Firefly Project
PROJECT BRIEF
The goal of this project was to develop and design a futuristic dating and interaction application that would help people make genuine connections.
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This project was part of SMU User Experience Design Program where I worked remotely with a team from the United States.
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TEAM
Germoin Green, Taylor Guest, Amal AlSaieq and Lori Byers
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ROLE
For this project, I performed the following UX roles:
User Research, UX/UI Design, Product Manager, Branding Strategist.
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TIMELINE
The team was given eight weeks to come up with an app idea, conduct user research, build, design, and test the app.
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RESEARCH
INTRODUCTION
People wanted to meet new people and make friends, but many feel that using dating apps was both time and energy-consuming. In certain situations, it makes them feel overwhelmed, frustrated, and rejected.
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Despite the fact that online dating sites and apps provide users with a large pool of potential suitors, the success rate of finding someone is low. One of the reasons is that many people base their decisions on first impressions, and it's difficult to form an accurate first impression from a swipe or a chat pick-up line.
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People want to see how their match speaks and interacts with others—we assess people based on a lot of non-verbal behavior, which is unlikely to do with today's dating apps.
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USER RESEARCH
As a User Researcher, I had to perform various tasks to build the final solution. The research process started with a survey of 67 women and men aged 22 to 64 who had previously used a dating app. Below are some of the most important results we received from our surveys:
EMPATHY MAPPING
After the survey, I began developing an empathy map to discover users fears, motivations and needs. The empathy map revealed that the majority of users desired connection, with the hope that their appearance and personality would add to a genuine connection.
Users’ frustrations focused on meeting too many people yet not meeting the right people, feeling their time was wasted due to too much small talk, not knowing/trusting the other person’s intentions, and not finding easier ways to engage with each other.
COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS
We analyzed three different apps to determine the strengths and weaknesses of our competitors. The primary goal of this analysis was to identify customer personas and industry trends in order to create an app that appeals to our users while also competing with our competitors.
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Here are key highlights and data summary of the analysis:
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Tinder may be too popular for its own good, with so many users that the app struggles to narrow the scope and find a perfect love connection.
Bumble puts women in control, allowing them to initiate interactions without being concerned about connections (men) who behave inappropriately.
Hinge is designed for those who are serious about substance and long-term relationships. Hinge even claims to be "designed to be deleted."
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CHALLENGES
Huge Dating App Market
After conducting research on dating apps, we realized that there are many different types of apps. The upside was that the success rate of these apps were quite low. For example in Tinder, studies reported that women find a match about 10% of the time, and men around 0.6% of the time. The challenge was to find an app that could build genuine connections while also standing out in the market.
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Online Dating is for One-Night Stand
Dating apps used today are very much identified with the physical intention and needs. I wanted to eliminate this feeling in our app and convince people that they will find and form true relationships, friendships and connections.
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Catfish Me Once Shame On You
People can easily lie or give false impressions of themselves more easily in the online world. Although this can happen when meeting people in person, it can be more difficult to detect when evaluating a partner online. The challenge was how can we create an app that is that is both transparent and safe.
USER PERSONA
DEFINING
After conducting research on the user and competition, we needed to define what Firefly would be and who our potential users would be. So, we crafted three different potential end-user personas from the research insight to identify with and understand the user we're designing for.
Persona 1 | The Dreamer
An outgoing and romantic man looking for a real connection. Some key findings on this persona included:
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He is looking for a quality match, a true connection with someone who shares the same interests and lifestyle.
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One of his pain points is that he is shy around women and finds it difficult to start a conversation.
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He doesn't like the aimless swiping because he doesn't have a lot of spare time to waste on small talk.
Persona 2 | The Nurturer
A hardworking and curious student searching for new friendships and people to care for. Some key findings on this persona included:
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Her main purpose in using dating apps is to meet people and form new friendships.
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One of her worst dating app experiences is being catfished by men.
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One of the most important qualities she searches for is personality and appearance.
Persona 3 | The Charmer
A charming and career-driven persona looking for a dating partner who meets her standers. Some key findings on this persona included:
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She is looking for casual relationships with the possibility of growing into a serious relationship in the future.
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She hates Tinder because of her negative experiences with inappropriate messages.
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She prefers to go out on dates to avoid the texting phase.
