Ember

Make a dating app more intentional with a thoughtful approach

Phase 1

Duration

1 month

Type

Collaborative Passion Project

Role

User Interview
Competitive Analysis
Ideation Workshop

Phase 2

Duration

2 Weeks

Type

Individual Iteration Project

Role

Journey Mapping
Information Architecture
Prototyping

Project Background

Does matching with someone on an online dating app mean you really match with them?

Discovery

The # of dating app users is rapidly growing, but is it working?

Before we start, I wanted to ask a question, does matching with someone on an online dating app mean you really match with them? or are we so focused on the idea of finding the person first, that we don’t put fair amount of focus on the chemistry itself that comes with the word matching.

The number of dating app users has been rapidly growing undeniably. The number of dating app users globally is exceeding 300 million users.

If you’ve never had to use a dating app, lucky you because, in the U.S. itself, almost 1/3 of the US population has or is using a dating app. However, not even half of that 1/3 of the population has married or even been in a committed relationship which makes us question is the dating app really serving their purpose.

Problem

The ease of swiping and liking actions fosters an environment of mindless interactions that overcrowd potential matches which undermines how users would interact.

Design Decision Highlights

Show personality with limitless options

The challenge feature offers different ways to shine one's individuality: drawing, voice memo, quiz, and more!

Choose one or as many challenges you would like to have on your profile, but remember the can complete only one challenge before matching.

Shared experience through challenges

You can complete the challenges at your own interest and time schedule. Completing a challenge will heighten the interest on the receiving end because of the extra effort made by you. The challenges can be your icebreaker or a creative outlet.

No mixed signals when lighting a match

All photos of the people will be blurred out until both of you agree to light a match and defrost the pictures.

There's no limitation on the number of people you can light a match or time before doing so, so go ahead and light a match when you feel comfortable.

Hypothesis and Assumption

We found the main root of the problem to be the number of matches the users get in one sitting, as an overwhelming number of matches undermines their ability to make good decisions and transforms modern dating into a game.

With that being said, we had an initial hypothesis that reducing the number of matches would result in more intentional and thoughtful user interactions.

🔔 foundation research alert! feel free to jump to the design process

JUMP TO DESIGN

Why and how do peope use dating apps?

Quantitative Research (60 responses)

Intentions for love, misconceptions persist

Even active dating app users, who use the app to find significant others(63.3%), assume others are using it for disposable connection(72.9%).

Younger users prioritize boredom

As you can see, as the age group gets older, the percentage of the users that use dating apps for boredom decreases, as for finding a s/o increase.

Are we creating a dating app for people that don’t want to date?

"I'm usually fast-paced on apps and it easily creates muscle memory of swiping."

Qualitative Research (20 responses)

Going on a quick virtual field study

We wanted to speak to the users directly on the platform. Here are the example profiles that each of us had on the HInge app, but we were also on Tinder as well as Bumble.

Shout out to Terry for shooting his shot ➜

Andrew (23, Boston)

Key Insights

"Everything starts superficially because you have to swipe on their picture to match."

Celine (21, Los Angeles)

Redefined Hypothesis

If the profiles are personally curated, then the overflowing number of different profiles will be more enjoyable
If a user puts more effort into matching with another user, then the user will engage more intentionally post-match.
If a user has one successful conversation, then they will feel motivated to find another match even if that one doesn’t go the best at the end.

How is the current marketing utilize different features?

Competitive Analysis

Key Insights

"I tend to be hesitant until I see the other person put effort into engaging.

William (25, Houston)

“Small talk” is repetitive, but there aren’t really other methods of initiating conversations
Users are often afraid to appear desperate first, making them hesitant to be honest
The expectation for a user to present the most physically attractive versions of themselves pressures them to give the impression of a certain image that deviates from who they really are.

Younger audiences find joy in random encounters. The way they turn online dating organic is to get to know the other person authentically and organically with no set expectations and purposes.

TL;DR

There are two main models in the dating app scene:

Speed date
- both parties need to be positive
- there is no limit on the number of likes they can send
- focuses on quantity; profiles are easily scannable
Blind date
- one person initiates
- there is a limit on the number of initiations a person can make in a day
- focuses on quality; profiles are personalizable

➜ We felt the need to choose a direction and redefine our goals based on the differences and similarities we have found on the app

Love is blind, but what if it REALLY was blind?

Choosing the right methodology

For initial brainstorming, we chose low-fidelity wireframes to communicate for a few reasons:

We were a group of designers and we were used to envisioning high-fidelity prototypes out of sketches
We wanted to come up with as many ideas as possible in a short amount of time, inspired by Crazy 8’s from design sprint methodology
We wanted to deprioritize thinking about the brand identity at this stage, and focus more on functionality

Failed attempt 1

Problem / picture-less profile lacks identity

At this point, we knew we wanted to minimize the physical attraction aspect of our app. We were thinking of various options, like using premade faces, blurring out the images, or customizing their avatar.

One challenge we had with this was that it lacked identity. It made it hard for users to keep track of different conversations they had as they had to rely solely on the names and blurred images. We might have successfully removed physical attraction from this app, and so were the individuality and intimacy. We took this as a challenge.

Ideation

We expected incentivizing milestones through coupons would boost interactions, but it heightened online dating superficiality instead.

We expected mission-focused features to foster intentional connections, but it hindered users with varying schedules and intentions.

Failed attempt 2

First version up, what can we do next?

Iteration

This is where we have left off due to the time constraint we had. However, after many months, I decided to take this project a step further to see what iteration would look like.

What Success Looks Like

I decided to run a prototype run-through with 5 people to see if there were any usability issues we hadn’t noticed while designing the first version.

User are encouraged to complete their profile
Users discover new features easily
Users are engaging with the features
Users feel confident in using the features
Users feel more comfortable matching with users

Paint Points Summary

Users were frustrated when creating their profiles because of too much freedom
Navigation around common flows and new features was often misunderstood
Users took a longer time building trust with the challenge feature because of lack of expectation

user flow diagram before iteration

user flow diagram after iteration

A glimpse of Ember profile during onboarding

Results

Preview of the completed challenges in profile

Results

The users felt more confident about completing the challenge knowing the other person also has completed their own
The users felt more invited after seeing different styles of completed challenges with a personal touch

User engagement increased as the users were more willing to complete the profile
Users gained a better understanding and proficiency with unfamiliar features
Users invested more time in profile creation, following the standard and the expection

Making the key feature more discoverable

Results

The users lit the match more intentionally with more entry points to lighting a match
The users were more aware of the status of their match with a visual indication
The users felt more motivated to build the connection as the status became a milestone