SmartProp
SmartProp
Real estate intelligence platform for the Dubai property market
Real estate intelligence platform for the Dubai property market
SmartProp brings together market data, community insights, project information, and investment analytics for the Dubai property market into a single, visually driven platform, built for investors, buyers, renters, and brokers to explore and evaluate opportunities with confidence.
The vision was to combine the analytical depth of a professional investment research platform with the exploration-driven, visual browsing experience of OpenSea, centered on ProFinder, an interactive map-based discovery tool for exploring communities and projects alongside the market intelligence behind them.
SmartProp brings together market data, community insights, project information, and investment analytics for the Dubai property market into a single, visually driven platform, built for investors, buyers, renters, and brokers to explore and evaluate opportunities with confidence.
The vision was to combine the analytical depth of a professional investment research platform with the exploration-driven, visual browsing experience of OpenSea, centered on ProFinder, an interactive map-based discovery tool for exploring communities and projects alongside the market intelligence behind them.
AI SAAS
AI SAAS
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REAL ESTATE TECH
REAL ESTATE TECH
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DATA VISUALIZATION
DATA VISUALIZATION
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COMPLEX DATA
COMPLEX DATA
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MAP-BASED DISCOVERY
MAP-BASED DISCOVERY
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INVESTMENT ANALYTICS
INVESTMENT ANALYTICS
—
UI FOCUS
UI FOCUS
COMPANY
COMPANY
Cendars Tech Labs
Cendars Tech Labs
MY ROLE
MY ROLE
Senior product designer
Product strategy, information architecture, and end-to-end UX design, translating complex real estate datasets into intuitive experiences for both professional investors and everyday users.
Senior product designer
Product strategy, information architecture, and end-to-end UX design, translating complex real estate datasets into intuitive experiences for both professional investors and everyday users.
DURATION
DURATION
Jan 2026 - June 2026 (6 months)
Jan 2026 - June 2026 (6 months)
Project discontinued following client's market pullback post-war
Project discontinued following client's market pullback post-war
TOOLS
TOOLS
OVERVIEW
OVERVIEW
Dubai's property market is one of the most active in the world, and one of the most fragmented to actually research. I designed a real estate intelligence platform that pulls community data, project details, pricing trends, rental performance, and investment metrics into one connected experience, then wrapped it in a browsing model inspired by OpenSea, so exploring the market felt like discovery rather than data entry. ProFinder, the interactive map-based discovery tool, was a core piece of that experience and the assignment I was given during hiring.
Dubai's property market is one of the most active in the world, and one of the most fragmented to actually research. I designed a real estate intelligence platform that pulls community data, project details, pricing trends, rental performance, and investment metrics into one connected experience, then wrapped it in a browsing model inspired by OpenSea, so exploring the market felt like discovery rather than data entry. ProFinder, the interactive map-based discovery tool, was a core piece of that experience and the assignment I was given during hiring.
THE PRODUCT CONTEXT
THE PRODUCT CONTEXT
Dubai property data is unusually open by regional standards, official sources like the Dubai Land Department publish real transaction data, and platforms have emerged specifically to make that data usable. But "available" and "usable" are different problems. Even the most authoritative public data portal in the market is widely regarded as data-rich but hard to navigate, with real transaction volume, price indices, and rental data buried behind an interface most investors find confusing to actually extract insight from.
That gap, serious data with a serious usability problem, was exactly the opening Cendars Tech Labs wanted to fill. The goal was a platform that didn't just aggregate market intelligence but made it feel approachable enough for an everyday buyer or renter while staying rigorous enough for a professional investor, and did it with a browsing experience distinctive enough to stand out in a market full of dense, spreadsheet-like tools.
Dubai property data is unusually open by regional standards, official sources like the Dubai Land Department publish real transaction data, and platforms have emerged specifically to make that data usable. But "available" and "usable" are different problems. Even the most authoritative public data portal in the market is widely regarded as data-rich but hard to navigate, with real transaction volume, price indices, and rental data buried behind an interface most investors find confusing to actually extract insight from.
