Buzzarek

Type

UX/UI Design

Year

2023

Client

Personal Project

Scope

individual project

My Role

Solo Founder & Designer

Team Context

Individual project with community collaboration

A digital-first experiment to connect local growers with consumers. Born during rising food costs and declining trust in mass-market supply chains, Buzzarek tested how design could restore transparency and value in the food ecosystem.

01

Problem

Business Challenge

Local food producers struggle to reach consumers directly, while consumers pay premium prices for low-quality produce through traditional supply chains. The market lacks a transparent, efficient connection between local growers and urban consumers.

User Need

Consumers want fresher, more affordable food but can't easily find or trust local producers. Producers need better market access but lack the infrastructure to reach consumers directly.

Context

How can we validate a food marketplace concept before building expensive technology, while building trust between producers and consumers in a fragmented local food ecosystem

02

Approach

Methodology

Lean startup with community-centered design

Solution

Instead of jumping into development, we validated the concept through real-life community outreach: Used WhatsApp + Facebook groups for matchmaking, manual aggregation of demand + curated producers, set up pick-up points & logistics, built community trust before any code was written

Key Decisions

  • Started with manual processes instead of building technology first
  • Focused on community building over individual transactions
  • Used existing platforms (WhatsApp) to reduce friction
03

Outcome

Impact

Successfully validated market demand with 150+ community members, established trust-based relationships between 12 local producers and consumers, identified key UX requirements for the digital platform, proved the viability of community-driven food distribution

Key Learnings

  • Community trust is more valuable than perfect UX
  • Manual processes reveal true user needs better than assumptions

A digital farmers' market designed for community-powered food access. Buzzarek connected local growers directly with consumers through a scroll-friendly, pastel-toned interface inspired by Instagram. The platform made it easy to browse fresh, seasonal produce, join group orders, and track deliveries—all while supporting local agriculture and reducing food waste.

Interviews

User Flow

Color Compositions

Gallery

Buzzarek: how it was, and how we imagined it. From real produce bought through our grassroots platform to imagined extensions of the brand. A story of abundance, local elegance, and future potential.