Introduction

Before starting this project, I had this conflicting notion: If we, as UX designers, are designing with the user at the center, why do so many products still use shady dark UX patterns? These companies have entire UX teams, yet they often push deceptive interactions that serve business metrics at the cost of the user’s experience. While business needs are valid, they should not override user trust. After some personal digging and reflection, I concluded that good UX should strike a balance between user needs and business goals — it all depends on the product.

Re-Evaluating NagarHub V1

Back to NagarHub. When I revisited NagarHub V1, I wasn’t satisfied with it. Initially, I just wanted to improve the visuals. But soon, I realized there were deeper flaws in the flow and features. I started sketching wireframes based on the insights gathered during the V1 phase — this time with a clear goal to serve both business and user needs.

I wasn’t aiming to repeat past research. Instead, I focused on flow improvements, layout changes, and new features. Since the target audience remained unchanged, I conducted a survey to better understand their behaviors when buying second-hand goods, renting rooms, and availing services.

Key findings:

• Lack of trust in current platforms

• Concerns over fake profiles and scammers

• Importance of product condition and seller trust

• Unexpectedly, many users start with Google search rather than platforms like Facebook Marketplace

• Demand for simple user reviews and a mobile app

I followed this up with user interviews. One user expressed frustration about unreliable rental listings — fake pictures, outdated info, and landlords not answering calls. The user’s journey remained offline because it was perceived as more trustworthy.

When shown the V1 prototype, the navigation felt intuitive. However, the “Contact Me” button created confusion, as users expected direct contact details, not internal messaging. Additionally, the feedback system went unnoticed — users preferred a familiar star-based review on the ad detail page.

From this, I defined key focus areas:

• Enhance trust and authenticity

• Simplify and improve the review system

• Ensure accurate and up-to-date listings

• Enable easy and direct communication

• Improve visibility of key listing details

• Better search and location-based filtering

• Streamline navigation with user-friendly categories

Secondary Research Insights

I conducted secondary research to validate my findings:

• 95% of Indian villages now have internet via 3G/4G

• Internet subscribers grew from 251M (2014) to 954M (2024)

• Average data cost fell from ₹268/GB to ₹9/GB

• 70.95% smartphone penetration (as of June 2023)

• Tier-2 and 3 cities are growing in digital commerce, led by platforms like Meesho

But trust issues persist:

• Overly complex UI

• Lack of verification

• Users rely on physical interactions and word-of-mouth

• Community networks offer stronger accountability

So, what does this mean for NagarHub V2?

• Replace feedback with a star rating system

• Simplified, clean UI for easier browsing

• Stronger verification and trust-building features

• Personalized homepage and listing visibility based on user behavior

• Encourage complete, detailed listings without forcing users

So, What Does This Mean for Nagarhub V2?

All this research from surveys and interviews to broader secondary insights shaped how Nagarhub V2 needed to evolve.

Here’s how I translated those findings into actionable design directions:

Wireframing the New Experience

To solve the usability issues I uncovered in the initial version, I started with hand-drawn wireframes to quickly explore new ideas around navigation, listing layouts, and user flows. My goal was to make the platform intuitive for both first-time and returning users, especially those from tier-2 cities with varying digital literacy.

I took inspiration from clean, minimal interfaces like Mobbin and focused on simplifying the navigation across categories while keeping subcategories subtle yet understandable. Each sketch helped me iterate and refine what features to keep, improve, or remove. As I transitioned to high-fidelity wireframes in Figma, I made research-driven changes — like adding a star-rating system, improving listing cards with trust signals, making share/save options more accessible, and encouraging richer listing details through a gamified flow.

I also revisited core assumptions midway — expanding the platform to allow both buyers and sellers to post listings, which shifted the overall structure and flow. With each iteration, I kept both user and business needs in mind, ensuring the system could scale while staying user-friendly.

Building the Design System

This phase was challenging but rewarding. Choosing colors was hard — I began with green/orange but settled on Teal for trust and growth. Indigo was chosen as the secondary color to reflect connection and depth.

Typography: Major third type scale, with Figtree for headings (modern, friendly) and Arimo for body (readable, familiar).

I built reusable Figma components for cards, buttons, and sections. These components were key to designing consistently and scaling fast.

Despite not including detailed business flow due to project scope, every design decision was made with business scalability in mind. This system can easily be extended to accommodate full business logic in future iterations.

Designing the Nagarhub V2: Iteration, Intuition & the Journey to Clarity

The wireframes gave me a strong starting point, they set the foundation, helping me map out the flow and structure clearly. But once I stepped into the visual design phase, the real challenge began. What looked good on wireframes often didn’t translate well into high-fidelity designs. Finding the right layout was the hardest part, spacing, visual hierarchy, and content balance would constantly feel off. That’s when I turned to visual references and UI patterns to guide my thinking.

Pages like the landing screen, product ad cards, and user profile pages went through multiple rounds of iteration, guided by user feedback and usability testing. Each version taught me something new, sometimes subtle tweaks made all the difference.

One key thing I learned during this phase: you don’t need to wait for everything to look perfect to start designing. Often, just diving into the process reveals opportunities and gaps you wouldn’t catch otherwise. The journey was filled with ton of Figma frames, lots of doubts, and endless tweaking , but it made the final design more thoughtful, intuitive, and aligned with real user behavior.

Key Learnings from Nagarhub V2

A solid design system speeds up iteration and ensures consistency

• Simple > Visually fancy: Users prefer clarity (feedback → star rating)

• Last-minute ideas (like Wanted Listings) are valid — I validated this with a quick survey and added it

• Every interaction should help build trust and reduce friction

Thank You

Thanks for taking the time to go through my case study.
If you’d like to hire me, collaborate, or just say hello — feel free to reach out!

📬 hello@abhineshvivek.com

Looking forward to connecting! 😊