CASE STUDY
A location-aware hangout engine for young men in Indian metros. Open it. Find a Scene. Show up. The app's job is done.
The Details:
Brand Identity
Product Design
Concept Project
No client. No brief. No boundaries. Just a market gap, a vision and a Figma file. Mahaul is what happens when a designer builds for a community they genuinely believe in.
Mahaul wasn't conceived in a boardroom. It came from a Sunday afternoon in Noida — restless, alone, far from home. Moving from Varanasi meant leaving behind the adda, the friends, the spontaneity of just showing up. Delhi NCR is full of young men who feel exactly this. They have contacts but nobody to call right now. Mahaul was built for that feeling.
Name:
Rahul
Age:
24
Occupation:
Marketing Manager
Location:
Noida, Sector 18
Living situation:
Shared flat with 2 roommates
Description:
Rahul. 25. Marketing Manager in Delhi NCR. Watches UFC since childhood. Wants to compete in local tournaments. Has the drive — but no platform that speaks his language or connects him to the right resources. If it resonates with him, it resonates with thousands like him.
Goals:
Find someone to play cricket with on Sunday
Go for chai without sitting alone
Build a social circle in a city that doesn't know him yet
Feel like he belongs somewhere
Frustrations:
WhatsApp coordination takes forever and usually falls apart
Dating apps feel wrong — he's not looking for romance
No platform built for spontaneous male friendship
Weekday evenings and Sunday afternoons feel restless and lonely
Behaviour:
Low patience for complex apps
High trust in peer recommendations
Responds to urgency — if something is expiring he acts
Doesn't want to build a profile or curate an online presence
Young men who migrate to Indian metros lose their social spontaneity. They have people in their contacts but nobody to call right now. The friction of modern coordination — WhatsApp groups, planning ahead, fear of rejection — kills the impulse to connect. Mahaul removes that friction entirely.
Before Mahaul:
Stage
Action
Feeling
Trigger
Sunday afternoon, bored, restless
Lonely, restless
Attempt 1
Opens WhatsApp, thinks of texting someone
Hesitates — "what if they're busy?"
Attempt 2
Scrolls Instagram instead
Numb, more lonely
Attempt 3
Texts one friend
Friend replies"maybe later"
Outcome
Stays home, watches YouTube
Disconnected, wasted afternoon
After Mahaul:
Stage
Action
Feeling
Trigger
Sunday afternoon, bored, restless
Same feeling — but now has Mahaul
Opens app
Sees 5 active Scenes nearby
Immediately engaged
Decision
Joins a cricket Scene 1.2km away
Excited, sense of belonging
Action
Shows up at DDA Ground
Connected, present
Outcome
Plays cricket, meets 3 guys
Fulfilled, wants to come back
Home (Scene Feed)
Active Scenes nearby
Filter by activity
Create Scene CTA
Map View
Scenes as pins
Radius filter
Scene preview card
My Scenes
Scenes I created
Scenes I joined
Past Scenes
Profile
Mahaul Score
Activity history
Verified status
Settings
The target audience doesn't respond to polish. They respond to authenticity. Mahaul's visual identity was built to feel earned — not designed. Raw enough to respect. Sharp enough to remember.
Logos
Typography
BOLD 700
BOLD 700
SEMI BOLD 600
SEMI BOLD 600
NORMAL - 400
MEDIUM 500
Colors
From discovering a Scene to showing up — every screen was designed to get out of the way as fast as possible.
Home → Scene Detail → Join → Scene Confirmed. The entire journey in four taps.
Here's what brought it to life.
Figma
Adobe Illustrator
© 2026 Rehan Islam
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