UI / UX CASE STUDY

SmarKet — Student Marketplace

Every campus has a hidden economy of student creators with no trusted place to sell. SmarKet is a campus-first marketplace built around the one thing that actually stops a sale: trust — through verified storefronts, secure UPI checkout, live order tracking, and reviews baked into every screen.

RoleUI/UX Designer
PlatformMobile App
TypeFull UX/UI Study
ToolsFigma
Marketplace E-commerce UX Design
View Prototype Read the Study
01 / The Challenge

The Challenge

Walk across any college campus and you'll find a hidden economy running quietly in the background. Someone bakes and sells out of their dorm. Someone else paints, designs jewellery, or stitches custom clothing. None of it shows up anywhere permanent — it moves through word of mouth, a stall at a college fest, a WhatsApp broadcast, an Instagram story that disappears in a day.

That informality is charming until you look at what it costs the people running these small businesses. A seller has no place to look credible — no storefront, no order history, no way to prove they've delivered before. A buyer has no way to tell a trustworthy classmate from a stranger with a stolen product photo. Money changes hands in cash or personal UPI, with no receipt, no tracking, and no recourse if something goes wrong. SmarKet exists to give this activity the one thing it was missing: a structure that makes trust visible.

Who This Affects

  • Student creators with skill but no infrastructure
  • Side-hustle sellers stuck reaching only friends
  • Buyers with no reason to trust a stranger
  • Campus bodies with no visibility into any of it

What It Costs Each Side

For Sellers

  • Scattered, informal selling with no central hub
  • Limited reach beyond close friends
  • No order or inventory management
  • Unsafe, untracked cash / UPI transactions

For Buyers

  • Hard to discover unique peer-made products
  • No trust layer: no ratings, reviews, verification
  • No way to follow an order once placed
  • No room for sellers to grow professionally

"There is no dedicated bridge connecting student creators with the local campus market — and no design brief hands you that gap pre-solved."

02 / What I Wanted to Understand

What I Wanted to Understand

Before sketching a single screen, I needed to separate what I assumed from what was actually true. I ran that thinking through a five-stage design process, but the questions underneath it were the real starting point:

Is the barrier lack of demand, or lack of trust?
Do students want a new app, or existing habits fixed?
What makes a buyer hesitate right before paying a stranger?
Do sellers need more reach, or more tools?
How much payment friction is too much?
Do buyers and sellers need one interface, or two?

Several of these had answers I didn't expect — the process below is how I found out.

iterative throughout Discover Market Research Existing System Analysis Target Audience Survey (50 College Students) Campus Insights Define Problem Statement Empathy Map Personas User Journey Map User Stories User Flow Ideate Card Sorting Sitemap Moodboard Style Tile Design Sketches Low-Fidelity Wireframes High-Fidelity Mockups Test Feedback & Validation
03 / Research & Discovery

Research & Discovery

I grounded this project in two layers of evidence: a peer study on campus marketplaces already validated at scale (4.62 / 5 on usability), and a direct survey of 50 college students on how they currently buy and sell on campus. Together, they let me stop guessing and start designing against real patterns — not just confirm the idea was liked, but find out exactly where it still broke down.

From Findings to Design Opportunities

Demand vs. the Real Gap

Finding: the peer study scored 4.62/5 on usability — demand for a campus marketplace wasn't in question.

Insight: the job wasn't proving the idea was wanted, it was closing the specific gaps that stopped it being fully usable.

Opportunity: build the transactional backbone — payments, tracking, chat — the earlier concept lacked.

Visibility Over Talent

Finding: across the survey of 50 college students, sellers weren't struggling for lack of skill, they were struggling to be found at all.

Insight: for student creators, the bottleneck isn't talent, it's exposure.

Opportunity: design discovery-first surfaces — search, filters, a browsable home screen — so good work gets found by strangers, not just friends.

Trust Is the Currency

Finding: of the 50 students surveyed, hesitation to buy wasn't about price or quality, it was about not knowing if the seller was legitimate.

Insight: trust, not availability, is the real currency of a peer-to-peer marketplace.

Opportunity: surface trust signals at every decision point — not tucked away on a profile page.

Payment Isn't the Problem, Silence Is

Finding: UPI was the clear payment preference among the 50 students surveyed, but they were uneasy sending money with no confirmation of what happened next.

Insight: trust doesn't end at checkout, it has to survive the wait for delivery.

Opportunity: pair familiar payment (UPI QR + COD) with a visible, ongoing status tracker.

