I often find that the most meaningful design challenges stem from lived experiences. Uniformly Yours was born out of one such experience-volunteering at my child’s school.
I was part of a parent-led initiative to collect, organize, and sell pre-loved school uniforms. These sales, held during school hours on weekdays, were a great way to raise funds and support families, but the system in place was far from user-friendly. It relied entirely on WhatsApp to share sale dates and there was no guarantee on item availability — messages got lost in group chats, updates were inconsistent, and looking for available parent volunteers was a constant issue.
I watched as parents rearranged work schedules to attend in-person sales, only to discover that the right size or condition of uniform wasn’t available. Many families missed out completely due to time constraints or travel distances. With the cost of new uniforms often exceeding £250, and pre-loved options bringing that cost down to £50 or less, the impact of this broken system was both financial and emotional.
The challenges extended beyond affordability — the school was also overwhelmed with unclaimed, unlabeled lost items, with no scalable solution to organize or return them. Volunteers like myself were spending hours sorting through bags of clothing, often with little outcome.
It was clear to me: there was a better way to do this. And I could design it.
Being part of the uniform and lost-and-found volunteer group allowed me to do embedded user research. I had direct access to parents, staff, and volunteers — the very users facing these challenges daily. I conducted informal interviews, noted recurring frustrations, and collected feedback on current pain points.
This helped me define core problems:
These insights became the foundation of Uniformly Yours.
to bring convenience, transparency, and impact to second-hand uniform sales.
My goal was to design a single digital space where parents could:
I also wanted the app to subtly reframe the narrative around buying second-hand — not as a compromise, but as a conscious, eco-friendly choice that supports the school community.
To reinforce this message, I selected a calming blue color palette relating to planet Earth, and an eco-friendly theme to instantly signal to users that they were in a supportive and responsible space.
This helped convey:
I used soft illustrations and clean UI to make the experience feel approachable and intuitive.
I created low-fidelity wireframes and conducted usability testing with a small group of parent users. Their feedback led to several key iterations:
These iterative changes shaped a high-fidelity prototype that was both functional and emotionally intuitive — addressing needs across financial, environmental, and community dimensions.
Uniformly Yours solves real problems for real people: it makes purchasing pre-loved uniform easier, reduces waste, and supports school fundraising efforts — all while saving families hundreds of pounds each year.
It’s a tool that empowers parents to make smarter, more sustainable choices, while also reducing the burden on school staff and volunteers.
For me, this project was a powerful reminder that great UX design begins with empathy. By listening, observing, and deeply understanding the ecosystem around a problem, I was able to build something meaningful — a tool that doesn’t just solve logistical challenges, saves time, but changes the way people feel about their choices.
