Vinita - UX and UI design consultation for dating app

Vinita is a start-up company focused on giving its South Asian users the platform on which they can find and build meaningful and long-lasting relationships.

I know you are curious to know the real name, but unfortunately, I can't share such details until the mobile application is published and I have permission from my client, I can't share more than how enjoyable it was working on that project.

This project needed to happen because many more required user characteristics are essential to get to know your future partner in South Asian countries than proximity, hence the app segmentation. The high-level goals were:

- To ensure that Vinita is one of the best apps on the dating market

- Maintain a clear, simple and reliable brand tone of voice throughout the design

- Make it easier for users to find like-minded people.

As a first phase, I did research, where I explored the global market of dating apps and narrowed it down to market research for the two most significant competitors of the start-up in South Asia. Secondary analysis revealed users' struggles, why they abandoned most dating apps, and what were their struggles and so-called turnoffs. To learn more about the "why", I researched user testimonials available online and created a few experiments. For the research methods, I used the observation (including participant observation) method, qualitative, secondary and experimental methods. Choosing these methods gave me lots of flexibility and easy access to conducting my research and helped me establish cause-and-effect relationships. The research and experiments revealed the sensitivity among users in terms of the app’s location feature accuracy and customer support, both parts of the customer experience. Thanks to the analysis, we learned a lot about the segmentation and dating app development hurdles, branding and customer care that helped us expand our look at the design. Afterwards was the time to review the UI design for each detail, leaving inquisitive questions for every element. All design choices were discussed and questioned in terms of functionality. Meanwhile, after each round of revisions, I went back to testing popular dating apps and their design for about a week, after which I returned to the design files and left my suggestions, questions and comments regarding the UX and UI aspects of the app. We changed one of the functionalities for more intuitiveness and precision for a more straightforward development implementation. During this process, many questions were going back and forward between us: the designers and the development team, to solidify specific design integrations. I also have learned that no matter how small the budget is prototypes, should be created and tested with the users. Next time I would propose constructing a small user scenario to test the design with a small group of users.

The UX/UI feedback and suggestions were given as consultation and were supposed to apply during the development phase that followed. In terms of achieving the goals, I do hope so, although I do not have any updates. This project was quite time-consuming but also very easy-going in terms of collaboration. Thanks to this project, I learn how to receive and give feedback virtually without hurting anyone's feelings or offending their work.

If I receive a follow-up on the project I will certainly update this case study.