THE STORY
PROBLEM
Is online dating impersonal?
Online interactions with others don’t take place in physical proximity, people have a need and desire to fulfill their social needs outside of social media platforms. Online dating has especially made courtship more impersonal and has taken away from meaningful communication. Out of the 50 participants I interviewed, 95% of participants have not gone on one or any dates from online dating because of meaningless conversation and the want for a worthwhile date.
SOLUTION
Synchronous activity strengthens social attachment..
Synchronous activities are actions you take together with others, where everyone is doing the same thing at the same time in physical proximity to one another. Bringing meaningless online conversation on dating apps to more exciting in-person interaction. To successfully bring people together, it was important to me that online daters feel like the app is catering to their desires.
“I get ghosted when I ask them where they want to go on a date!”
“I have no clue where to take her because I’m new to this city!”
“I just want to do something fun together”
Invite your potential date
Pick a date idea to invite someone you’ve matched with that is interested in the same event.
Add the activity to your dating profile to show others your interest. Then heart it to watch how your algorithm changes to show you others interested in the same dates.
Pick your favorite date idea
ROLE
User Experience Designer
Product Designer
RESPONSIBILITIES
Conducted qualitative & quantitative research among 50 participants
Gathered data to influence design decisions
Conduct usability studies, account for accessibility and provide solutions to the goal at hand.
TOOLS⚒️
Figma
Miro
Google Forms
RESEARCH
Be among the 44.2 million..
As of 2020, there are 44.2 million online dating users in the US.(1)
Roughly six-in-ten online daters say they have had an overall positive experience with these platforms, including 14% who describe their experience as very positive and 43% who say it was somewhat positive.(2)
🙋🏿♂️🙋🏽♀️🙋🏻🙋🏼♀️🙋🏽🙋🏼♂️🤦🏿♀️🤦🏻🤦🏾♂️🤦🏻♀️
While online daters generally say their overall experience was positive, they also point out some of the downsides of online dating. Americans who have used a dating site or apps in the past year say their recent experience left them feeling more frustrated (45%) than hopeful (28%).
USER INTERVIEWS & KEY FINDINGS
Users want to try new activities
I continued by conducting qualitative interviews to get questions for a survey questionnaire. I surveyed users to discover their likes and dislikes of the current digital products they use for online dating. Based off of the answers I came across significant key findings to understand the users needs & behaviors.
Out of the 50 participants I interviewed, 48 people have not been able to form meaningful relationships from the online dating apps they have used. Half of the participants feel bored of the usual bar date.
USER PERSONA
COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS
The competition all have the same features..
In the beginning of this project, I began by conducting research and analyzing the 3 most popular mobile dating apps so I could have more basis to inform decisions for my design. From my findings, I noticed that all of them have paid features all apps focus on..
Matching without facilitating
Encouraging quantity over quality
Keeping users chatting for long periods of time
Out of the 50 people I surveyed, I discovered that 85% of them have found that Hinge is the most successful app that they’ve used for online dating because of the algorithm of people that come onto their feed. This information influenced my design.
DESIGN, TESTING, IMPROVEMENTS
User Flow
Knowing that people do not like to read too much and get bored with multiple steps in an app, this user journey is to show the simplicity and use of the dating app.
From browsing profiles to picking a date and inviting your match.
3 Improvements to the design
I used low fidelity prototypes to conduct the test. After gathering data from the study, I drew clear insights that helped guide the designs from wireframes to mockups based on user needs and behaviors with other competing online dating apps.
After Usability Test
Based on user feedback, it was important to simplify the design by minimizing to 3 navigation buttons.
After Usability Test
Larger imagery
Fewer words to make it clear and easy to understand
After Usability Test
Each screen should be clear and accessible to all users, showing contrast and bold lettering to better identify understanding.
HIGH FIDELITY PROTOTYPE
KEY TAKEAWAYS
This was my first UX project! I’m very grateful to have gone through an entire UX design process.
I’ve learned that research, usability testing and studies are very important and should be carried out early in the design process as it gives very useful insight towards the iterations.
I learned that it’s important to iterate your design as much as you can. I went through many different design options to try and find the right solution for my users.
What I would have done differently
I wish that I would have interviewed more users and focused more on how those people feel about social interactions online versus in person. My research was very focused how people felt about online dating, but my goal was to also try and understand how people feel while bonding with people in person.
Thank you for reading!
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