Overview

The Challenge

It’s been a decade since Tinder introduced the idea of “swiping” to the world of dating apps. However, in the years since, not much has happened. Dating apps continue to become more specialized while generally adhering to the existing model. My goal was to design a dating app that expanded upon the standard “Match/Pass” interactions by utilizing games and gamification, which have become ubiquitous in recent years. In short, a dating app with game-like characteristics.

Target Audience

Young professionals and students
Users who like games or play games, but don’t necessarily identify as gamers
Users bored by endlessly swiping through profiles
Users who want a way to more easily start a conversation with a match

My Role

Define project scope and goal
Conduct and analyze user research
Design Wireframes and Prototypes
Develop branding and visual design
Conduct user testing and make revisions
Deliver final product

The Solution

Decorate your Room (Profile)
Explore a Match’s Room
Play icebreaker games
Start the conversation

ROOM is an evolution of the familiar dating app model. In most dating apps, users fill out their profiles and then browse the profiles of others, "matching" and "passing" based on what they see. ROOM takes these core concepts and presents them in a fresh and engaging way.

Users fill out their profiles by decorating their ROOMs. Each decoration is interactable and is tied to an icebreaker game. These simple games provide a starting point for a conversation with a match. Each game also is tied to a different interest that the user has.

The app's focus is on forming practical connections - things like taste in food, how loud you like your music, and places you've visited. This, combined with the focus on visualizing someone's interests through decorating, is intended to make users think "three-dimensionally" about potential matches instead of seeing them as a collection of words and pictures.

Click here to see my final mock-ups!

Project Direction

Concepts like "game-like characteristics" or "gamification" are rather broad, so while defining and scoping this project, I mapped out three possible concepts that I thought I could properly complete during the allotted 4-week period for this project.

Character Builder

I thought it might be interesting to build the app around the idea of building stats. The player would undertake visual novel-style challenges which would double as personality tests. The stats would be a reflection of the choices made during challenges. The player would also customize a portrait that would be used in addition to uploaded photos.

Puzzle Game

What if the home screen had a Tetris-style grid right in the middle? I thought it might be interesting to replace the usual card stack of profiles with something like that. Different squares on the grid would represent random portions of another user's profile. A user would then decide whether to visit that profile or "clear" it.

Dungeon Builder

I was inspired by games like Animal Crossing and the Secret Base feature from the Pokemon games, which are hugely popular and a lot of fun. In those games, players can decorate a digital space with various different items they've earned. I thought this might be an interesting way to show off someone's interests. The graphics were inspired by 16-bit Japanese video games, which feature sprites with a nice balance between simplicity and detail and also pay homage to this idea's inspirations.

Research

In order to decide the best direction for this project, I did a Competitive Analysis of three different dating apps that use game-like features or gamification, looking at their strengths and weaknesses. I also conducted a brief User Survey that was centered around how users build their digital identities.

While focused on dating apps, I also wanted to know how users interacted with video games that use character customization. This was in order to explore interest that users might have in customizing their in-app profiles beyond simply filling them out.

User Survey

Survey Format‍

Google Forms
Questions about dating app preferences and profile customization
Follow-up interviews conducted with selected respondents

Survey Goals

What do users like?
What features do they want?
What are their profile building habits?
What are their profile detail preferences?

Key Survey Questions

Which is your preferred dating app?

What do you like about your preferred dating app?

Which of the following would improve your experience using dating apps? (Check all that apply)

Which of the following would improve your experience on dating apps?

How important is it that a potential match has a detailed profile?

Which of the following best describes the amount of time you spend building your profile?

99% of respondents answered these questions!!
3x the next highest response percentage:

Do you play any games or use any apps that allow you to customize your character's appearance?

How much time do you spend customizing your character's appearance?

Competitive Analysis

Tinder

The industry standard. Swipe through profiles to meet your match!

Strengths

The standard
Easiest to use
Largest pool of matches

Weaknesses

The standard
Profile quality varies

Observations and Opportunities

Tinder is easy to use and fast to set up, but its simplicity also has downsides. Profiles are fairly plain and straightforward, which adds immediacy, but also pressure and stress. There are also very few barriers preventing abusive or annoying messages.

LOLO

Play simple games with matches or to meet new people!

