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Airhub
Designing Airhub: The ultimate social platform built for airsoft enthusiasts.
Casestudy, Social Networking
Client
LabLamb Works Limited
The Challenge
The goal was to build a community-driven airsoft platform prioritizing user experience, interaction, trust, and accessibility for players at all skill levels. Our approach focused on modern design principles and ensuring the platform’s scalability, maintainability, and consistency.
This case study is a peek into what my UX design process was like, the challenges I addressed, and the key takeaways gained from this endeavor.
This case study is a peek into what my UX design process was like, the challenges I addressed, and the key takeaways gained from this endeavor.
What is Airhub?
Airhub is a new type of social platform designed with airsoft gamers in mind. When you open the app, you can access the latest airsoft news and updates, participate in interactive forums with like minded people, and you can buy or sell airsoft gear. It is a social network—a place where users can share posts, connect with others and immerse themselves in all things airsoft.
Contribution
Carl Emefo — Product designer 🎨
UX Design, Visual Design, Research, Prototyping, Usability testing, Design System
Tools used
Figma, Google Forms, Mobbin, Jamboard, Gitlab
Team
Meet Patel — Lead engineer ⛑️
Devesh Maurya — Engineer
Duration
Development ongoing
I created our design library from research to final UI components and tokens, boosting development speed by 20%, improving consistency, and raising team productivity.
Get the Airhub app
The app I designed is available on both the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. Use any of the links below to download it.
Business goals & objectives
✦
Building of a trusted marketplace for buying and selling airsoft gear by prioritizing user security and authenticity.
✦
Exploring opportunities to expand AirHub globally, tapping into active airsoft communities in different regions.
Experience strategy & process
Our initial approach focused on user research and hypothesis validation, ensuring we anchored our project on genuine needs. We explored the tools and products users currently use to address their pain points, providing valuable context for our design decisions. To facilitate a strong cross-functional workflow, we held bi-weekly meetings to review design and technical progress, clarify the platform’s direction, and chart a roadmap to launch. This collaborative, experience-driven process enabled us to iteratively refine our strategy and deliver a well-grounded solution.
Understanding users’ need
Through extensive market research and close collaboration with the product owner, I gathered valuable user and business insights that informed our design process.
Our target
1
Enthusiasts and Hobbyists
People who are passionate about military simulations, tactical gameplay, and the overall experience of airsoft.
People who are passionate about military simulations, tactical gameplay, and the overall experience of airsoft.
2
Military and Law Enforcement Professionals
Many active-duty military and law enforcement personnel engage in airsoft for training purposes, as it provides a realistic and tactical simulation environment.
Many active-duty military and law enforcement personnel engage in airsoft for training purposes, as it provides a realistic and tactical simulation environment.
3
Recreational Players
Individuals who play airsoft for fun, team-building, and recreational purposes. This group often includes friends and family members.
Individuals who play airsoft for fun, team-building, and recreational purposes. This group often includes friends and family members.
4
Competitive Players
Some participants engage in competitive airsoft events and tournaments, where teams compete against each other in organized scenarios.
Some participants engage in competitive airsoft events and tournaments, where teams compete against each other in organized scenarios.
The problem
- Lack of a centralized platform makes communication and event coordination challenging.
- Finding specific airsoft gear or discovering new/used equipment can be challenging, especially for those new to the community.
- Organizing and managing airsoft events can be time-consuming and prone to logistical challenges due to the lack of platforms specifically tailored to the airsoft community's needs.
- Finding like-minded individuals, forming teams for airsoft activities or even having a space for users to share their airsoft experiences, loadouts, and strategies without discrimination can be challenging.
Competing platforms used by users for anything airsoft related
Questions we had to face
To create a balance between business and user needs, our design solution aims to solve for these questions:
- How can we deliver airsoft-related information that is tailored to each user's interests and needs?A curated news feed as the homepage brings airsoft news directly to the user every time they launch the app.
- How can we implement features that foster interaction and build community among airsoft gamers?Interactive forums which users can create and moderate, as well as providing information on local airsoft arenas, groups and shops can promote a vibrant community.
- How might we enhance the marketplace on Airhub to cater to different interests and play styles?Utilizing tags for listings, simplifying the seller onboarding process, offering deals and insights into market trends, and advanced filtering options provides a personalized shopping experience.
- How might we optimize the P2P payment system on Airhub to ensure secure and seamless transactions?Providing detailed chat logs for both parties, along with features like verified user profiles, in-app messaging and reporting tools ensures a transparent and smooth transaction process.
Laying the foundation for a seamless user experience
A unified visual language
Typography
Color Palette — Light (Top) & Dark (Bottom)
Designing the homepage while ensuring visual appeal
To create a captivating homepage experience, I designed a news interface tailored to airsoft gamers with UX best practices in mind. The homepage delivers a dynamic, customizable news feed featuring the latest updates and trends from both local and international sources. Users can easily personalize their experience with category filters such as ‘Top Headlines,’ ‘For You,’ and ‘Local’ to ensure content relevance. The interface leverages bold visuals, concise headlines for readability, and an intuitive location selector to enhance regional content accuracy.
