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HULA

Barter app · In-house product · 2018–2026

HULA is an app for swapping stuff with your neighbors, no money involved, and a project owned by Berraco’s partners. In 2020, its first version earned United Nations recognition as the Most Technically Developed Solution in the Circular Economy Challenge. In 2026 we relaunched it: the app in beta testing, a website in three languages, city pages, and legal pages ready for the App Store, all gearing up for the Zurich launch.

Visit hula.exchange (opens in a new tab)
The HULA app on a phone, surrounded by items to swap
Client
HULA Exchange · in-house product
Year
2018–2026
Our role
HULA partners: product, design, and development
Platform
iOS app + website in English, Spanish, and German
Status
Launch planned in Zurich
UN
Most Technically Developed Solution, 2020
3
languages on the website: English, Spanish, and German
12
legal pages, identical to the original

Context

01

Making things last longer.

HULA recreates a barter table on your phone: you put what you no longer use on the table and negotiate, with no money and no middlemen.

Its most ambitious idea is trade routes between several neighbors when there’s no direct match. Today, the app identifies each item from a photo and estimates its value; the trading comes later.

The challenge

02

Two challenges, six years apart.

In 2018: make swapping things easier than buying them. In 2026: a website in three languages for a product that hasn’t launched yet, one that builds interest without promising what the app can’t do yet.

  1. 01Check an item’s real condition before meeting up.
  2. 02Upload an item with no dead time.
  3. 03A trading table that needs no explanation.
  4. 04Juggle several negotiations at once.
  5. 05A website that only talks about what the app does today.
  6. 06App Store legal pages that match the partners’ text to the letter.
How it worksA photo identifies the item and estimates its value; then the trading table flips to landscape: your stock across from theirs.

How we worked

03

The process, step by step

  1. 01

    Research · 2018

    Market research and a study of how early users behaved. We looked at how people categorize and search on Craigslist to build a more intuitive taxonomy.

  2. 02

    Prototypes

    The full journey, from sign-up to closed deal, with low-fidelity prototypes in InVision and high-fidelity ones in Framer and Xcode.

  3. 03

    Design system

    Typography, an accessible palette, and buttons with every state built as nested symbols, so we could iterate fast without losing consistency.

  4. 04

    Global team

    Product leadership with teams in the US, Europe, and India, measuring and iterating on every version.

  5. 05

    Relaunch · 2026

    Brief and first Astro landing page on the same day; interactive components, city pages with hreflang and schema, and copy rewritten by a HULA partner.

  6. 06

    App in testing

    Eight TestFlight builds between July and August: testing, reported bugs, and iteration on how items get valued.

  7. 07

    Legal and go-live

    Twelve legal pages in three languages and a homepage consistent with them, published on September 13, 2026.

Problems & fixes

04

Problems we ran into and how we fixed them

  1. Is it really in good shape?

    Problem
    In bartering, nobody trusts the condition of what they’re being offered.
    Fix
    Real-time video of the item, so the other side sees it exactly as it is.
    Result
    More trust, fewer disputes.

  2. Waits that aren’t really waits

    Problem
    While a photo uploaded, the screen showed nothing but a spinner.
    Fix
    That dead time now goes to writing the description and picking the category.

  3. A table, not a catalog

    Problem
    Trading one item for another, one for one, almost never works out.
    Fix
    Each side puts its whole stock on the table and the negotiation starts from there. The trading screen runs in landscape: you tilt your phone to negotiate.

  4. Several negotiations at once

    Problem
    People who trade a lot have several deals open at the same time.
    Fix
    Virtual negotiation rooms, like the tables in poker software.
    Result
    Several trades at once, no mix-ups.

  5. Identical legal pages, in production too

    Problem
    The legal pages had to match the partners’ document word for word. Cloudflare was obfuscating the email addresses in the Impressum, and Astro was turning straight quotes into curly ones.
    Fix
    The legal text is shielded from obfuscation, automatic smart quotes are turned off, and everything is cross-checked against the PDF.
    Result
    English and German match the original word for word, on the live site too.

  6. A website that doesn’t overpromise

    Problem
    The homepage talked about trade routes, live video, and swaps as if they already existed.
    Fix
    Step one covers what the app does today (it identifies the item and estimates its value), and everything else is labeled “Coming soon,” “Próximamente,” or “Bald verfügbar.”
    Result
    A homepage that lines up with the privacy policy.

  7. Mobile that actually works, in three languages

    Problem
    Language links with an 18 px tap area, a sticky element that broke in Safari, heights that jumped around with the browser bar, and German words overflowing their boxes.
    Fix
    44 px tap areas, 100svh, safe-area on the fixed bar, and automatic hyphenation for German only.
    Result
    Header tap targets went from 18 to 44 px.

What we built

05

Pieces of the project

  • HULA’s trading screen in landscape on a phone
    01

    The trading table

    Negotiating in landscape: your stock across from theirs.

  • Screens from the first version of the HULA app
    02

    Every screen

    A complete design for every scenario, from browsing items to closing the deal.

  • Diagram of the complete user journey in the HULA app
    03

    The journey

    From sign-up to a closed trade, with the friction points at every step.

  • Color palette from the HULA design system
    04

    Design system

    A vibrant, accessible palette for a community app.

  • HULA Exchange homepage: “Get what you want. Give what you don’t”
    05

    HULA Exchange

    The website, in English, Spanish, and German, ready for the Zurich launch.

Results

06

What we pulled off

  • UN

    Most Technically Developed Solution

    UN Unite Ideas, Circular Economy Challenge, April 2020.

  • 3

    continents

    Product teams in the US, Europe, and India.

  • CC

    open license

    Prototype and business model released under Creative Commons so other projects can adapt them.

  • 3

    languages on the website

    English, Spanish, and German, with per-page hreflang and city pages.

  • 12

    legal pages

    Privacy, Terms, Support, and Impressum in three languages.

  • 8

    TestFlight builds

    Between July and August 2026.

Awards

  • United Nations · Unite Ideas, Circular Economy Challenge 2020 — Most Technically Developed Solution

Services

  • Product
  • App UX/UI
  • Multilingual website
  • Legal pages
  • Campaigns

Built with

  • InVision
  • Framer
  • Xcode
  • Sketch
  • Astro
  • React
  • Tailwind
  • GSAP
  • Cloudflare Pages