Solez

Role: Product Designer (UI/UX)

Platform: Mobile App (iOS & Android)

Industry: Sneaker E-commerce

Overview

Solez is a sneaker e-commerce mobile app designed for a community that cares as much about authenticity and culture as it does about price. I designed the core shopping experience; discovery, drops, listings, and checkout, for an audience that's used to fast-paced, hype-driven shopping and is quick to spot anything that feels generic or untrustworthy.

The Goal

The goal was to build a shopping experience that matched the energy of sneaker culture while solving its biggest pain point: trust. That meant making it easy to track upcoming releases, confident to buy from a resale listing, and exciting enough to open during a drop without ever feeling chaotic or unsafe.

The Problem

Sneaker shopping online sits at an awkward intersection of hype and risk. Limited releases create huge demand spikes that most apps aren't designed to handle gracefully, resale listings carry real fear of counterfeits, and sizing varies enough between brands that a wrong purchase is a common, frustrating outcome. On top of that, most e-commerce UI patterns feel generic in a culture that prizes distinctiveness.

The Solution

Solez centers on a drop calendar that lets users track and get notified about upcoming releases before they go live, paired with verified-seller badges and listing details that make resale purchases feel safer. A size and fit guide pulls in brand-specific sizing notes to cut down on guesswork, and the checkout flow was built to stay simple and fast even when traffic spikes during a drop, since that's exactly when people are most likely to abandon a slow app.

The Design Approach

I researched how sneaker collectors actually shop, across both primary releases and resale marketplaces, to understand where trust broke down and where existing apps felt slow or generic during high-demand moments. I mapped separate flows for browsing, drop notifications, and buying/selling, then prototyped and tested the checkout flow specifically under simulated high-traffic conditions, since drop-day performance and perceived speed mattered as much as the visual design.

Visual Direction

The visual direction is bold and street-influenced; a dark theme with warm gold accents that gives the app a premium, after-hours energy rather than a generic storefront feel. Large, hero-style product photography lets the sneakers do most of the talking, paired with confident, slightly oversized typography that echoes streetwear and sneaker culture branding. Status and trust cues, like verified badges and drop countdowns, are styled to stand out without disrupting the otherwise clean layout.

Key Features

• Drop calendar with release reminders

• Verified-seller badges and detailed listing information

• Brand-aware size and fit guide

• Streamlined, high-traffic-ready checkout

• Wishlist and following for favorite sellers and silhouettes

  
  

The Outcome

Solez rounds out my portfolio with consumer marketplace work that's distinct from my fintech and property-tech case studies; it demonstrates trust-building design patterns and a culturally specific visual identity, both built to hold up under the kind of demand spikes that break weaker e-commerce experiences.

Reflections & Key Takeaways

This project pushed me to design for an audience with strong, specific taste, where a generic UI reads as a lack of credibility. It also reinforced that performance and perceived speed are design problems, not just engineering ones, especially in a shopping experience built around moments of high demand.