Nearby Communities
UX Redesign
Redesigning the page that helps apartment seekers discover sister properties — improving scannability, mobile experience, and map interactions across a platform serving 14,000+ property sites.
Overview
The Problem
The existing Nearby Communities page lacked clear structure, making it difficult for prospective renters to quickly browse and compare sister properties. Key information wasn't prioritized, the map had broken interactions, and the mobile experience was essentially unusable.
I was brought in to redesign the page within the existing platform and component system — leading both the Figma design work and the frontend implementation.
My Role
UX Designer + Frontend Developer
Led end-to-end — from identifying UX problems and designing solutions in Figma, through to implementing the production-ready frontend.
Constraints
- ✦Built within an existing platform and component system
- ✦Limited flexibility in layout and functionality
- ✦Worked within pre-existing design patterns
- ✦Required to support dynamic content and multiple listings
- ✦Required to support multiple themes consistently
Design Process
The Decisions
Working within the constraints of an established component system meant every design decision had to be deliberate. I focused on four key areas where the existing experience was creating the most friction for users.
Card Scannability
The original card listed information in a vertical stack with no visual hierarchy. I restructured the layout to lead with the property image and community name, grouped contact info with icons for quick recognition, and added a direct "View Website" CTA that was previously missing entirely.
Map Markers & Popups
The original map used decorative star icons that were visually noisy and didn't follow standard mapping conventions. I replaced them with clean numbered markers and rebuilt the popup to include a dismiss button and "View Website" action.
Popup Interactions
Once a map popup opened, users had no way to dismiss it. The redesigned popup includes an explicit close button and a styled "View Website" CTA, making the interaction feel intentional rather than broken.
Mobile Experience
On mobile, the original layout stacked the map directly above the community cards with no visual separation. I introduced a tab-based Map / List toggle, allowing users to switch between views without losing context.
Desktop Layout
The original desktop layout placed the map full-width above a grid of cards, forcing users to scroll up and down to cross-reference the two. The redesigned layout shows map and list side by side, so clicking a marker immediately highlights the corresponding card.
Final Outcome
Clearer, faster, more useful
The redesign introduced clearer information hierarchy, more intuitive map interactions, and a dramatically improved mobile experience — making it easier for prospective renters to browse, compare, and take action on nearby properties.
Every change was made within the constraints of an existing component system and designed to work across multiple property themes.