That gap, serious data with a serious usability problem, was exactly the opening Cendars Tech Labs wanted to fill. The goal was a platform that didn't just aggregate market intelligence but made it feel approachable enough for an everyday buyer or renter while staying rigorous enough for a professional investor, and did it with a browsing experience distinctive enough to stand out in a market full of dense, spreadsheet-like tools.
RESEARCH AND DISCOVERY
RESEARCH AND DISCOVERY
The starting brief was unusually specific: build an OpenSea-inspired experience for real estate discovery, that was the core design assignment from day one. My research focused on understanding what made OpenSea's browsing model work, and what made Dubai's existing market intelligence tools fall short, so the two could actually meet in the middle.
Looking at OpenSea itself, a few patterns stood out as worth translating: category-based browsing that lets users explore by type rather than search from a blank slate, prominent trending and featured collections that surface what's active right now, and inline stats (volume, pricing, activity) shown directly alongside the visual browsing experience rather than tucked into a separate analytics tab. The interface leads with exploration and treats data as a supporting layer, not the main event, the opposite of how most real estate research tools are built.
On the real estate side, existing Dubai market data platforms proved the appetite for transparency (investors clearly want direct access to transaction and pricing data) but consistently struggled with usability. The most authoritative data source in the market is widely used specifically because there's no better alternative, not because the experience is enjoyable, real estate professionals frequently describe it as confusing to extract actionable insight from despite the data underneath being excellent. That was the clearest signal in the research: the market didn't need more data, it needed the OpenSea treatment applied to data that already existed.
The starting brief was unusually specific: build an OpenSea-inspired experience for real estate discovery, that was the core design assignment from day one. My research focused on understanding what made OpenSea's browsing model work, and what made Dubai's existing market intelligence tools fall short, so the two could actually meet in the middle.
Looking at OpenSea itself, a few patterns stood out as worth translating: category-based browsing that lets users explore by type rather than search from a blank slate, prominent trending and featured collections that surface what's active right now, and inline stats (volume, pricing, activity) shown directly alongside the visual browsing experience rather than tucked into a separate analytics tab. The interface leads with exploration and treats data as a supporting layer, not the main event, the opposite of how most real estate research tools are built.
On the real estate side, existing Dubai market data platforms proved the appetite for transparency (investors clearly want direct access to transaction and pricing data) but consistently struggled with usability. The most authoritative data source in the market is widely used specifically because there's no better alternative, not because the experience is enjoyable, real estate professionals frequently describe it as confusing to extract actionable insight from despite the data underneath being excellent. That was the clearest signal in the research: the market didn't need more data, it needed the OpenSea treatment applied to data that already existed.
KEY DECISIONS
KEY DECISIONS
Make the map the front door, not a feature buried in a filter panel.
Make the map the front door, not a feature buried in a filter panel.
Most real estate platforms treat the map as one view among several. ProFinder inverts that: map-based, visual exploration is the primary way users discover communities and projects, with market intelligence surfaced contextually as they browse rather than requiring a separate search-and-filter step first.
Most real estate platforms treat the map as one view among several. ProFinder inverts that: map-based, visual exploration is the primary way users discover communities and projects, with market intelligence surfaced contextually as they browse rather than requiring a separate search-and-filter step first.
Treat every data point like a collectible, not a spreadsheet row.
Treat every data point like a collectible, not a spreadsheet row.
Borrowing directly from OpenSea's model, each community and project got the visual weight of something worth exploring, not just a data record to scan. KPI cards, trend indicators, and comparison modules were designed to feel discoverable and engaging first, analytically rigorous second, without sacrificing the accuracy investors need to actually rely on them.
Borrowing directly from OpenSea's model, each community and project got the visual weight of something worth exploring, not just a data record to scan. KPI cards, trend indicators, and comparison modules were designed to feel discoverable and engaging first, analytically rigorous second, without sacrificing the accuracy investors need to actually rely on them.