Key Insights

General marketplaces feel too broad
Trust is the real currency
Visibility, not talent, is the bottleneck
Simplicity beats feature overload
UPI preferred, but needs tracking
High demand confirmed (4.62/5)

Target Audience

Student Creators

Artists, bakers and designers who make handmade goods and want a simple way to sell on campus.

Side Hustle Sellers

Students running a small business to cover living costs, who need reach beyond word of mouth.

Curious Buyers

Students after unique, affordable handmade items from people they already trust on campus.

Campus Community

The entrepreneurship cell, faculty and IT who support and oversee student commerce.

"The sharpest insight: for student creators the bottleneck isn't talent, it's visibility and trust. So SmarKet is built around discovery and credibility, not just transactions."

04 / The Competitive Gap

The Competitive Gap

Students already described existing options as each solving part of the problem and failing at the rest — the gap wasn't a missing feature, it was a missing combination.

Platform Strengths Why It Falls Short Opportunity
Instagram / WhatsApp Free, familiar, instant No carts, payments, or tracking Keep the social feel, add real commerce
Marketplace / OLX Large audience Generic, no student focus, safety risks Campus-only, verified space
Etsy Handmade trust, reviews Global, high fees, not local Handmade trust, hyper-local + free
Campus Stalls (study) Proven concept, 4.62/5 Limited payments & chat Add payments, tracking, live chat
SmarKet Campus-first + verified storefronts — Fills the gap: payments + tracking + chat + reviews

The gap: no existing option is campus-first, trust-rich, and genuinely simple all at once. Winning here didn't mean out-featuring Etsy or out-reaching OLX — it meant being the only option that is hyper-local, verified, and uncomplicated at the same time.

05 / Turning Insight Into Requirements

Turning Insight Into Requirements

Every research finding needed to earn its place in the product. I used user stories to keep decisions tied to specific people, and a MoSCoW pass to keep the trust-and-visibility findings from getting diluted by nice-to-have feature creep.

User Stories

Aarya · the seller
  • Set up my own storefront and list items with photos, so I look professional and reach beyond my friends.
  • See one dashboard for pending, in-progress, and completed orders, so nothing slips through.
  • Offer secure UPI, card, or COD options, so every transaction feels safe.
Rohan · the buyer
  • Search and filter by category, price, and rating, so I find unique items quickly.
  • Get real-time tracking, so I know when to expect pickup or delivery.
  • See ratings, reviews, and chat with the seller, so I can buy with confidence.

Card Sorting — Feature Prioritisation

Must Have

  • Role-based sign up & login
  • Storefront & listing management
  • Search & filters
  • Cart & checkout
  • Secure payments (UPI / Card / COD)
  • Real-time order tracking
  • Seller dashboard
  • Ratings & reviews
  • Real-time chat
  • Admin dashboard

Nice To Have

  • Wishlist
  • Sales & performance analytics
  • Dispute resolution
  • Loyalty & rewards
  • Geo-location filtering
  • Seller verification
  • Native mobile app

Won't Have (yet)

  • Third-party delivery logistics
  • Multi-campus scaling
  • AI recommendations
  • Biometric / 2FA
  • Off-campus public access
  • High-volume wholesale

Broad Use Cases

Sell handmade goods or services on campus
Discover unique peer-made products
Request a custom, made-to-order piece via chat
Pay safely with UPI / QR or Cash on Delivery
Track an order from placed to delivered
Build a reputation through ratings & reviews
Manage listings & orders from one dashboard
06 / Design Exploration

Design Exploration

A few of the biggest decisions in this project didn't arrive fully formed. Here's how three of them evolved.

Finding the Right Visual Identity

First idea: a clean, neutral "marketplace-standard" palette — cool blues and greys, like any generic e-commerce template.

Issue found: it undercut the whole premise. SmarKet exists because campus commerce is personal and handmade; a cold palette made every product feel mass-produced — the exact trust gap the platform was meant to close.

Final decision: warm cream & gold tones that echo handmade craft, paired with Poppins headings and Inter body text — a look that signals "this was made by someone" before a word of copy does the work.

Structuring the Experience by Role

First idea: one shared interface for buyers and sellers, with a toggle somewhere to switch modes.

Issue found: buyers and sellers have almost nothing in common in what they need to do on any visit. Folding both into one navigation model risked cluttering both experiences to serve neither well.

Final decision: split the architecture at sign-in — buyers land on a Home built for discovery, sellers land on a Dashboard built for management, under one shared login.

Making Trust Survive Checkout

First idea: a standard checkout flow — cart, payment method, confirmation screen, done.

Issue found: interviews showed trust doesn't end when payment clears, it's tested during the wait afterward. A confirmation screen that goes quiet leaves buyers anxious exactly when they're most vulnerable.