Strengths

Icebreakers and quizzes
Fun feel and experience

Weaknesses

Can be intimidating
Match quality may vary

Observations and Opportunities

The games in LOLO are simple and a lot of fun, but I also think this whole process can be intimidating. I think further intertwining users profiles and the games might lead to a smoother experience; by tying them to parts of the profile, it could provide context and focus to the games.

Kippo

Set yourself apart by customizing your profile with information cards!

Strengths

Focus on personality
A lot of options

Weaknesses

Customization doesn't always lead to better messages
Too specialized

Observations and Opportunities

Kippo uses information cards that users add to their profiles. It's an interesting idea and there are a lot of options, but it's still relatively plain and straightforward. The app is also designed for gamers and unfortunately indulges in some potentially-alienating stereotypes.

User Stories and Flows

Legend

As a user, I want to customize my profile to better represent who I am

As a user, I want to quickly find matches who share my interests

As a user, I want an icebreaker to make it easier to talk with a match

As a user, I want an icebreaker to make it easier to talk with matches

User Personas

Hope (26)‍

Young professional
Likes games, but doesn’t consider herself a gamer
Exhausted by trying to date while working

Habits

Generally busy with work and social activities
Always thinks she’s spending too much time on something
Will play social games, but mostly to unwind
Prioritizes comfort and compatibility in a relationship

Goals

Wants to spend less time looking through profiles
Wants to feel less stressed when using dating apps

Terry (22)‍

Self-proclaimed gamer
Programming student
Gets bored swiping over and over

Habits

Gets bored easily
Spends a lot of time on character customization in games
Has trouble starting conversations on dating apps, so defaults to simple messages

Goals

Would like to make meeting people less awkward
Wants to meet people with similar interests

Willa (30)‍

Eclectic interests
Freelance creative who works part-time
Sick of inappropriate or low quality messages

Habits

Loves to show off her personality and interests
Prefers showing rather than telling

Goals

Wants to more fully express who she is
Is sick of wading through abusive or boring introductions

Research Conclusions

Users were interested in different approaches to dating apps
While users were interested in icebreaker games, they did not want more gamification
Users will invest time in a profile if they think it will improve the quality of their interactions
Customization is increasingly common in games and apps
‍Above all else, the quality of matches and interactions was the most important thing for users

Project Direction

Based on the results of my research, I was able to decide which direction to move in.

Key Design Concepts

Looking at someone from a “three-dimensional perspective"‍

Thinking about practical and social habits
Considering how they interact with their environment

‍Using first- and third-person perspectives for deliberateness‍

A representation of ourselves we can control
Recreating identity within constraints to promote authenticity

Character Builder

The Character Builder idea was similar to the Kippo app. After reading reviews, I saw users complain that spending the time adding information to their profiles ultimately didn't improve the quality of their interactions on the app. That eliminated the Character Builder path.

Puzzle Game

I also saw that there was absolutely no interest in gamifying the dating app any further. This eliminated the Puzzle Game path. I can certainly imagine how annoying and confusing it might be to log into an app and just see a bunch of notifications.

Dungeon Builder

Based on the research, users were open to and interested in profile customization, but it had to actually impact their experience.

I decided to combine this idea with the simple icebreaker games in the LOLO app. Users would decorate their digital rooms and each item in the room would be tied to an icebreaker game.

Doing so would help screen out potentially abusive users by setting up a barrier to contacting someone.

Visual Evolution

Design Sketches

Wireframes

Click on a wireframe below to see the full sequence.

Onboarding

Profile Building

Matching

Visual Design and Branding

While the app featured games and took inspiration from video games, I did not want the app to be explicitly coded as a dating app for gamers. This meant that the presentation had to be broadly appealing.

For the visual design, I looked at different designs for dating apps and noted the color and layout. I also looked to the video games that had inspired this project.

The color palette and overall feel were inspired by graphic novels and manga I was reading at the time. I really was struck by the simplicity of the linework and the precision with which color was used.

With a little experimentation, I was able to find a balance between the app's very-specific inspirations and popular aesthetics.

Design Inspiration

Branding

Soft/warm color palette
Inviting and comfortable feel
Fun and bright, but not overwhelming
Each game has its own color (for easily -categorizing messages)
Logo depicts both looking into a room and looking out a room

Logo

Playing on the idea of "perspective" the logo can be viewed from the point of view of either someone outside of a room looking in or someone inside of a room looking out.