FINDING NEW AND CREATIVE WAYS TO ENGAGE A MATCH
Overview
My Role
Lead Designer, User Research, User Interviews, Wire framing, Usability Testing
Tools
Sketch, Axure, Invision, Otter, Pen and Paper
Team
4 Designers
Sprint
2 Weeks
Objective
I was placed on a team with two other designers and tasked with researching, designing and building out a conceptual feature for Bumble. My team was specifically tasked with developing a feature to engage a match to help move the conversation from texting to an actual date.
Thoughts & Feelings
I had used Bumble in the past so I understood the sensitivity of the subject matter. I knew that this would be difficult case because there is an emotional attachment to each users approach at dating.
Problem
Solution
Bumble users need a more efficient way to know what their match is thinking because they don’t want to get rejected but they desire progress
We believe that by enhancing Bumble with an additional set of features we will enable daters to more confidently move from messaging to dating. We will know this to be true when daters that use the features meet in person more often than most.
Bumble is a location-based social and dating application that facilitates communication between interested users.
In heterosexual matches, only female users can make the first contact with matched male users, while in same-sex matches either person can send a message first.
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About The Dating App
Discovering Our Users
User Research
We began our research by developing a screener survey to qualify users who had used Bumble or any similar dating applications. This helped us understand which dating applications were the most relevant for our competitive analysis.
Once we had our participants scheduled we began user interviews to gain additional insights on their experiences.
Interviews
Results
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Some users were being "ghosted" on once matched
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They had trouble starting a conversation
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Viewed Bumble as a serious and more reliable dating app
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Had a hard time establishing trust
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Varied approach in their dating process
Our team broke off each individually interviewing participants. This was no easy task - we found out almost immediately that dating is a sensitive subject and people don't usually share those details. In our interviews it was extremely important to build trust and report in order to ease the user.
In total we interviewed 7 users and while doing so, transcribed with Otter to highlight key insights.
“I'm not very extroverted so it is nerve racking speaking to someone new. ”
“Now that I’m older I want something more serious”
“There are times when I want to give up on it, and why I don’t is really; loneliness”
Affinity Mapping
We synthesized those results as a team by writing on sticky notes and arranging them on a white board. We then grouped common insights together and assigned “I” statements to each cluster to help identify important trends.
Key Trends
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I want to move quickly
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I fear rejection
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I'm busy so dating apps are hard to use
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I have a process
Personas
The affinity map uncovered 3 personas which helped develop and reinforce the users story, feelings, pain, and goals. The biggest difference between these 3 personas was their dating type.
Each persona contributed to individual features in the application, but we felt the Serious Dater persona fully embodied our primary user.
Primary Persona
Secondary Persona
Simplifying the Process
Feature Guidelines
Knowing our users, we knew the features of our design had to be:
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Simple, not overwhelming our user
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Efficient, did exactly as expected
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Build Trust, helped users make a connection easier
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Flexible, adapted to our users need
User Flows
We identified that our users problems stemmed from conversation. I created user flows to visualize a plan for where the features would derive from within in that section.
This also gave a better sense of placement for our secondary features.
Your Hive
Next Steps
Needs Attention
Designing For The User
Design Studio
We decided that the best approach to sketching would to do a time boxed design studio. We each sketched solutions to the problem. As a team we discussed the pros and cons of each sketch. We then combined the best ideas to create our design that led to our wireframe.
Feature Ideas
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Feature Reward System
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Prompts
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Pre Selected Date Options
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Internal Network
Usability Test Results
Paper Prototype
We decided that the best approach to sketching would to do a design studio. We each sketched solutions to the problem. As a team we discussed the pros and cons of each sketch. We then combined the best ideas to create our design that led to our wireframe. To confirm our design we did our first round of usability testing, 4 participants were tested.
Design System
In order to adhere to the style design on the app we adopted the same color scheme Bumble uses.
Having a design system while working in sketch was imperative in making the new features blend in seamlessly.
#FFC269
#CB9700
#F3EFA1
#FDDA64
#1D252C
#58585B
#FFFFF9
2nd Usability Test Results
3 participants Tested
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Confirmed that previous issues were resolved
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Users were confused on the verbiage used in on boarding (solved when fidelity improved)
Wireframes & Features
Next Steps (MVP)
Our MVP feature was created to address the pressure of rejection that a lot of our users experienced while making the first move. It helped our users identify which steps they are ready to take in the relationship while having a conversation.
Once both people have selected the same step the app sends them a notification indicating which step they are ready to take in their relationship.
Needs Attention
In our interviews people complained about how difficult it is to keep track of all their matches. They would often leave the app for a long period of time and forget or they would “get ghosted” (when your match abandons your conversation and you’re left waiting for a reply).
Your Hive
This feature allows the user to cross-reference their match with their network of friends. Their network would be linked to the users Facebook. (Bumble already uses Facebook to validate anyone who joins the app.)
Hi-Fi Mock Ups
Needs Attention
Next Steps (MVP)
Your Hive
Moving forward I would like to test with more users to have better reassurance of my teams design decisions. We were limited on time, but I think building out on boarding screens would be extremely beneficial in educating our users on new updates like the features we developed during this project.
Final Thoughts