Final decision: UPI QR + Cash on Delivery (no card data stored), paired with a persistent order tracker running from Processing to Delivered — reassurance without a single extra message.

Once the role split was settled, the architecture followed naturally: buyers land on the Home Screen, sellers go straight to the Seller Dashboard, and each hub keeps its own navigation shallow and predictable.

Site Map / Information Architecture

Sign In / Sign Up Home Screen Seller Dashboard Browse Category Product Cart Payment Order Tracking Community Chat Reviews Notifications Profile Settings Upload Product My Products Orders Pending Completed

User Flows

Buyer Flow

Sign In → Home → Category → Product → Chat → Cart → Payment → Order Tracking

Seller Flow

Sign In → Seller Dashboard → Upload Product → My Products

Interactions & Unhappy Paths

Different ways people interact

  • Browse by category, or search and filter
  • Buy now, or add to bag for later
  • Chat to request a custom, made-to-order piece
  • Pay by UPI / QR or Cash on Delivery
  • Switch roles: shop as a buyer, sell from the dashboard

When things don't go to plan

  • Payment fails → retry or fall back to Cash on Delivery
  • Product out of stock → Add to Bag is disabled
  • No search results → empty state with suggested categories
  • Seller slow to reply → chat shows status, order still possible
  • Order issue → "Need help? Contact seller" on tracking

Low-Fidelity Wireframes

Key journeys were mapped as a wireflow — each screen connects to the next, mirroring the prototype paths from the Figma file.

Splash Sign Up Sign In Home Category Product Chat Profile Notifications Seller Dashboard Upload Product My Products Cart Payment Order Tracking
07 / Key Design Decisions

Key Design Decisions

Each of these traces back to a specific research finding, not a stylistic preference.

Warm Marketplace Identity

Problem: a generic e-commerce look would make handmade, peer-made products feel mass-produced.

Decision: warm cream & gold tones that echo handmade craft.

Reasoning: research showed the product's differentiator was its human, handmade character.

Expected impact: a more approachable, student-friendly experience that reinforces the product's positioning.

Role-Based Experience

Problem: buyers, sellers, and admins need different things, and one shared interface risked clutter for everyone.

Decision: one login, three focused views.

Reasoning: interviews showed almost no overlap in what each role needs to do per session.

Expected impact: cleaner, less cluttered interfaces for every role.

Checkout with UPI QR

Problem: payment needed to feel secure and familiar without adding friction.

Decision: UPI QR + COD, no card data stored.

Reasoning: interview data confirmed UPI as the dominant habit; removing stored card data cut real and perceived risk.

Expected impact: a checkout that matches existing student behaviour instead of asking them to adopt a new one.

Order Status Tracker

Problem: trust visibly dropped in the gap between "I paid" and "I received it."

Decision: visual bar: Processing → Shipped → Delivered.

Reasoning: buyers didn't need more messages from sellers, they needed passive, always-available reassurance.

Expected impact: transparency that reduces anxiety without extra manual effort.

Simple Seller Dashboard

Problem: students run this as a side activity, not a full-time job.

Decision: add listing, my products, my orders, buyer view.

Reasoning: seller interviews pointed to time constraints, not a need for deep analytics.

Expected impact: a dashboard a student can realistically keep on top of between classes.

Trust Built Into the UI

Problem: the old, informal system had no way to establish credibility.

Decision: ratings, reviews, chat, tracking surfaced everywhere.

Reasoning: research repeatedly identified trust, not availability, as the primary transaction barrier.

Expected impact: a buyer never has to go looking for reassurance — it's present at every hesitation point.

Final UI Designs

High-fidelity screens in a warm cream & gold system, with Poppins headings and Inter body text. View Prototype

SmarKet Splash screenSmarKet Sign Up screen
Onboarding

Splash

A clean splash screen introduces the SmarKet brand the moment a student opens the app.

Sign Up

New users register with verified credentials and choose a role: Buyer, Seller, or both.

SmarKet Sign In screenSmarKet Home screen
Sign In & Home

Sign In

Returning users sign in securely; a buyer lands on Home while a seller is taken to the dashboard.

Home

Categories, search and popular products lead the home screen so buyers find unique handmade items fast.

SmarKet Category screenSmarKet Product screenSmarKet Chat screen
Browse, Product & Chat

Category

Listings are grouped by category and can be filtered by price and seller rating.

Product

Photos, price, ratings and a verified seller badge, with Add to Bag, Buy Now and Chat with Seller.

Chat

A real time chat connects buyers straight to the seller, so shoppers can request custom, made to order versions of a handmade piece before they buy.