Build one visual language for data, once, and reuse it everywhere.
Build one visual language for data, once, and reuse it everywhere.
With dozens of data types across price, rental, supply, and demographics, the biggest risk was every screen inventing its own way to show a trend or a comparison. I built a single system of KPI cards, trend indicators, charts, heat maps, and comparison modules used consistently platform-wide, so once a user learned to read one chart, they could read all of them.
With dozens of data types across price, rental, supply, and demographics, the biggest risk was every screen inventing its own way to show a trend or a comparison. I built a single system of KPI cards, trend indicators, charts, heat maps, and comparison modules used consistently platform-wide, so once a user learned to read one chart, they could read all of them.
Design light and dark mode as equally first-class, from the ground up.
Design light and dark mode as equally first-class, from the ground up.
Given how central charts, maps, and tables are to the product, theme support couldn't be an afterthought skin applied at the end. Both modes were designed in parallel from the start, with explicit attention to maintaining data clarity and visual hierarchy in both, since a heat map or trend line that reads clearly in light mode can easily fall apart in dark mode if it isn't designed for both from day one.
Given how central charts, maps, and tables are to the product, theme support couldn't be an afterthought skin applied at the end. Both modes were designed in parallel from the start, with explicit attention to maintaining data clarity and visual hierarchy in both, since a heat map or trend line that reads clearly in light mode can easily fall apart in dark mode if it isn't designed for both from day one.
SCREENS DELIVERED
SCREENS DELIVERED
A modular real estate intelligence platform anchored by an interactive discovery tool and a consistent, reusable data visualization system, built to scale across thousands of communities, projects, and data points without becoming unusable.
ProFinder: An interactive map-based discovery tool that lets users explore Dubai communities and projects visually, surfacing relevant market intelligence and property data as they browse, the platform's answer to OpenSea's collection-browsing experience, applied to real estate.
A modular real estate intelligence platform anchored by an interactive discovery tool and a consistent, reusable data visualization system, built to scale across thousands of communities, projects, and data points without becoming unusable.
ProFinder: An interactive map-based discovery tool that lets users explore Dubai communities and projects visually, surfacing relevant market intelligence and property data as they browse, the platform's answer to OpenSea's collection-browsing experience, applied to real estate.
Community/Project/Dubai pages: A comprehensive intelligence hub consolidating market trends, rental performance, demographics, supply pipeline data, and investment metrics for any community. A modular, tab-based structure lets users move between data perspectives while staying oriented within the community they're researching.
Community/Project/Dubai pages: A comprehensive intelligence hub consolidating market trends, rental performance, demographics, supply pipeline data, and investment metrics for any community. A modular, tab-based structure lets users move between data perspectives while staying oriented within the community they're researching.
Data Visualization System: A full library of graphic and statistical components, KPI cards, trend indicators, price charts, rental yield graphs, supply pipeline visualizations, demographic breakdowns, comparison modules, heat maps, and interactive data tables, designed as one consistent visual language so every chart across the platform felt intuitive and trustworthy to compare.
Data Visualization System: A full library of graphic and statistical components, KPI cards, trend indicators, price charts, rental yield graphs, supply pipeline visualizations, demographic breakdowns, comparison modules, heat maps, and interactive data tables, designed as one consistent visual language so every chart across the platform felt intuitive and trustworthy to compare.
Light & Dark Mode: A fully parallel theme system built from the ground up rather than layered on after the fact, maintaining readability and visual hierarchy across charts, maps, and tables in both mode
Light & Dark Mode: A fully parallel theme system built from the ground up rather than layered on after the fact, maintaining readability and visual hierarchy across charts, maps, and tables in both mode
The result was a platform that made Dubai's real estate market feel explorable rather than overwhelming, giving Cendars Tech Labs a distinctive, investment-grade product built on a scalable foundation for future listing capabilities
The result was a platform that made Dubai's real estate market feel explorable rather than overwhelming, giving Cendars Tech Labs a distinctive, investment-grade product built on a scalable foundation for future listing capabilities
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