Case study
ThereYouAre
Cost of living comparisons and small calculators for people who are actually planning a move, not just browsing. Built to stay fast and readable on a phone.
The problem
People compare cities for moves, offers, and family planning. Many tools bury the assumptions that swing the result.
The product needed a simple story: what we compare, what we skip, and how to read the output without treating it like a verdict.
The challenge
Data gets stale. Definitions drift. The UI had to stay approachable while still being honest about limits.
Slow interactions read as untrustworthy even when the math is fine.
What we did
We anchored the product on two modes, single city browsing and side by side compare, and kept navigation shallow so people did not lose context.
We tuned perceived speed, especially on mobile, because this use case often happens in short bursts.
We tightened language around caveats so the app felt like a guide, not a scoreboard.
Outcome
People could finish a useful comparison in one sitting with fewer abandonments from confusion or lag.
It should feel like a utility: answer the question, show the tradeoffs, then get out of the way.
Technologies used
- Next.js
- Data fetching and caching
- Responsive layout
- Structure that supports multiple locales