SmarKet Your Bag screenSmarKet Payment screenSmarKet Order Tracking screen
Bag, Payment & Tracking

Your Bag

The bag lists chosen items with a clear summary and handmade picks before checkout.

Payment

Secure checkout with UPI / QR and Cash on Delivery; no card details are ever stored.

Order Tracking

A visual tracker follows each order through Processing, Shipped and Delivered.

SmarKet Profile screenSmarKet Notifications screen
Buyer Profile & Notifications

Profile

The buyer's profile holds account details, orders, saved addresses, payment methods and settings.

Notifications

Order updates and platform alerts keep buyers informed.

SmarKet Seller Dashboard screenSmarKet Upload Product screenSmarKet My Products screen
Seller Workspace

Seller Dashboard

On signing in as a seller, the user lands here to manage pending, in progress and completed orders.

Upload Product

Listing a product takes a name, price, stock, category, description and image.

My Products

Sellers review and search their active listings at a glance.

08 / Design System

Design System

Consistency here wasn't just visual polish — every choice below ties back to keeping the buyer-seller trust story coherent across two very different role-based experiences.

Typography

Poppins carries headings, Inter carries body copy — a friendly, rounded voice at a glance, while staying easy to read at small sizes for reviews and chat.

Colour

Warm cream & gold, deliberately avoiding cool marketplace-standard blues. Gold accents are reserved for trust and status cues, so colour becomes a signal, not decoration.

Spacing

A consistent grid aligns product cards, listings, and dashboard modules, so switching between buyer and seller views never feels like switching apps.

Components

Reusable card patterns for products, orders, and listings; one tracker component reused across tracking, notifications, and the dashboard.

Accessibility: high-contrast text over the cream background, clear disabled states (an out-of-stock product visibly disables "Add to Bag" rather than allowing a dead end), and explicit empty and error states so no one is left facing a blank screen with no explanation.

09 / Testing & Validation

Testing & Validation

The high-fidelity Figma prototype was clickable but static, so rather than run task-based usability testing against a live product, I ran structured feedback sessions with a small group of students: each worked through key flows, answered set questions, and shared open reactions in the moment. That distinction mattered — it shaped what I could validate, and I was careful not to overclaim completion metrics I hadn't actually measured.

Flows Reviewed

Sign up and role selection
Browse, search and product view
Bag and checkout (UPI / COD)
Order tracking
Seller dashboard and listing

Before → Observation → Result

Role-Based Navigation

Before: the buyer/seller split was a structural bet from interview data with 50 students, unconfirmed with anyone actually navigating the prototype.

Observation: participants moved through it naturally, without needing it explained.

Result: shipped unchanged — confirmed by both research and observed behaviour.

UPI QR + COD Checkout

Before: designed on the assumption that familiarity would outweigh any new friction.

Observation: most participants moved through checkout without hesitation; a couple paused briefly before confirming payment.

Result: flow retained; button labelling tightened for clarity.

Order Status Tracker

Before: built on the hypothesis that visible status would reduce post-purchase anxiety.

Observation: buyers specifically called it out as reassuring after payment.

Result: validated as one of the most positively received elements in the study.

Empty States & Seller Path

Before: functional but untested against real navigation.

Observation: feedback flagged unclear error/empty states and an over-long path into the seller dashboard.

Result: messaging strengthened, dashboard entry simplified — for exactly the users with the least patience for extra steps.

What I Heard & What Changed

What Resonated

  • Role-based home vs dashboard split felt natural
  • UPI QR + COD checkout felt familiar
  • Order tracker reassured buyers after payment

What I Refined

  • Clearer labels on primary buttons
  • Stronger empty and error states
  • Simplified path to the seller dashboard
10 / Impact & Reflection

Impact & Reflection

What Worked

  • Treating trust as a design material, not a feature — woven through ratings, tracking, verified sellers, and chat
  • The buyer/seller role split, which held up cleanly under testing

What I'd Improve

  • Move to genuine task-based usability testing on a working build, not just self-reported reactions
  • Give the seller workflow the same depth of validation the buyer journey got

What I'd Test Next

Whether seller verification meaningfully moves buyer conversion beyond ratings alone — it was scoped as "nice to have," not validated directly. I'd also want to test the unhappy paths under real conditions: does a buyer actually fall back to Cash on Delivery when UPI fails, or abandon the purchase entirely?

"The most useful thing this project taught me: a marketplace isn't a shopping app with extra steps, it's a trust machine with a shopping cart attached. Once I started evaluating screens through that lens instead of conventional e-commerce patterns, the right decisions became far easier to defend."