This is the result of an extensive study on the users of dating apps like Tinder, OKCupid, Zoosk and others. We were studying how people use the apps, how they present themselves, and whether or not they feel successful. We conducted this study over the course of a month to gain design insights and directions.
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Dating App Study
1. Looking for Love(in all the wrong places)
User Research Methods
Final Project
Kudzai Chinyadza, Andy Hunsucker,
Anusha Radhakrishnan, Yu Xu
2. Looking For Love (in all the wrong places) - Kudzai Chinyadza, Andy Hunsucker, Anusha Radhakrishnan, Yu Xu 2
Introduction
Problem Space
The internet has changed many aspects of daily life, like how people communicate, work
and shop. It has also changed the way people meet each other for romantic relationships.
Dating sites like OKCupid, Zoosk, Match.com and eHarmony are very popular and offer users
the chance to examine potential mates before committing to a meeting. Some of these sites
boast complex algorithms that match users by their interests and values.
Objectives and Scope of the Research
We were looking at how people use these apps, what their goals are when choosing different
apps, and what results they find. We also want to discover what makes certain people
successful on a particular app, and what makes someone unsuccessful. We also wanted to
learn:
• Why do people use dating applications on mobile? What do they gain from it?
• Who uses it successfully and who is unsuccessful at it?
• Do they look for long-term relationships or are they looking for a hook-up?
• Are people going to these sites because the sites are superficial?
• How does the experience vary between genders and sexual orientations?
• What are the different experiences across different platforms/applications?
• Does a particular app suit their needs? How do they make their decisions?
3. Looking For Love (in all the wrong places) - Kudzai Chinyadza, Andy Hunsucker, Anusha Radhakrishnan, Yu Xu 3
Introduction
Methods we planned
Survey, Interviews, Digital Artifacts collection, Contextual Inquiry, Diary Study, Customer
Experience mapping
Methods we executed
Survey, Contexual Inquiries, Interviews, Modified Diary Study, Digital Artifact Diagramming,
Affinity Diagramming
We revised our field-site plan during the course of the study. We ran into a few recruiting
problems in the beginning leaving us with little or no time to do a traditional Diary study
of app users. We adjusted by contacting users through the dating apps and conducting
interviews with over 11 individuals.
We then conducted 7 in person interviews and 5 contextual inquiries from the interviews.
Our new method, called Digital Artifact Diagramming provided us with adequate analysis
information that we realized that we didn’t need to do a Customer Experience Map.
Full descriptions of our work can be found on subsequent pages.
4. Looking For Love (in all the wrong places) - Kudzai Chinyadza, Andy Hunsucker, Anusha Radhakrishnan, Yu Xu 4
Fieldwork Summary
We wanted to look at how people use the dating
applications, what their goals are, the reasons
and the context behind their usage. We conducted
secondary research by looking up news articles
and papers that would give as an idea of dating
applications available and what are their general
opinions on the usage of such apps.
We conducted the field work for a period of 2
weeks. Online surveys were posted on various
portals to get a general idea of demographics,
the frequently used apps, etc. We also printed
out flyers with the link to the survey. It was also
used as a way to recruit participants for the
interviews and contextual inquiry. To get a first-
hand experience, we as researchers used the
dating applications in order to understand the
nature of each application. We also recruited by
word of mouth, friends of friends, and by posting
ads on different portals such as IU Classifieds,
Craigslist, and requesting the users of dating apps
to participate.
When people responded to the ads, they were given
time slots to choose from to participate. Interviews
were typically conducted with 2 researchers and a participant at a centralized location[1]
with the exception of one interview (which took place at the participant’s house)[2]. The
[1] A subject during their interview.
[2] A subject being interviewed in his home.
5. Looking For Love (in all the wrong places) - Kudzai Chinyadza, Andy Hunsucker, Anusha Radhakrishnan, Yu Xu 5
Fieldwork Summary
strategy for interviewing involved verbal consent
from the participant, after which the interview
was video recorded. The interviews were semi
structured, with a set of questions, and based on
the responses, more questions were asked to gather
related data. With the respondents’ consent, some
interviews were followed by contextual inquiries,
where the participant
walked us through how
they interact with their
dating applications[3].
