How It All Started
It was supposed to be a fresh start. I’d just moved to a tier-2 city for a new job, excited about the opportunity and the change of pace. But little did I know, my first few days would be a trial by fire. Finding a place to live was unexpectedly challenging. Unlike the cities with endless online listings and rental apps, the options here were mostly offline. I ended up spending two exhausting days, moving from one neighborhood to another, trying to find a decent room. Each place I visited meant another conversation with a stranger, another detour on foot. As an introvert, it was overwhelming.
Finally settled, I thought the worst was over. But the challenges had just begun. Finding local services—like a reliable mess for daily meals or a laundry service—felt like solving a scavenger hunt with no clues. There was no central place to get information. Every service required me to ask around, talk to locals, and explore areas I barely knew. For someone who preferred to keep to themselves, this was uncomfortable, to say the least. I couldn’t help but wonder: Why isn’t there an easier way to navigate these essentials?
Turns out, my friends in other tier-2 cities faced similar struggles! Finding rooms, reliable local services, and affordable accommodations were constant headaches for them as well. This problem was bigger than I realized.
NagarHub emerged from a desire to simplify these everyday searches. Our mission was to create an easy-to-use, community-oriented platform where people could quickly find what they needed without any tech barriers. NagarHub isn’t just a marketplace; it’s a bridge between people and the services they rely on in their cities.
Project Overview
Problem
Traditional methods of finding local services and goods in tier-2 cities lack organization and efficiency, making them time-consuming and frustrating. Existing digital platforms are often complicated and poorly categorized, forcing people to rely on offline networks for their daily needs.
Project Goal
My project aimed to develop a minimalist and user-friendly local marketplace platform that connects people in tier-2 cities with essential services, second-hand goods, and rental properties, ensuring ease of access for all community members.
Target Audience
- Individuals relocating to new cities for work
- Freshers moving to different cities
- Students seeking accommodations or local services
- Sellers and service providers
My Solution
Deliver an intuitive and user-friendly interface with minimalist visuals, focusing on streamlined browsing and discovery. My platform prioritizes simple categorization and essential features that make connecting with local resources effortless.
My role
As the sole designer and creator behind NagarHub, I took on multiple roles throughout the project. From conducting user research and identifying key pain points, to designing a seamless user experience and crafting the final user interface, I handled every aspect of the process. This allowed me to ensure that each detail aligned with my vision for NagarHub as a user-centric, accessible platform for tier-2 city residents.
Research Highlights
In my research, I observed people struggling with unreliable and outdated listings, scattered across multiple sites and social platforms. Imagine moving to a new city and needing to find affordable accommodation, a trustworthy plumber, or second-hand furniture. Without an organized platform, many resort to asking friends or combing through poorly structured groups and websites.
This scattered approach often leads to frustration and wasted time, as people struggle to locate reliable options. These insights highlighted a clear opportunity: a simple, structured marketplace for tier-2 cities, accessible to people of all ages and tech experience levels.
Finding a Place to Stay
Most people rely on Google, maps, and recommendations from friends to find rental options. They face issues with inaccurate listings, misleading ads, and limited contact information on most platforms.
Essential Accommodation Amenities*
People prefer places with reliable food options, water supply, laundry facilities, and WiFi. Students often seek meal services, while professionals are comfortable with a kitchen.
Additional Service Needs
Some people need affordable, second-hand items like tables or washing machines for temporary use during their stay.
Tech Comfort Levels
Participants were generally comfortable with basic technology. WhatsApp is the most used app, but concerns around sharing personal numbers persist.
Key Influencing Factors
Cost and location are major deciding factors. Recommendations from friends, colleagues, and Google reviews also guide final choices.
User Persona
Meenakshi represents NagarHub’s target user — a young professional new to a tier-2 city, seeking reliable services and housing without the hassle of in-person searches.
Information architecture
The architecture of NagarHub was built around clarity and accessibility. By organizing listings into three main categoriees—the platform provides a clear and intuitive layout. Each section has dedicated tags that make it easy for users to narrow down their searches, helping them find relevant listings quickly. This architecture prioritizes simplicity, ensuring NagarHub remains user-friendly for everyone, regardless of their technical proficiency.
Wireframe
The early wireframes served as foundational sketches that helped me kickstart NagarHub’s development. These initial drafts provided a clear outline of the user journey and the platform’s core structure. However, after gathering user feedback, I realized the designs required significant iterations to better address user needs. As the project evolved, the final designs changed substantially from these early wireframes to incorporate improvements based on real user insights.
I began by sketching out my initial concepts and ideas.
Subsequently, the project evolved into a format reminiscent of Pinterest, showcasing a more curated aesthetic.
Through a process of further refinement and iteration
Website Screens
Mobile Screens
Iterating Based on User Feedback and Key Features
User feedback was crucial in refining NagarHub’s design and features, leading to several core improvements:
Simplified Ad Posting Experience:
Initially, posting an ad on NagarHub was a three-step process, and some users, particularly those less familiar with tech, found it slightly complex. After gathering feedback, I simplified it into a single, intuitive screen, modeled after the simplicity of creating a social media post. Now, users only need to enter a title, description, and price, and the platform’s AI automatically categorizes the ad and suggests relevant tags. Users can also add their own tags for better reach. This streamlined approach not only lowers the barrier for ad posting but also enhances engagement, making it effortless for anyone in tier-2 and tier-3 cities to participate in the secondhand market.
Streamlined Profile Screen:
The initial design of the mobile profile screen felt cluttered and left users unsure of how to navigate their options. Based on user feedback, I redesigned this screen to be more intuitive and familiar, focusing on simplicity and clarity. Key actions and information are now organized for easy access, creating a more seamless experience that allows users to manage their ads, bookmarks, and account settings with confidence. This familiar, user-centered design ensures that anyone, regardless of tech experience, can navigate their profile without confusion.
Custom and AI-Generated Tags:
Tags were introduced to simplify filtering. AI generates tags based on ad descriptions, while users can add custom tags that capture unique product specifications. For instance, a user looking for an “M1 MacBook with 16GB RAM” can simply search using these tags to find exactly what they need. This feature makes filtering specific items effortless and reduces time spent sifting through irrelevant listings.
Through user feedback, I discovered that these features drastically improved search accuracy and reduced the time spent navigating irrelevant content. Additionally, the simplified ad-posting process made it accessible to even tech novices, who could quickly share listings without worrying about categorization errors.
Onboarding Screens
Home screen & Explore screens
Ad Details & Profile
Messages & Post Ad Screens
Mockups
Conclusion
NagarHub’s Impact and Future Directions
NagarHub has received positive feedback for its user-centric approach and intelligent functionality. One user shared, “It was so easy to find exactly what I needed with the tags. Posting was just as simple—it felt like making a quick social media post.” Comments like these reinforce NagarHub’s role as a valuable tool, helping residents of tier-2 cities navigate local resources without frustration.
During this project, I learned a great deal about designing with the user in mind. Although there were many features I initially wanted to add, I stayed focused on the project’s core purpose: to make the second-hand marketplace accessible for the rest of India, beyond just tier-1 cities. This emphasis on accessibility helped me keep the design simple, functional, and relevant to users’ real-world needs.