/Overview
Lystio is an AI-powered real estate marketplace designed to simplify how people search for and discover properties across Austria. The platform allows users to explore apartments, houses, commercial properties, and new developments through an intuitive map-driven interface and advanced filtering tools.
The mission of the platform is to improve the real estate discovery process by replacing traditional “pay-to-rank” listing models with a relevance-based search experience that prioritizes what users actually want to find.
I worked closely with the founders and CEO as part of a small product team to design the platform experience and build the foundational design system that powered the product’s interface.
Within the first three months of launch, the platform achieved 60,000+ active monthly users, demonstrating strong early traction.
/My Role
As Product Designer, I worked directly with the founders, engineers, and QA team to shape the product experience from early concept through implementation.
My responsibilities included:
- Designing the core product interface
- Structuring the property discovery experience
- Collaborating in creating the Lystio design system
- Collaborating closely with developers to maintain design accuracy and consistency
- Supporting QA to ensure design quality during development
Working within a tight startup team meant design decisions had to balance speed, usability, and scalability.
Discover Your Dream Home
/The Problem
The real estate search experience across many existing platforms is often fragmented and frustrating.
Common issues users face include:
- Overwhelming listing pages
- Poor search relevance
- Limited filtering capabilities
- Outdated interfaces
- Paid listings dominating search results
Traditional real estate portals often prioritize listings based on paid placement rather than user relevance, which leads to inefficient discovery and poor user experience.
The challenge was to design a platform that:
- Simplifies property discovery
- Makes browsing feel intuitive and exploratory
- Allows users to filter properties quickly
- Creates a modern digital experience for real estate search
/Design Goal
Simplify property discovery
Users should be able to quickly identify relevant listings without navigating complex interfaces.
Enable intuitive search and filtering
Users should easily refine results based on location, price, and property features.
Build a scalable product system
The interface needed a structured design system that could support future platform expansion.
/Design Approach
Map-Driven Property Exploration
Real estate search is inherently location-based, so the interface centers around a map-driven browsing experience.
Users can visually explore available listings while dynamically adjusting their search area. This approach allows them to understand property availability geographically rather than relying solely on list views.
This significantly improves spatial awareness when searching for homes.
Simplified Property Browsing
To make browsing efficient, the interface prioritizes clear and structured property cards that surface the most important information at a glance. Each listing highlights key attributes such as price, location, and essential property details while maintaining a clean visual hierarchy. This allows users to quickly scan multiple listings without being overwhelmed by excessive information.
Scalable Design System
Alongside the product interface, a structured design system was developed to support consistency and scalability across the platform. This system included reusable UI components, standardized layouts, and defined interaction patterns for elements such as listing cards, filters, and navigation. Establishing these foundations allowed the development team to build features efficiently while maintaining a cohesive visual and interaction experience.
Information Hierarchy
The information hierarchy was designed to help users quickly understand property listings while maintaining a clean and uncluttered interface. Since property discovery often involves scanning through multiple listings, the interface prioritizes the most important information first such as property imagery, price, and location followed by key attributes like number of rooms and property type.
More detailed information is revealed progressively as users interact with a listing, allowing them to move naturally from quick browsing to deeper evaluation without overwhelming the initial browsing experience. This layered structure helps users efficiently explore properties while keeping the interface visually balanced and easy to navigate.
/Collaboration & Development
Because the team operated as a tight startup group, design and development were closely integrated.
I collaborated directly with developers and Founders to:
- validate UI implementation
- refine interaction details
- maintain consistency between design and production
This close collaboration helped ensure the final product accurately reflected the design vision.
/Results & Impact
The platform achieved strong early traction shortly after launch.
Lystio didn't just launch. it grew.
Key outcomes included:
60,000+ active monthly users within the first three months
45,000 Unique properties listed per month
1,500 Agents advertising on the platform
20% Monthly growth in listings
25% Monthly growth in leads for advertisers
The product continues to evolve with new features and improvements as the platform scales.