Some respondents were
compensated with
a 5 dollar gift card.
Typically each session lasted from 20 to 30 minutes.
Interviews were also conducted in the text form, through the
dating applications itself. On apps such as Tinder and OkCupid,
we identified ourselves as researchers and explained the nature
of the research. While we approached some users to get consent,
many volunteered to participate. The interviews were again semi-
structured, which lead to a lot of open and candid conversation.
We believe it’s due to the anonymity it provides[4][5], even
while contributing to a research study. While some responses
were immediate, some chatted with us over time, which lead to
interviews which extended over hours. This worked similarly to a
diary study, since the user was disconnected from the researcher,
[3] A subject shows us their phone during a
contextual inquiry
[4] A subject reveals deeply
personal information during our
interview over text.
6. Looking For Love (in all the wrong places) - Kudzai Chinyadza, Andy Hunsucker, Anusha Radhakrishnan, Yu Xu 6
but we did not complete a traditional diary study.
The Digital Artifact Diagramming method involved the
researchers creating a profile each on various dating apps
to gain access to a plethora of profiles. We took around 500
screenshots of profiles, both male and female, with varying
age, as a method of digital artifact
collection. The screen shots typically
consisted of the first page of a
user’s profile. Affinity Diagramming
seemed like the appropriate method
to organize and analyse the huge
amount of data. The screenshots
were printed out and cut into pieces
that would resemble the size of a
phone, and we sorted them based
on gender and age first, followed by
trends that emerged from the profiles.
As a part of our research, we also interviewed an expert, who
works at Zoosk. This was conducted to know the intended purpose
of the app, which helped us understand and differentiate between
an app’s purpose from the maker’s point of view and that from the
user’s perspective.
Fieldwork Summary
[5] A subject reveals problems
meeting women of her orientation
over chat.
[6] A typical screenshot
from our Digital Artifact
Diagramming session
7. Looking For Love (in all the wrong places) - Kudzai Chinyadza, Andy Hunsucker, Anusha Radhakrishnan, Yu Xu 7
Digital Artifact Diagramming
While trying to come up with a new method, we realised
we had screenshots of plenty of user profiles on different
platforms (dating applications). This was originally done as
a part of digital artifact collection. But to analyze each and
every one of the screenshots, seemed to be a herculean task.
To synthesize the large amount of data, we decided to try
out a new method, which we later termed “Digital Artifact
Diagramming”.
Inspired by the Affinity Diagramming method, which
traditionally uses Sticky notes, we decided to use the
screenshots instead. Several screen shots were printed on a
single sheet and cut into individual pieces. It was important
for each screen shot to have an individual thought.
After segregating the screenshots into two groups - male and
female, they were sorted by age. Then we looked for trends
such as ‘selfies’, ‘group pictures’, ‘professionally taken
photos’, ‘photos that indicate a hobby or interest’, ‘sports
pictures’, ‘party pictures’, ‘dressed up pictures’, ‘overtly
sexual pictures’, ‘pictures with animals/pets’, ‘pictures with
kids’ and so on. We also noticed the high number of selfies
in both men and women and the difference between group
photos of men and group photos with women. The categories
that emerged helped in gaining insights which lead to possible
design directions.
Researchers perform a Digital
Artifact Diagram with screen shots
from Tinder
8. Looking For Love (in all the wrong places) - Kudzai Chinyadza, Andy Hunsucker, Anusha Radhakrishnan, Yu Xu 8
Pros:
• Works really well when we are dealing with a large
amount of visual data.
• Really helpful in clustering data to look for emerging
trends or problem spaces.
• Great way to visualize data when concepting.
• Easy to see individual thought process.
• Sparks conversations around data.
Cons:
• Time-consuming, when there’s a large amount of data.
• Difficult to duplicate screenshots, to be included in
multiple categories.
• It’s possible to include redundant content.
