Twinkle On

TwinkleOn is an app for people to support local retailers who are in poverty. In major cities such as New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, the streets are filled with many poor small retailers, petty dealers and unemployed artists. They wait on the streets, struggling to sell their homemade products, some of them are older adults, single moms and even the disadvantaged people, but unfortunately they barely have any customers.

It is not because their prices are higher, their products’ qualities are worse or we are not kind-hearted, the most likely reason is that we may forget or ignore them. TwinkleOn is an app that can help poor local retailers to sell more products and give people opportunities to contribute to charity.

Find Local Retailers and Customers

Customers can find their local retailers and their products right through the homescreen & the map screen of the app. Local retailers can list their contact information, financial situation and product categories, so that customers can support them in one go.

Available on the App Store

I've coded this app by Objective-C, but it is not fully-functional. You can download the app and have a look at it here: TwinkleOn on the App Store

How It Works

TwinkleOn will locate where the users are, and then provide information of the sellers nearby. Users can see what the retailers are selling, and choose what they need to buy. All the retailers’ products have been listed and sorted into different categories, so users can easily search specific item.

Users can also see descriptions of the sellers’ family circumstances, which will be complied into a database. If the location is too far, the customers can directly contact the sellers, and get the items delivered with extra payment. After the transaction is complete, customers and sellers can take a photo together, and the app will add a special mark on the photo. After posting the photo online, more people can know TwinkleOn and contribute more to the poverty.

Logo Composition

Color Palette

Market Research

Madison's winter is really cold. There's no farmer's market. I wonder if the famers whose income only depend on their products may have been through poverty. So I conducted a market research with my friends.

We went to the farmer's market and sent out the questionnaires. Then we analysed it with Excel, which result shows a huge market potential. Then I sketched design ideas that capture identified user requirements and business goals. Later, I finalized and tested the design to ensure it will meet or exceed acceptance criteria when measured according to agreed-on metrics.

App Icon

The word twinkle has been used in relation to several things including mood, productivity, and effortlessness; however its real meaning is strictly related to charity and the spirit of passing it on. For this reason, I came up with the word Twinkle On, which stands for the 'Twinkle' exploration is ‘On’.

Features & Technologies

Twinkle On app will provide a lot of support to the local retailers & help people who are in poverty. This will increase the supply chain efficiency as well as productivity. In addition, customers can have more fresh fruits and vegetables.