Anatomy of the Homepage
Building Interaction & Airsoft Community Engagement with Forum Conversations
To foster seamless interaction among the airsoft community on the platform, we developed a forum module tailored to enhance user experience and accessibility.
Forums
Forum Chat Room
Create Forum, Recently Visited Forums
Long-press Chat Bottom Sheet
Inside the redesigned Airhub marketplace - Buy, sell, & gear up like a pro
We were tasked with creating a seamless marketplace for airsoft gamers to exchange pre-owned equipment, focusing on delivering a unified and accessible user experience despite budget constraints. To provide users with greater autonomy and privacy, all marketplace transactions utilize a P2P model, ensuring direct exchanges without additional fees. To enhance usability, we introduced keyword, username, and product search functions, keyword subscription notifications for new listings, and seller tools such as auto-price reduction, auto-bump listings, and average price insights. These features foster transparency, keep users engaged, and make transactions efficient, highlighting our focus on user-friendly design.
Marketplace v1, Marketplace v1.1
Anatomy of the Marketplace
Verification Prompt for first-time Sellers, Create Listing
Price Trend - Sellers (Premium)
Advanced Options - Sellers (Premium)
Marketplace Search - Phrase Input
Marketplace Search - Results
Item Detail - Buyer
Features to help you Build Connections in the Airsoft Community, with Image feeds, Local Shops, Nearby Arenas & Groups
Our goal was to make it easy for airsoft enthusiasts to build meaningful connections and expand their communities. By designing intuitive features that enable users to explore shared experiences, discover local shops and arenas, and join nearby groups, we ensured Airhub would act as a comprehensive resource for all things airsoft.
We focused on creating a seamless, community-driven platform where finding allies and local opportunities feels natural, supporting users as they grow their network and stay engaged with their passion.
We focused on creating a seamless, community-driven platform where finding allies and local opportunities feels natural, supporting users as they grow their network and stay engaged with their passion.
Image Feed, Image Detail, Nearby Arenas, Arena Detail
Local Shops, Shop Detail, Nearby Groups, Group Detail
Creating a unifying design system that enables consistency at scale.
To maintain consistent brand alignment, we developed the Airhub design system: a flexible, evolving library of components that can be added or removed as needed. This approach allows the platform to quickly adapt its visual language, preserving recognition of Airhub’s core brand values, even if project priorities change. The modular system streamlines design and development workflows and ensures a cohesive, high-quality user experience as the platform evolves.
Color Guidance
Some icons created by me
Components Overview
Why isn’t Airhub available to all users yet?
Airhub's development is guided by a commitment to inclusivity and accessibility, and we're working hard to make it available globally as soon as possible. Our aim is not to create an exclusive platform but to ensure an exceptional user experience by carefully managing the rollout. As a small team of three full-time employees, we face challenges in scaling infrastructure, addressing regional limitations, developing features, gathering product feedback, and building the company, which has slowed progress.
Our strategic marketing campaign has focused on engaging airsoft communities across various platforms, generating excitement and anticipation for the platform's official launch.
We're confident that our measured approach will lead to a thriving and inclusive Airhub community.
Our strategic marketing campaign has focused on engaging airsoft communities across various platforms, generating excitement and anticipation for the platform's official launch.
We're confident that our measured approach will lead to a thriving and inclusive Airhub community.
Wrapping up
Key Learnings
Building an app from scratch with a small team has been an intense learning experience, requiring us to adapt and find solutions at every turn. I was surprised by how long it took to lay the groundwork for what Airhub is today. I spent about two months on user interviews and initial research to understand the unique needs of the airsoft community. The most challenging part wasn't the technical work but switching between roles—from research and user interviews to brainstorming and collaborating with engineers to build the platform. It was like building a ship while sailing it, all while communicating progress and blockers and getting to know my coworkers in a remote setting.
Ultimately, the key to our success has been our ability as a team to ruthlessly prioritize milestones and feature releases.
Ultimately, the key to our success has been our ability as a team to ruthlessly prioritize milestones and feature releases.
Next Steps
As we prepared to transition the platform from closed beta to public release, my focus was ensuring scalability while preserving a positive user experience. I implemented strong community standards and moderation tools tailored for growth, including:
- Comprehensive community guidelines: Clearly defined community rules to promote respect and inclusivity amonng all users.
- Effective moderation tools: Systems to detect and address issues or violations quickly.
- User feedback mechanisms: Direct channels for users to offer input, allowing ongoing platform improvements.
This thoughtful, structured approach positions Airhub to scale responsibly, supporting a vibrant, safe, and engaged community.