• Hard to physically move the notes.
• They can’t be saved and retrieved quickly.
• Requires all of the data to be captured in the same way.
Digital Artifact Diagramming
Researchers perform a Digital
Artifact Diagram with screen shots
from Tinder
9. Looking For Love (in all the wrong places) - Kudzai Chinyadza, Andy Hunsucker, Anusha Radhakrishnan, Yu Xu 9
Data Analysis
After analyzing our data, we
were able to learn quite a bit
about the users of these apps.
One thing we learned was
how unsuccessful our subjects
felt about their use of the
applications. People often
have specific goals when
beginning to use a dating app,
but after several months,
frequently lose interest. This
can happen because of a lack
of connection, a series of bad
dates, or being objectified
within the app itself.
We also learned that a lot of
users will use multiple dating
apps. Tinder and OKCupid
being the most popular among
the users we interviewed.
Most users we studied will
only use one at a time, but
we found that almost all of
them have at least tried more
than one.
We also discovered,
unsurprisingly, that many
people base a lot of their
opinions of another individual
on the picture they’ve
selected. Our users were
fairly evenly split on whether
that was helpful, or made the
app feel more superficial.
One thing that was fairly
universal among our users was
that no one feels successful
at starting conversations
on dating apps. Common
strategies included reading
the other users profile to try
to come up with something
to say that would spark
a conversation, or simply
saying hello. Many of the
female users we interviewed
claimed that men who gave a
short message or simply said
“Hello” were ignored. Many
female users refused to send
the first message. Sometimes
this was because they
subscribed to common gender
roles, or often because
they simply had too many
responses to their profile.
Regardless, one of the main
problems for users of dating
sites is starting conversations.
This is interesting because
beginning the conversation
is the key to creating the
intimacy that these users
are looking for. We found
very clearly that these users
are rarely finding intimacy
through dating apps. We
heard stories of people who
have managed to build a long-
term relationship that began
on a dating app, but we were
unable to find anyone in that
situation to interview.
10. Looking For Love (in all the wrong places) - Kudzai Chinyadza, Andy Hunsucker, Anusha Radhakrishnan, Yu Xu 10
Insights
Very few people prefer meeting people online, people
want to meet others in person
The first question we asked every subject was “What do you
think is the best way to meet people, and why?” For almost
all of them, the answer was “Not on a dating app”. There
were some exceptions from people who claimed their work
lives didn’t allow them to meet people in the traditional
way, but for the most part, people preferred to meet others
through friends of friends, or in social gatherings.
“Well definitely not on the internet. Haha I think meeting
people through friends is best. It’s in person and the
person being met has a bit of credibility for not being a
creep if you know someone who knows them.”
--Not that Girl 22
11. Looking For Love (in all the wrong places) - Kudzai Chinyadza, Andy Hunsucker, Anusha Radhakrishnan, Yu Xu 11
Insights
Everyone takes almost the exact same precautions. Telling a
friend where they are going, making sure their cell phone is
charged, not giving too much personal info until they know
the person better, meeting in a public place.
During our research, we asked people if they had met anyone in
person after meeting them on a dating app. We found that almost
everyone had met people in person. Interestingly, when asked
about their precautions, almost everyone gave the exact same
response, with very little variation. This speaks to the fear of
dishonesty inherent with a dating app. Apps offer almost no proof
that the person they have connected with is who they claim to be.
We were unable to find how each user developed their precautions,
but it’s clear that these precautions make the users feel safer to
interact on these apps.
“I always meet in a public place and I don’t give out
many personal detail until I get to know somebody.
I also make sure somebody knows where I am and
I park safely.”
Sarah
12. Looking For Love (in all the wrong places) - Kudzai Chinyadza, Andy Hunsucker, Anusha Radhakrishnan, Yu Xu 12
Insights
Starting conversations on dating apps is very difficult, and
it is incredibly important for men to stand out with their
messages
As discussed above, almost every user had issues starting a
conversation. Men have a more of an issue here, because most
of the women we interviewed refuse to start a conversation
on a dating app. Rather, they wait for the man to begin the
conversation. The reason for this is twofold. First, in traditional
gender roles men are expected to initiate contact with a woman.
