Overview

Ikwat is a platform where anyone can host or join events around art, music, and culture. There was no existing product to build on. Just an idea, a blank file, and the question of what it should feel like to discover something worth showing up for.

Project type: 0 to 1 · Full product design

Platform: Web and mobile

Users: Hosts and attendees

The challenge

Designing for a two-sided marketplace from scratch means every screen has to speak to two completely different people at once. A host needs to trust that listing an event is worth their time. An attendee needs to feel like whatever they are looking at is worth their evening. Getting both of those things right, with no brand recognition and no existing users, was the core problem.

What was designed

Discovery

Events around art and music need to be felt before they are read. The browse experience was designed around imagery and atmosphere, not filters and lists.

Host flow

The hosting flow was kept short enough to complete in under four minutes on a phone. The fewer the decisions required, the more events get listed.

Checkout and tickets

Two steps, no forced account creation, and a ticket design that felt like something worth keeping. Checkout was the last place to introduce any friction.

Host dashboard

Minimal by design. Hosts needed one number at a glance: seats filled. Everything else was secondary.

Results after launch

214 Events listed in the first 60 days

91% Checkout completion rate

61% Event page to ticket conversion

68% Attendees who returned within 30 days

What I learned

This category is emotional before it is functional. People booking a Saturday evening around art or music are not making a practical decision. The design had to respect that and make every screen feel exciting rather than administrative. Getting that tone right, from scratch, with no brand equity to lean on, was the real work.