Aura
TEAM:
1 Project Manager, 2 Researchers, 2 Product Designers
PROJECT:
MCHI+D Project, 2024
(10 weeks)
MY ROLE:
Lead UX Designer
OUTPUT:
TAGS: UX Research, Design strategy, Service Design, Prototyping, Wireframing, UI Design
How might we help singles in Seattle discover and connect to people with shared long-term intentions?
CHALLENGE
Modern dating in the age of technology poses many challenges for those seeking long-term romantic relationships.
RESULT
A dating café service that uses a mobile app to connect users based on detailed compatibility data gathered through “The Big 5” personality test, leading to a curated café date for matches to officially meet in-person. This approach aims to foster intentional, meaningful connections through a blend of technology and face-to-face interactions.
OVERVIEW
Discovery
I conducted literature reviews, and semi-structured interviews to gain insight into singles' dating views.
Ideation
After generating 120 ideas, we narrowed down using design principles and evaluation techniques, developing 3 concepts.
Prototyping
Explored preliminary ideas to define the main navigation and essential screens for the meal planning process.
Usability Testing
Using paper prototypes and think-aloud protocols, I iterated and refined critical issues in the user flow.
Evaluative Research plan →
Affinity Map →
Iterations →
Result
The UI design was informed by vibrant, organic, and youthful cues to create a final meal planning assistant.
Discovery
Literature reviews revealed frustrations among singles due to the commodification of online dating. After conducting semi-structured interviews with 5 participants, I affinitized the data to reveal key challenges revealed in modern dating: compatibility issues, communication barriers, and misaligned intentions. Findings emphasized the importance of shared values and goals for those seeking long-term relationships, as these factors create organic opportunities for connection.
DESIGN CHALLENGE
How might we help singles in Seattle discover and connect to people with shared long-term intentions?
Ideation
Design Principles
I developed design principles based on our research findings, prioritizing the alignment of long-term intentions among users. These core principles guided project decisions and tradeoffs.
To maintain user focus, we created a Persona named Alex – a 28-year-old Seattle extrovert seeking a long-term partner while frustrated with impersonal online dating. This persona, based on collected data, ensured our design aligns with our target audience's needs and goals.
Brainstorming
Jumping into ideation, the team generated 40 ideas using the Crazy 8’s method, which I then grouped into overlapping themes and converged similar concepts. These concepts were evaluated using the design principles, and after much discussion, my idea, "The Dating Café," stood out as the top choice.
Service Blueprint
I developed a user journey through Storyboarding, illustrating the process from initial frustration to successful matching on the app. This informed a detailed Service Blueprint, mapping key steps and touchpoints. The Blueprint helped refine the user journey and identify service improvement opportunities.
Prototyping
Information Architecture
To kickoff the prototyping phase, I organized the structure of the service into 2 buckets: Aura and Aura Café. From here, I broke down the hierarchy of pages within in each experience.
As a result, I was ready to build the user flows using this information architecture as a skeleton.
User Flow
I created a task flow to map out the user journey for finding a match, from initial sign-up to app discovery. This flowchart revealed opportunities to enhance the user experience by adding essential screens and eliminating redundant steps, resulting in a more intuitive interface.
Lofi Wireframes
This led me to sketch low fidelity wireframes to convey the user flow. During this stage, I thought about the most critical information a user would need to complete the task, along with the general placement of functional elements like buttons and input fields.
As such, I numbered these screens to prepare for usability testing.
Usability Testing
I conducted a usability study to assess navigation and task completion in the dating app. Using experience prototyping methods (paper prototyping, think-aloud protocol, and RITE method), I gathered and affinitized qualitative data from 3 participants. This feedback was crucial for refining the app's usability and user experience in subsequent stages.
Key finding 1: Participants were unclear about the app-café connection particularly post-matching based on activities.
Solution: I implemented an onboarding experience to clarify Aura's service model and process.
Finding: All participants preferred conversing with matches before requesting a date, allowing for a "gut check" and personality assessment.
Solution: I implemented a chat feature available for 3 days post-matching. This addition enables initial conversation while encouraging timely decisions about in-person meetings.
Finding: Participants desired deeper insights into potential matches' backgrounds, worldviews, and personalities.
Insight: While shared "personal adventures" can initiate connections, personality ultimately determines compatibility.
Solution: Implemented a discovery quiz during onboarding, based on the "Big Five" psychological framework, to uncover users' traits and values. This created a new value model to match users based on personality compatibility, enhancing the app's matching algorithm.
Result
User Interface
I led the user interface design, leveraging my visual design and branding background to create a theme centered on organic connections, aligning with target user goals. The sophisticated aesthetic, aimed at the app's age demographic, features:
Calm visual experience to balance first-date anxiety
Nature-inspired color palette, including a bold coffee-like brownish-red
Colors correlated to Big 5 personality traits, forming the core product experience
Typefaces chosen to evoke familiarity and comfort
Final Outcome
Reflection
Lessons Learned:
Core features should support the user’s main need
When creating the “personal adventure” feature, we were surprised to discover that this feature didn’t truly cater to the participants’ needs for evaluating compatability during usability testing
Narrow the project scope
Limit the focus to a specific part of the process, such as planning or cooking, rather than tackling both.
Next Steps:
Curate the Aura Café experience
Adapt the café experience to cater to each customers date in a more meaningful and memorable way.
Offer specially curated experiences for these couples to continue visiting the café.
Evaluate the impact
Behavioral Impact: Evaluate whether the dating experience fulfills participants' approach to dating.
Dating approach: Measure how many dates succesfully turn into long-term relationships.
Bring “personal adventures” to life
Offer the ability to experience the “personal adventures” that a couple initially bonded over.
Expand to other cities… Eventually!
Spread the Aura Café experience across different cities in North America, transforming the landscape of modern dating.