Second, women often receive more messages than men do. One
of our female subjects had over 400 unread messages. In this
scenario, men must stand out in order to get the attention they’re
seeking, and ultimately achieve intimacy.
“Except for one out of ten times, it was me initiating the
conversation, because I think if you are a female on a
dating website, you don’t have to seek out applicants
they kind of flood you...”
Jordan
13. Looking For Love (in all the wrong places) - Kudzai Chinyadza, Andy Hunsucker, Anusha Radhakrishnan, Yu Xu 13
Insights
Many people use dating apps as a way to waste time,
rather than looking for someone to meet or date
We asked many of our subjects what made them use a dating
app at a particular time, and many responded that it was
because they were bored. While many users created an
account to find intimacy, after a few weeks or months, the
app became more of a time waster to them. They would
simply use it when they had nothing else to do.
“Tinder is only when I got bored.”
Lexi
“ Last year, during my last semester in my
undergrad, I had nothing to do, so I tried this”
Yisi
14. Looking For Love (in all the wrong places) - Kudzai Chinyadza, Andy Hunsucker, Anusha Radhakrishnan, Yu Xu 14
Insights
Some people use dating apps to find friends, rather than a
romantic relationship
While dating apps often promote the idea that you can find
a romantic relationship with their service, we found several
users who used the app to look for friends. One common
scenario was using a dating app when moving to a new
city. Some users would make use of it in order to meet new
friends in an unfamiliar place, others found it useful after
finding their social life stagnating. These users were not
looking for a romantic relationship, and often found success
using the app to find new friends.
“I just thought it might be fun to try and find new
people.” “I guess I would be interested in dating, but it’s
not a priority. I would like to make friends first”
Zackery
15. Looking For Love (in all the wrong places) - Kudzai Chinyadza, Andy Hunsucker, Anusha Radhakrishnan, Yu Xu 15
Insights
Many people feel unsuccessful using dating apps
A common theme among the users that we interviewed was
a general feeling that they were not successful while using
the app. Each user had their own definition of success, and
the few who felt successful did not define their success on
whether they found a long-term relationship. It seems that
while dating apps bring people in by offering users a chance
for intimacy, many of their users are not finding it there.
“I’d say the rate is pretty similar for both (Tinder
and OkCupid).. It was very low”.
C1B1
16. Looking For Love (in all the wrong places) - Kudzai Chinyadza, Andy Hunsucker, Anusha Radhakrishnan, Yu Xu 16
Insights
Specific patterns emerge when examining users profile
pictures
When examining the pictures that users of Tinder use
to represent themselves, several specific patterns
emerge. Self-taken pictures, or ‘selfies’ are very
common on Tinder, for both men and women. Users
will often use pictures that tell the other users
something about their personalities or interests. On
Tinder, this seems to be a response to the limited
nature of the profile they can use. One big difference
between the way women and men represent
themselves on Tinder is through the use of group
pictures. When men post a picture of themselves with
other people, they often appear with other women,
infrequently appearing with other men. However,Men posing with women
on their Tinder profile
picture
17. Looking For Love (in all the wrong places) - Kudzai Chinyadza, Andy Hunsucker, Anusha Radhakrishnan, Yu Xu 17
Insights
when women post a group picture, our research shows that
they almost always post a picture of themselves with
other women. After asking a few people outside our
group about their thoughts, it appears that men want
to project that they are already comfortable with
women and have female friends. On the other hand,
women want to be careful not to project that they
are involved with anyone. In fact, many of our male
subjects noted that if they saw an image of a girl
with a man, they would assume that woman was in a
relationship with him. This goes back to the traditional
gender roles we noted earlier. It appears that even on
these dating apps, women are expected to be pure
or virginal, while it is accepted that men will have
multiple partners or suitors.
Specific patterns emerge when examining users profile
pictures (cont.)