BRAINSTORMING IDEAS
Then we had a lot of "How Might We" sessions, and we chose to focus on the following:
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HMW help people to match more meaningfully?
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HMW help people get a more realistic impression of their dates?
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HMW make the dating experience less frustrating?
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We defined what Firefly will be based on these sessions and created a 2-minute readout to serve as the primary reference for the following steps.
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USER EPICS & STORIES
To think through all of the tasks, we divided our ideas into user epics and stories. We wanted to prioritize which features users should be able to use. These stories and epics were the building blocks of workflows and provided direction in the design phase.
WORKFLOWS
Firefly workflows were built from epics and user stories to lay the groundwork for our app's flow. It served as a user roadmap as well as a source of truth for the design and development processes.
IDEATEATION
SKETCHES
During the phase, the speed dating event was our primary focus. We thought a lot about the avatar, the RSVP for the event, the display of potential profiles in an augmented reality setup, the preview of the user's dates and history, setting up private dates after the events, and more.
WIREFRAMES
After sketching out our main ideas, we moved on to the app's functionality and usability with wireframes. The goal was to create an intuitive experience with as few gaps and frictions as possible.
BRANDING
The design of the screens is inspired by the app name “Firefly”, which symbolizes magic, passion, and love. The colors were inspired by this magical creature, with the use of light icons and shades to represent how they use their enchanted light to attract what they desire.
TESTING
USABILITY TESTING
We used Moderated Remote Testing and Moderated In-person Testing to conduct usability testing early in the sketching and wireframing process.
We interviewed twelve people in person and three remotely to test the Firefly app. Several themes emerged in participants’ comments that helped us learn more about how users experience the app.
TESTING KEY FINDING
1. Meetup Page Improvement
Because users were facing difficulty identifying the dating event theme on the explore page, we added titles and subtitles under each event.
2. AR Mode
During the dating session, some users were unsure what the AR icon meant and were hesitant to use it. Before the dates begin, we've added a tutorial to walk the user through the features and icons.
LEARNING SUMMARY
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Users want as many different AR experiences as possible. 100% of users interviewed embraced the idea of online AR experiences that simulate in-person interaction without the pressure of one on one in person dating.
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Users want dating apps to do as much of the initial getting-to-know-you work for them as possible.
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People are willing to pay for distinctive experiences and better quality dating matches on an app that is easy to use with an appealing design.
FINAL DESIGN
The final design's goal is to distinguish this app from other dating apps by fostering long-term meaningful relationships.
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To achieve that goal, we created a human-centered app with designs and language that have a lot of personality and a human-like persona to connect with users on an emotional level.
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KEY FETURE #1
Date Based on Your Intrests
Harry Potter fan? Wizard the world in our "Slytherin Event". In a curated space, users will be able to find a match that shares the same interests, passion, career and preferences. Each date lasts 3 minutes to allow users to decide if the potential date is a match or a release.
KEY FETURE #2
Meeting in Real Life From Home
During the dating events, users will have the option of being in an AR setup or not. The AR Mode creates a holographic background that matches the event theme and make users will feel as if they are dating in person. Users will also have the option of showing their photos or avatars. The avatar feature will create a hologramic version of how they look to deliver a transparent version to avoid catfishing other users.
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TESTIMONIALS
Firefly received glowing reviews!
FOR THE LOVE OF AIR!
“I love the idea of interacting with people without being in person. I hate meeting dates in person when I don’t even know the person. This way I feel like I’d know them better before wasting time driving somewhere and meeting in person.”
— Jamie
EASY LIKE A SUNDAY MORNING
“I like this app. It seems really easy to figure out and use. Everything is up front.”
— Carlisle
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CHARGE AHEAD
“Are you actually planning on making this app? You could charge money for the different events you offer. People will pay for an experience online that would cost even more money in person like visiting different exotic locations.”
— Hannah
CONCLUSION
The process to get to the final app was trurly fascinating. Firefly offers something unique, It stands out from all other dating apps by combining an augmented reality environment with meaningful and unique experiences.
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This end-to-end process — from identifying users' true needs to putting them into an attractive and thoughtful design — has taught me a lot. It made me reach the desigining stage focused and ensured that the app would meet all the needs.
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