepts — contract terms surface before pickup
Sherry — Drop-off chat — coordinate the handover, contract one tap away
Drop-off chat — coordinate the handover, contract one tap away
Sherry — Badges — circular impact made tangible for both sides
Badges — circular impact made tangible for both sides

The outcome.

8 weeks

Concept to high-fi

The flows were selected by faculty as one of two presented to the cohort. Peer feedback specifically called out the trust-first onboarding as feeling 'inviting rather than annoying' — the deliberate friction worked.

6

User interviews

1 of 2

Selected for demo

What I’d do differently

Most testing focused on borrowers — I'd run more tests on the lending side. The first listing experience deserves the same care as the first borrow.

Next case study

EcoTrip.