Women posing with other
women on their Tinder
profile picture
18. Looking For Love (in all the wrong places) - Kudzai Chinyadza, Andy Hunsucker, Anusha Radhakrishnan, Yu Xu 18
Design Directions
Eventer
This feature leverages facebook style events to
aggregate people at an event “We’re going to this
place at this time, come meet us in person”.
This would allow users of a dating site to meet
people in a large group all at once, rather than
just one on one.
Our research showed that our users are very
willing to meet other dating site users in person,
but use lots of precautions. Meeting people
in person in a large group makes it easier for
everyone to feel safe and less awkward about
being alone with someone they don’t know that
well. Hopefully this app will encourage people to
meet in person in an acceptable and safe way.
19. Looking For Love (in all the wrong places) - Kudzai Chinyadza, Andy Hunsucker, Anusha Radhakrishnan, Yu Xu 19
Design Directions
Dating Profile Review
This feature offers simple suggestions about
the type of picture you’re using, and makes
suggestions for opening lines, as well as analyzing
what someone is about to say and tells the user
how successful that opening line has been in
starting conversations.
From research, we learned that both men and
women have certain criteria about what kind
of pictures are working better to attract them
and what ruins it, as well as preferences about
opening lines. So this app can analyze how it’s
users are presenting themselves, and provides
people with suggestions about what pictures will
work to attract more people and what will not.
Based on these suggestions, people can choose
to change or not. In this way, it decreases the
possibility of being dismissed based on viewing
pictures, and creates more opportunities for
conversations.
20. Looking For Love (in all the wrong places) - Kudzai Chinyadza, Andy Hunsucker, Anusha Radhakrishnan, Yu Xu 20
Design Directions
Sticker Chatting
This feature doesn’t allow text chatting immediately, but
offers icons or stickers to express emotions before deciding to
meet or talk with the other person with words. These icons
would have to be carefully curated by the app to ensure a
good conversation is possible.
From research, we learned that some people will ruin the
conversation from the first sentence. For example, when a
man just says hi, the woman might think he is not paying
much attention to her, and doesn’t chat with him. So in this
way, people start with stickers to chat, these stickers can
clearly express emotions. It starts the conversation in an
interesting way. If the users become interested based on the
stickers, they can continue chatting with words.
This method would reward the creativity of the user, and
allow people who aren’t as skilled at conversation a chance
to interest a potential match.
21. Looking For Love (in all the wrong places) - Kudzai Chinyadza, Andy Hunsucker, Anusha Radhakrishnan, Yu Xu 21
Design Directions
Build-A-Date
This feature would allow a user to “Build a date”.
Rather than just suggest a simple coffee date,
you can pick a series of activities and locations.
So “Hiking” and then a specific trail or route. Or
a restaurant with a specific meal choice selected.
Offering more information will give the other
person an opportunity to feel more comfortable
that they are compatible.
Our research showed that women prefer men who
put some effort into their approaches. Having a
full date already planned could show a potential
match that they have a strong plan, and can
decide more easily if they match. It also provides
the user the ability to see if the other user likes
the same type of food and activity that they do.
22. Looking For Love (in all the wrong places) - Kudzai Chinyadza, Andy Hunsucker, Anusha Radhakrishnan, Yu Xu 22
Design Directions
Game Based Chat Room
For this feature, instead of a chat room, people are put
together in a game room of sorts, and can play either
creative building games, or simple card games while
chatting.
Our research shows that almost everyone has a hard
time starting a conversation over a dating app, with
many women ignoring men who can’t come up with a
good opening line. Giving the two users something to
talk about while they get to know each other can help
break down this barrier.
23. Looking For Love (in all the wrong places) - Kudzai Chinyadza, Andy Hunsucker, Anusha Radhakrishnan, Yu Xu 23
Design Directions
What’s In My Bag Dating
A dating site based on “What’s in my bag?”
Your profile picture instead of your face is
just the contents of your bag. This would offer
users the chance to show off their personality
through objects.
