Designing a B2C service marketplace app from scratch
B2C ▫️ UX Strategy ▫️ Mobile MVP ▫️ Service Marketplace
.png)
PROJECT OVERVIEW
I led end-to-end product design for Homily, a B2C marketplace app built to simplify how users discover and book home services. As the founding designer, I defined UX strategy, crafted seamless mobile-first flows, and designed the MVP experience, covering search, profile setup, booking, and onboarding, to reduce friction, accelerate time-to-value, and drive early user activation and engagement.
COMPANY
Homily
ROLE
Founding Product Designer
TIMEFRAME
11 months
TECH-STACK
Figma, Material UI, Adobe CC, MidJourney, Jira, Confluence, Miro, Figjam, Slack, Microsoft 365
THE CHALLENGE
Users struggled to find and book reliable services due to fragmented platforms, unclear flows, and lack of trust-building cues. This led to poor task completion and high app abandonment.
MY APPROACH
I designed a mobile-first MVP with role-based access and clear booking flows to reduce friction and build trust. It enabled users to quickly browse, book, and manage services with ease, improving adoption and task clarity.
STEP 1
DEFINE
UNDERSTANDING THE PROBLEM
Finding reliable home service professionals is often a challenging and fragmented experience for customers. Existing solutions in France offer limited service categories, lack transparency in professional selection, and do not provide an integrated platform for seamless booking and secure payments. This leads to frustration, mistrust, and inconvenience for users who seek quality home services.
STAKEHOLDER INTERVIEW INSIGHTS
The CEO emphasized creating an AI that embodies curiosity, imagination, and adventure.
Developers highlighted technical constraints that needed to be considered.
AI-ML engineers provided insights into AI capabilities and data requirements.
Project managers stressed the importance of timelines and deliverables.
STEP 2
DISCOVER
UNCOVERING USER NEEDS AND PAIN POINTS
Understanding user needs and market gaps was essential for building a product that truly solves real problems. We conducted surveys and competitive analysis to gather insights and validate our idea before proceeding with design and development.
COMPETITVE LANDSCAPE
We analyzed competitors:
WeCasa
Simone
Urban Company
Airtasker
Key Gaps Identified:
Limited service categories in France-based competitors
Lack of user control in choosing professionals
No comprehensive all-in-one home service platform
.png)
TARGET AUDIENCE
Homily catered to business professionals, expats, and stay-at-home individuals who needed convenient, high-quality home services. These users valued trust, flexibility, and efficiency in booking service professionals online.
USER INTERVIEW INSIGHTS
Survey Insights
78% of respondents expressed difficulty finding reliable home service providers.
65% mentioned a lack of trust in the quality of services offered.
85% preferred the convenience of booking services online rather than visiting service locations.
From this data, we synthesized key user pain points:
Fragmented market with no integrated solution
Trust issues due to inconsistent service quality
Lack of a convenient digital platform for booking home services
KEY CHALLENGES
Challenges included fragmented markets, lack of trust, and limited digital solutions for home services. Additional constraints involved language barriers, legal requirements, budget limitations, and time zone coordination in development.
STEP 3
IDEATE
SOLVING THE PROBLEM
Homily aims to bridge these gaps by providing a user-friendly web platform that offers a wide range of home services with vetted professionals. The platform allows users to choose professionals based on ratings and experience, ensuring transparency and trust. Secure payment processing, customer support, and an intuitive booking system further enhance convenience, making Homily the go-to solution for home service needs.
PRODUCT STRATEGY
Homily's product strategy was built around user trust, convenience, and market differentiation. Our goal was to create an intuitive and reliable home service booking experience while ensuring strong professional onboarding.
User Empowerment & Trust
Users select professionals based on ratings & reviews; vetted providers ensure quality; secure payments & refund policies build confidence
Seamless Booking Experience
Intuitive UI with filters, search, and a smooth checkout process with multiple payment options.
Service Provider Growth & Retention
Easy onboarding, business exposure, and performance tracking for service quality.
Scalability & Expansion
MVP launched with hair & beauty services; built on React.js for future expansion and mobile integration.
FEATURES ADDED
Wide range of services (initial focus on hair & beauty)
User-friendly interface for seamless booking
Secure payment system for safe transactions
Vetted professionals to ensure quality
Customer support for reliability
User choice feature, allowing customers to select professionals based on ratings, experience, and profiles
COGNITIVE MAPPING
To ideate features, we used cognitive mapping, visually connecting user pain points with possible solutions. This helped define key functionalities, such as service provider selection, booking management, secure payments, and customer support.
SITE MAP
A structured site map was developed to ensure a smooth user flow, covering key pages like home, service categories, provider profiles, booking process, payment gateway, and user dashboard.
CRAZY EIGHT
I employed the Crazy 8s brainstorming method to quickly sketch different interface ideas. This rapid ideation technique helped me explore multiple UI layouts before finalizing the design direction.
STEP 4
DESIGN
CREATING THE SOLUTION
The UX process involved defining user flows, creating wireframes, designing UI elements, and collaborating closely with developers to ensure feasibility and smooth implementation.
LOGO DESIGN
WEBSITE DESIGN
High-fidelity visual designs were created, focusing on a clean, intuitive interface with an aesthetically pleasing color palette and typography. The goal was to ensure an engaging and user-friendly experience.
SOCIAL MEDIA
To build brand awareness, I designed social media content highlighting Homily’s services, provider onboarding, and customer benefits.
STEP 5
PROTOTYPE
ADDING INTERACTION TO THE DESIGN
Created high-fidelity prototypes using Figma to simulate the user flow and interactions. I utilized auto-layout and component-based design to ensure responsiveness across devices. Using Figma’s prototyping tools (smart animate, overlays, and timed transitions), I tested the user experience to ensure functionality and usability before moving to development.
FUNCTIONAL BY DESIGN
Prototype focused on scalability, accessibility, and user-friendliness.
Responsive layouts to ensure seamless performance across devices.
Streamlined user flow to reduce friction and make onboarding more efficient and intuitive.
Ensured WCAG-compliant accessibility standards throughout the design.
Applied Gestalt principles and behavioral psychology to enhance usability.
Used Material UI to enable smooth developer handoff and build a responsive, scalable UI.
STEP 6
TEST
VALIDATING THE SOLUTION
Usability testing was essential to refine the product and ensure an optimal user experience. We tested the MVP with real users and incorporated feedback to make necessary improvements.
USABILITY TESTING
Test Insights
90% of test users found the platform easy to navigate.
70% appreciated the ability to choose their service provider.
30% suggested adding more filtering options for service selection.
Key Iterations:
Improved service filters for better discoverability.
Enhanced onboarding flow to reduce drop-off rates.
Streamlined booking process for faster transactions.
.png)
KEY LEARNINGS
Clarity builds trust — removing friction in booking signup, and role-based flows helped improve task completion and user confidence.
Start simple, test fast — scoping for MVP and launching quickly gave us actionable insights for the next phase.
Consistency scales — aligning UI patterns across user roles reduced confusion and improved usability.
THE IMPACT
Launched MVP in 11 weeks with scalable, role-based UX strategy.
Increased activation rate by 64% through simplified onboarding and task flows.
Reduced user confusion and support requests via intuitive, mobile-first navigation.
Enabled seamless collaboration across design, product, and dev through early specs and design system foundations.
CONCLUSION
Working on Homily sharpened my ability to design fast, think lean, and prioritize clarity. As a founding designer, I led UX strategy, built mobile-first flows, and collaborated across teams to launch a user-ready MVP in a competitive market.