Role
UX/UI Designer
UX Researcher
Tools
Figma
Timeline
3 Months
Team
3 UX/UI Designers
ShareParty
ShareParty is a non-profit initiative aimed at inspiring families to regift and exchange toys, games & books, rather than purchase new ones. Their goal is to cultivate strong community bonds and promote environmental consciousness while ensuring our children have access to an array of items that ignite their creativity.
Mobilizing People With A Website
Our goal was to make it easier for people to take action—whether that meant hosting a toy swap, joining one, or simply learning more about regifting. At the same time, we wanted to position ShareParty as part of a bigger cultural shift toward environmental responsibility.
Since ShareParty is a new and evolving initiative, there weren’t many existing materials to work from. That meant we had to design with ambiguity, translating high-level ideas into a digital experience that felt welcoming, empowering, and true to the organization’s values. Our challenge was to build something both informative and intuitive—especially for people discovering ShareParty for the first time.
Research
In the early stages of the project, we focused on ShareParty’s existing partnerships with local organizations. Our goal was twofold: understand what might motivate families to attend future events, and uncover how we could make it easier for organizations to host them.
To explore this, we interviewed several of ShareParty’s past collaborators. One of the biggest takeaways? Many organizations struggled with promoting their events—people simply didn’t know they were happening.
Survey Results
We also surveyed 20+ parents to find out their initial thoughts on regifting and their current mental model in this area. Here is some of the survey data:
What we learned
While many families were excited by the idea of attending a ShareParty, far fewer felt comfortable hosting one themselves. Through our interviews, we found that this hesitation often stemmed from uncertainty—people weren’t sure what a birthday ShareParty actually involved, or how hosting one would work.
This led to a key insight: the distinction between birthday share parties and community toy swap parties wasn’t clear enough. That ambiguity made the concept feel more intimidating than inviting.
We also learned that both parents and organizational partners found the word “hosting” overwhelming. To reduce that friction, we decided to elevate existing how-to resources created by our client and make them more visible and accessible throughout the site.
Direction Pivot
During this process, our client mentioned that she wanted to introduce a new event idea that would shift the focus of ShareParty to a more decentralized and individual-focused approach, Birthday ShareParties.
A Birthday ShareParty is a movement that encourages families to request pre-owned toys as birthday gifts. With this new idea, it takes the pressure off of our client and mobilizes micro-communities.
Birthday ShareParty vs. Community ShareParty
To grow ShareParty as a movement and reduce the stigma around regifting, we needed a format that was personal, scalable, and easy to replicate. That’s what led us to prioritize birthday Share Parties over larger community toy swap events.
Birthday parties are already embedded in family culture, making them a natural place to introduce the idea of gifting pre-loved toys. They also allow individuals—especially parents—to host events on a smaller, more manageable scale. By focusing on these more intimate, micro-community experiences, we saw an opportunity to make ShareParty feel more accessible, repeatable, and socially acceptable.
Information Architecture
While we had to redesign the whole website, our priorities were the Birthday ShareParty and the Community SwapParty page. One of the most important tasks is to ensure that people understand what a ShareParty is and what it means to host a ShareParty.
With the help of our client and a thorough analysis of the website, we were able to establish a new information architecture through card sorting. Our new architecture makes the mission of ShareParty clear and lends equity to both birthday shareparties and community swap parties as opportunities to join the movement.
Before
After
Encouraging Sharing
Since we found that organizations were struggling with discoverability and to align with ShareParty’s goal to take off as a movement, we added more emphasis for users to share their involvement and participation on social media. We also created a QR code for people to easily share the website with their friends or parent groups. ShareParty hosts can also add this QR to promotional material or around their event to help attendees understand why they should participate in more ShareParties.
Defining Two Paths: Birthday and Community ShareParties
Making the distinction is crucial for new users to understand what it is that ShareParty can provide and what their goal is.
To do that, we brainstormed different names for each event, designed two different pages, and created differentiating copy. We chose to separate the two different events so it’d be easier for new participants
to make that distinction and plus, they were two different event models.
Within each page, we explain what it is, steps on how to organize one, and important relevant information for each. Because we want to focus on the individual aspect, we’re able to put more emphasis on it throughout the webpage with them separated.
About Page
We kept our About page brief yet informative about what ShareParty is. To ensure that the page wouldn’t be too dense, we ensured that all of the sections were succinct and clear.
Home Page
Within our homepage, we were able to provide new sections that briefly explains ShareParty’s value preposition while also guiding them towards a way to participate.
Event Pages
Our two most important pages are the Birthday ShareParty page and the Community SwapParty page. Within these pages, we provide differentiating copy that allows visitors to understand the two different events.
Each event page has relevant sections that informs visitors on how to participate in the ShareParty movement. If visitors had any questions, we provide an FAQ section that could provide clarity.
Contact Pages
Our two most important pages are the Birthday ShareParty page and the Community SwapParty page. Within these pages, we provide differentiating copy that allows visitors to understand the two different events.
Each event page has relevant sections that informs visitors on how to participate in the ShareParty movement. If visitors had any questions, we provide an FAQ section that could provide clarity.
Conclusion
This collaboration was an amazing opportunity for us to learn about what it means to bring a new product to life. Because ShareParty’s mission is so much about sustainability, we’re glad to be able to make an impact on an organization that can make the world better.
As the semester came to an end, we thought about what we can act on if we had more time:
Build/develop the final design on a website builder.
Conduct usability tests to ensure that our design is free of usability issues.
Finalize copy that is in-line with the voice/language of the client.
Create fully-fledged design system.
Our client also shared a quick testimonial about her experience working with us:
"Working with Grace, Ariel and Matthew was an absolute pleasure. They brought fresh eyes, thoughtful research, and user-centered thinking to the redesign of the ShareParty website. From reimagining our information architecture to enhancing the UI and UX, they delivered a polished and intuitive experience that reflects our mission. Their professionalism, creativity, and collaborative spirit made the process both productive and enjoyable. I couldn’t be more pleased with the outcome. Thank you, Grace, Ariel and Matthew for your excellent work!”"