Our research shows that many users will put
a lot of stock into the profile picture. While
many users claim to look through profiles for
more information of an individual, during our
contextual inquiries, we found that many
users will simply move past anyone they don’t
find superficially attractive.
This sort of site would allow users personality
to show before having to worry about sending
a personal picture.
24. Looking For Love (in all the wrong places) - Kudzai Chinyadza, Andy Hunsucker, Anusha Radhakrishnan, Yu Xu 24
Design Directions
Video Introductions
A feature that leverages Vine style short videos that allow
people to introduce themselves creatively. This could help
people get past superficial aspects and give deeper insight
into the other persons personality.
In the existing apps, there are several ways like pictures,
interests and biographies for people to get to know each
other at the beginning, and help people decide if they want
to pursue a match. Is there any other ways to show one’s
personality, and also make it more attractive and interesting?
We came up with the idea of using videos to sell yourself.
People also pay more attention to videos rather than still
pictures or words. Also the video is customizable, and create
more opportunity for creative things.
This helps solve the problem that many users have with
starting conversations on dating apps. It will reward a user’s
creativity, and not just how attractive their profile picture is.
A sketch of this idea appears on the next page.
25. Looking For Love (in all the wrong places) - Kudzai Chinyadza, Andy Hunsucker, Anusha Radhakrishnan, Yu Xu 25
Design Directions
Video Introductions
26. Looking For Love (in all the wrong places) - Kudzai Chinyadza, Andy Hunsucker, Anusha Radhakrishnan, Yu Xu 26
Design Directions
Profile Rating System
In this feature, people can rate other users based on various
criteria, like reliability, humor and other appropriate factors.
One of the main concerns of our users was safety during an in
person meeting because of how easy it is to be dishonest on
the dating apps. So we allowed users to give others a rating.
With the overall rating, people can see more about how other
users have interacted with
them, and whether or not
their profile is an honest
representation of them.
27. Looking For Love (in all the wrong places) - Kudzai Chinyadza, Andy Hunsucker, Anusha Radhakrishnan, Yu Xu 27
Design Directions
Interaction Training
This feature will offer a user a chance to find a better way
to communicate with the opposite sex by giving them the
opportunity to learn about responding to them through a
simple game.
As we learned from research, how people communicate with
each other has a significant impact on the relationship, and
some wrong reactions might result in killing the connection.
So this app can help train a man or woman to know more
about what others might be thinking rather than what they
are saying, and also how to react to it successfully.
28. Looking For Love (in all the wrong places) - Kudzai Chinyadza, Andy Hunsucker, Anusha Radhakrishnan, Yu Xu 28
Design Directions
Let’s Go Grocery Shopping!
In this service, people are connected with individuals
in their area, and they set up a time to go meet at a
grocery store. This could even be sponsored by the
grocery store themselves. They will use a specialized
shopping cart with two sides so they can both shop
together. The goal of dating is also finding ways to
know more about a person.
Our research shows that users of dating sites prefer
meeting other people in person, so this service could help
with that, giving our users a safe space to get to know
someone by seeing what kinds of foods they enjoy and
learning more about them personally along the way.
29. Looking For Love (in all the wrong places) - Kudzai Chinyadza, Andy Hunsucker, Anusha Radhakrishnan, Yu Xu 29
Design Directions
Discount Dating
This feature is a way to encourage people to meet in person.
Two people can meet on a dating app, and through the
cooperation of local businesses, can schedule a date at a bar
or other location, and show a coupon from the app that gives
them some kind of discount. This is good for the businesses as
it brings in more customers, and a good incentive for people
meeting on the app to visit a public location for safety.
Our research shows that people generally take the same set
of precautions in every case. They prefer to meet in a public
place and will inform friends
of where they are going. This
feature would help build that
precaution into preparations
from the app. The users
would be selecting a public
place, and the restaurant
could even keep a record of
when that couple visited the
restaurant.
