Thrive Market Native Apps
Thrive Market is a membership-based online grocery with a curated selection of nature-based food and household products.
As Thrive's very first product designer, I worked across the entire gamut of design to build and launch our brand new iOS and Android apps.
The debut of our native apps was a huge company milestone, and post-launch they quickly jumped to the top of the food and grocery category. Our efforts were even recognized by Apple and Google, who both featured Thrive as a “Best App”.
full-stack design · iOS · Android · design systems · Zero-to-one · grocery delivery · ecommerce · Early-stage StartupDiscovery
Before jumping into design, I took some time to familiarize myself with the online grocery space. In my research I observed how each app approached navigation, core UX flows, and presentation of content. I was particularly interested in the treatment of nutrition and ingredient information, which was of paramount importance to Thrive customers.
I also sought to understand who our customers were, and the mindset and motivations behind their shopping behavior.
In addition to speaking with customers directly, I leaned heavily on the Customer Research Team who had amassed a rich set of qualitative insights from conducting interviews, panels, and surveys with customers.
With a very short timeline to bring our apps to market, our development efforts proceeded at breakneck speed. As a designer, this meant working hand-in-hand with the engineers, oftentimes talking through designs in lieu of comps and specs.
Screen by screen, the core experience came together and we successfully launched — our iPhone and Android customers now had a dedicated mobile solution for shopping their favorite grocery products.
Build & Launch
Thrive Design System
With the rapid pace of development, the creation of the Thrive Design System was instrumental in helping us maintain quality and consistency. Spanning across our codebase and Sketch files alike, it encapsulated the visual language, design principles, and interaction patterns that shaped our digital experience.
In addition to defining our cross-platform design standards, I was responsible for evangelizing the design system, authoring the documentation, and enforcing adherence.
Design + Code
As we iterated on the design system, I found working solely in Sketch to be severely limiting. Specifically, I wasn't be able to evaluate how changes would manifest at scale in the live experience.
The optimal option would be to audition changes live in the app, which required working at the code level. With that in mind, I dove headfirst into Xcode and Android Studio, learning the fundamentals of Objective-C and Java along the way.
Motion + Movement
As my development knowledge grew, it enabled me to have a direct hand in implementing animation — everything from our splash screen to the micro-interactions that enriched our user flows.
This experience gave me a much deeper technical understanding of how transitions, easing curves, spring constants, and other animation properties worked across iOS and Android.
Upward & Onward
As we continued to make refinements and enhancements to the core experience, we also moved ahead with building new features to bring even more value and convenience to our users. Notable initiatives included a referral program, in-app product reviews, and a recurring order feature.
Accolades
One of the most exciting moments for us at Thrive was being recognized for the quality and design of our apps.
In the Apple App Store, Thrive Market was selected as a Best New App and prominently featured on the main landing page.
Likewise, Thrive was awarded the distinctive honor of Best Apps of 2016 in the Google Play Store, alongside other premier apps such as Uber Eats, DoorDash, and Reddit.
But for me, the greatest testament to our success is the millions of happy customers using the Thrive Market apps. User feedback has been tremendously positive, with a 5-star averages all-around.
Final Thoughts
My time at Thrive Market marked my first experience building an app from the ground-up and taking ownership across all aspects of design. This journey was a substantial driver of professional and personal growth for me, and I'm incredibly proud of what we accomplished. I look forward to seeing how Thrive Market continues to flourish and evolve.
more design goodness