eyes wide shut Dating App
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Overview
I designed a dating app that prioritizes prompt-based interactions over photos to reduce bias and encourage deeper connections. This is especially important for Black women and Asian men, who statistically receive the least engagement on traditional dating platforms. By focusing on meaningful prompts, the app creates a more inclusive and fair experience for all users.
Goals
Encourage deeper, more meaningful connections based on personality and interests.
Reduce the impact of unconscious bias by prioritizing prompts over photos.
Create a more inclusive dating environment for people of color, addressing disparities in engagement and representation on dating platforms.
Creative Direction
UX/UI Design
User Research
Wireframing
Prototyping
Branding
Prototype
App Design
Eyes Wide Shut: A Bias-Reducing Blind Dating App
Problem Statement
Traditional dating apps often lead to biases, especially for people of color, like Black women and Asian men, who statistically receive less engagement. This project aims to create a dating app where users connect based on personality rather than initial photos, reducing unconscious biases.
Objective
Traditional dating apps often lead to biases, especially for people of color, like Black women and Asian men, who statistically receive less engagement. This project aims to create a dating app where users connect based on personality rather than initial photos, reducing unconscious biases.
User Research
Target Audience
Creative men and women of color between the ages of 25-35 who are looking for a more meaningful way to meet people online. They spend a significant amount of time on dating apps and social media platforms like Twitter and Reddit.
Pain Points
Users reported feeling overlooked due to unconscious biases prevalent in traditional swipe-based dating apps, leading to a desire for an alternative approach.
Research Methods
We conducted surveys with 30 people of color using various dating apps, asking about their experiences and frustrations, and held focus groups to understand their dating preferences and pain points.
Competitive Analysis
Competitors
Tinder, Bumble, Grindr, and Hinge
Strengths of Competitors
They offer a user-friendly interface and are widely recognized, but the 'swipe' mechanism promotes instant judgment based on appearance.
Weaknesses of Competitors
The reliance on photos first allows unconscious biases to dominate, often leading to exclusion and a negative experience for people of color.
Ideation & Brainstorming
Ideas Generated
Introducing a 'blind' first interaction where users respond to prompts rather than seeing photos upfront. This would create space for deeper conversations based on personality and interests.
Prioritization
We prioritized features that encourage thoughtful engagement, such as prompt-based matches and conversation starters, rather than appearance-based swiping.
Wireframing
Low-Fidelity Wireframes
Early sketches displayed a clean interface where users would see answers to a prompt instead of photos, with buttons to initiate conversation based on the response.
Rationale
We designed the layout to be simple, ensuring the focus remained on the content of the user's response rather than on visual elements. This encourages users to invest more time in reading responses rather than making snap judgments.
It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. Don’t worry about sounding professional. Sound like you. There are over 1.5 billion websites out there, but your story is what’s going to separate this one from the rest. If you read the words back and don’t hear your own voice in your head, that’s a good sign you still have more work to do.