30. Looking For Love (in all the wrong places) - Kudzai Chinyadza, Andy Hunsucker, Anusha Radhakrishnan, Yu Xu 30
Design Directions
Silly Pictures
For this feature, rather than using charming and beautiful
pictures, users are encouraged to use silly pictures. The silly
pictures can act as a conversation starter.
If all the people use silly pictures, it will be a fun experience
to go through other’s profile pictures to start a conversation
based on it. If my picture makes you laugh, why not talk to
me? I bring you fun!
We spoke to one user in particular who claimed that any
profile that made him laugh would imediately get a message
from him. This could work as a conversation starter and
reward creativity, rather than simply good looks.
31. Looking For Love (in all the wrong places) - Kudzai Chinyadza, Andy Hunsucker, Anusha Radhakrishnan, Yu Xu 31
Design Directions
Haaaaaave you met?
This app flips the normal dating app structure. In most apps,
users are expected to sell themselves to others. However, we
found in our research that very few users have the ability to
do that effectively.
In this app, a third party creates the profile for a friend,
and describes them to others. They then screen and choose
matches for their friend, only setting up a date when they
feel confident they’ve found someone interesting. This could
even be taken further for the third party to chaperone the
first date.
We spoke to one user who had had several dating experiences
with men who were very socially awkward and had a difficult
time interacting with women. This sort of app could help
those people who have trouble selling themselves on these
apps, and also improve safety, as a trusted third party would
be involved.
A sketch of this idea appears on the next page.
32. Looking For Love (in all the wrong places) - Kudzai Chinyadza, Andy Hunsucker, Anusha Radhakrishnan, Yu Xu 32
Design Directions
Haaaaaave you met? sketch
33. Looking For Love (in all the wrong places) - Kudzai Chinyadza, Andy Hunsucker, Anusha Radhakrishnan, Yu Xu 33
Design Directions
Haaaaaave you met? sketch
34. Looking For Love (in all the wrong places) - Kudzai Chinyadza, Andy Hunsucker, Anusha Radhakrishnan, Yu Xu 34
Design Directions
Bookstore Date
This design is similar to the grocery store meetup in that two
people will meet at a public place to begin their date. In this
format, two people will be matched at a bookstore. After a
short chat, the two participants will be tasked with finding a
book that the other person will enjoy.
After a search, the participants meetup again and pitch their
choices to the other. This gives them a chance to see the
taste and perspective of the person they are interacting with.
Once they have exchanged books, they can choose what to
do after that. Perhaps they will each read the books, perhaps
they won’t. But this is a low impact method of meeting
someone new and getting to know them quickly.
Our research shows that many people prefer to meet in
person, rather than online. Using this method could give them
a chance to do this in a safe place, and potentially lead to
intimacy down the road.
35. Looking For Love (in all the wrong places) - Kudzai Chinyadza, Andy Hunsucker, Anusha Radhakrishnan, Yu Xu 35
Design Directions
Bookstore Date
36. Looking For Love (in all the wrong places) - Kudzai Chinyadza, Andy Hunsucker, Anusha Radhakrishnan, Yu Xu 36
Data Visualization
In our research, we found several sites offer a match based
on a percentage. But what’s a 28%? Is it related to education,
personality, interests, looks, long-term/short-term goals?
This chart visualizes a person into various data. Then each
person will have their own visualization chart. Based on the
chart, people can match with others more accurately, and
they can know more about others by reading their chart.
Our research shows
that people will read
others profiles, trying
to find information
to exclude them or
include them as a
match. This could
potentially speed up
that process.
Design Directions
37. Looking For Love (in all the wrong places) - Kudzai Chinyadza, Andy Hunsucker, Anusha Radhakrishnan, Yu Xu 37
Kissing Booth
This app gives people the chance for some intimacy before
they meet the other person. Based on the feeling of kissing,
people can decide whether they want to date them.
What are people’s goal for using a dating app? Either to
find a person to hook up or to find a true love? How do
they evaluate which person they will match with? Pictures?
Interests? Habits? Personalities? Then what else is important?
The feeling of being with that person, the feeling of a kiss. So
why not try it out? The feeling of a kiss in an important thing
when deciding if you want to pursue a relationship.
