Rent Hub started as a side project. A friend who runs a small vehicle rental business complained that his customers were calling him at 11pm to ask if a van was available for next week. He was managing bookings on a WhatsApp group and a shared Google Sheet.
That conversation became a six-month design journey.
The Problem
Vehicle rental in Sri Lanka is predominantly informal. Most operators manage bookings manually — phone calls, WhatsApp, cash on pickup. The experience for customers is:
- Call the rental company
- Wait for them to "check availability"
- Call back if available
- Show up with cash
There's no self-service. No transparency on pricing. No trust signals. No reviews.
For the operators, it's equally painful — no booking history, no customer database, no automated reminders.
The goal: Design a mobile app that brings the vehicle rental experience into the 21st century, for both customers and operators.
Research Phase
User Interviews
I conducted 8 user interviews — 5 customers (frequent renters) and 3 rental operators.
Key customer insights:
- Biggest friction: not knowing if a vehicle is available without calling
- Second biggest: uncertainty about final price (hidden fees)
- Trust signals matter: photos, ratings, and a known brand beat unknown operators
Key operator insights:
- Double bookings are a real problem
- They want to know who's renting — ID verification is critical
- Payment upfront reduces no-shows dramatically
Competitive Analysis
I analyzed three comparable apps: Yoogo (NZ), Hertz (global), and GOGO Sri Lanka. Key observations:
- Yoogo: best mobile UX, but no local market context
- Hertz: feature-complete but dated interface designed for web first
- GOGO: local context but poor visual design and no customer reviews
The gap: a locally-contextualised app with modern UX standards.
Information Architecture
After the research phase, I mapped out the core user flows:
Customer Flow:
Browse → Filter → Select Vehicle → Check Dates → Book → Pay → Pickup
Operator Flow:
Add Vehicle → Set Availability → View Bookings → Confirm → Track Returns
The app needed two distinct modes — Customer and Operator — with the complexity hidden appropriately for each.
Key Design Decisions
1. Map-First Discovery
Customers don't think "I need a van from Company X." They think "I need a van near Colombo 3 next Friday." So I made the map the primary discovery interface, with a card drawer below for filtering.
This was controversial — stakeholders wanted a traditional list view. User testing proved the map reduced time-to-booking by ~40%.
2. Transparent Pricing
Every listing shows:
- Daily rate
- Insurance breakdown
- Deposit amount
- Total for selected dates
No surprises at checkout. This was a deliberate trust-building decision backed by our research.
3. Verified Badges
Operators who complete identity verification get a "Verified" badge. Vehicles with more than 10 bookings get a "Popular" tag. These social proof signals were directly requested by users in our research.
4. Offline-First Booking Confirmation
In Sri Lanka, connectivity isn't always reliable. Once a booking is confirmed, we cache the full booking details locally. Users can show their confirmation even without internet access — critical for picking up a vehicle in a rural area.
Visual Design
The design language was inspired by Airbnb and Grab — familiar patterns for the local market with high mobile literacy.
Palette: Clean white base, with a deep teal (#0D6F6F) as the primary brand colour. Teal reads as trustworthy and professional without being corporate-blue.
Typography: Inter for UI. Generous whitespace. Minimum 16px body text.
Component approach: Card-based UI with 16px border radius, subtle shadows. Every interactive element has 48px minimum touch target.
Outcomes & Learnings
The prototype was tested with 12 users across Colombo, Kandy, and Galle.
- Task completion rate: 91% (find and book a vehicle)
- Average time to book: 3 minutes 20 seconds
- SUS Score: 82 (Excellent)
What I'd do differently
- Earlier operator testing. We validated the customer side thoroughly but brought in operators too late. Their workflow needed a significant second round of iteration.
- Accessibility from day one. I added contrast checks late in the process. Earlier integration would have saved significant rework.
- Involve development earlier. Some transitions I designed were technically expensive. Earlier dev collaboration would have shifted me toward equally good but more buildable solutions.
What's Next
Rent Hub is currently in development as a React Native app, with the backend built on MongoDB and Node.js. I'm acting as both designer and frontend developer.
If you'd like to see the full Figma prototype, reach out — I'm happy to walk through the design decisions in detail.