Our research shows that our users often feel unsuccessful in
dating apps, and they aren’t finding the intimacy they desire.
This design could give them the chance to start with intimacy
before deciding to pursue anything further.
Two participants would be placed on opposite sides of a wall
with a small space where they could interact by kissing.
A chaperone could be present to facilitate safety. The
participants could kiss and then decide after if they wanted
to meet the other person.
This design definitely isn’t for everyone, but for those
adventurous spirits, it could create a fun and memorable
experience.
Design Directions
38. Looking For Love (in all the wrong places) - Kudzai Chinyadza, Andy Hunsucker, Anusha Radhakrishnan, Yu Xu 38
Kissing Booth
Design Directions
39. Looking For Love (in all the wrong places) - Kudzai Chinyadza, Andy Hunsucker, Anusha Radhakrishnan, Yu Xu 39
Conclusion
We feel that this study lead us to some interesting new design
ideas. It is clear from studying these apps and their users
that people rarely find what they’re looking for. The gamified
aspect of these apps rewards superficial aspects of people’s
looks, and rarely leads to a deep connection. The disposable
nature of matches on apps like Tinder and OKCupid means
that users can easily dismiss anyone for even the most minor
infraction, never working on getting to know someone better
to create anything other than superficial, brief physical
intimacy.
These apps also offer users the chance to be dishonest with
others about their intentions, and requires users to create
elaborate safety plans before they can meet another person.
Our designs in this space focused on trying to reward the
users creativity and personality when presenting themselves
on a dating app, and making it easier and safer to meet
others in person.
We also wanted to make it easier for users to start an
interaction, which we found was incredibly difficult for
almost everyone in these dating apps.
Tinder does give you
a license to objectify
other people. People
become disposable on
Tinder. You don’t like
this one? On to next
one...
Lexi
40. Digital Artifact Diagramming
This method is an exploratory means adapted from affinity diagramming. It is useful with help-
ing designers to explore large data sets of digital artifact observations and organize them
into meaningful ways.
The data is collected by taking screen shots of a pre-determined interactive system with
specific criteria or patterns being assessed for the study. In our case we were studying gam-
ification of online dating apps, so we narrowed our analysis to user-profiles on Tinder as it is
currently the most popular gamified app.
How it works
The researcher’s goal is to capture pre-existing data sets from interactive systems. In our case,
we wanted to gather data from user profiles of a dating site. Within the dating app context,
the researcher takes screenshots of each user profile. Each screen shot needs to represent
a single piece of information or observation like the sticky notes in an affinity diagram. It is
important that the researcher identifies the criteria in which they use to determine an appro-
priate data set.
After the screen shots are taken the researcher proceeds to print out these screen-shots. For
printing it is encouraged that the researcher print several screen shots per sheet, in order to
have small index size data sets when the screen shots are cut up. After this the screen-shots
are then placed on a large surface where the researcher will start clustering the screen shots
into meaningful groups.
This process is supposed to be exploratory, and therefore the researcher needs to keep an
open mind when participating in this activity. When working in a group, it is important for the
researchers to complete this activity using the think-aloud-protocol. This will help the team
know what each person is thinking, and this will allow for an open communication in the
team concerning the data.
Once the data is grouped, and the researchers have noticed certain trends, the clustered
screenshots will be labeled appropriately to summarize the observations.
Further Reading
How to Affinity Diagram
Hanington, Bruce Martin, Bella
Universal Methods of Design
page 14.
Rockport Publishers 2012
SYNTHESIS/ANALYSIS TECHNIQUE
Digital Artifact Diagramming is an exploratory analysis method used
to understand behaviors and patterns of individuals on their online
profiles.
Pros:
• Works really well when we are dealing
with a large amount of visual data.
• Really helpful in clustering data to look
for emerging trends or problem spaces.
• Easy to see individual thought process
• Sparks conversations around data within
a tem
Cons:
• Time-consuming, when there’s a large
amount of data.
• It’s possible to include redundant
content.