The challenge
Among wanted to build an application that would make the GenZ and late millennials rethink the concept of dating.
While the world creates apps that make people feel inferior, less connected and only ‘fling-worthy’, Among wanted to bring ingenuity by replicating real-life connections through their app.
Gen Z, who is always on the go and easily distracted posed the challenge of creating an app, where they could spend their limited attention span. Catering to a different generation, brought its own set of behavioural considerations into account. It was not just changing the way products are showcased, but rethinking how products are created altogether.
This was motivating enough for us to build an innovative solution, which could pave the way for ‘not’ just another dating app in the red sea of online dating.
- Connecting people with similar aspirations and expectations
- Creating a safe dating ecosystem where trust is the primary factor
- Bringing out the essence of dating in the real world within a virtual platform
Our approach
When we started, we knew we did not want to reinvent the wheel. We wanted to design a dating platform that could build on the current strengths the industry has. Our focus on innovation was to solve the problem of generating meaningful conversations, building trust and personalisation.
To ensure our innovation is not limited by internal ideas, our first step was to get an insight into the lives of the GenZ. We analysed dating patterns, the lifestyle of the target audience, understood the market and interviewed over 100 individuals across university campuses for a period of 2 months.
This research helped us identify innovative features, specific opportunities and the pathway towards creating a smart platform that offered personalisation at its core.
- User interviews and Research
- Structuring True Insights
- Information Architecture (IA)
- Product Innovation and Strategy
- Wireframing
- Content Design
- User Experience Design
- UX-UI design
- Design system
- Design Strategy
Time-consuming. No real connection. No personalization. The ability to connect as one’s true self was missing.
Trustworthy. Genuine. Bridging the gap between online dating and offline personalities.
User goals and features
Lazy Dater
A lazy dater keeps questions closed-ended and easily loses interest in conversations. For such a persona, it became crucial to have features that could keep them hooked.
Serious Dater
A serious dater uses the app to look for potential relationships. We wanted to connect them with like-minded people and take the first step towards their compatibility.
Jaded Dater
A jaded dater has been single for a long time or has been agnostic to the virtual dating world. To motivate these users, we had to build features that promoted positive experiences and credibility.
UX UI Design
Every person this app catered to had their own personality and aspirations. To represent these subjective mindsets of millions of people through one design was a challenge. We had to tackle this by giving the users the power to personalise. Personalization was the way to bring higher engagement, at every moment because the user is now independent and can only see the people, and content they choose.
The vibrant colour palette was specifically selected to invoke positive emotions, build trust amongst every type of person.
Through our research, we noticed that Gen Z was trying to find something authentic in the virtual world that was full of facade. To make them trust Among, we added features that gave a closer look into the person's lifestyle, which also boosted their credibility.
To be able to distinguish Among from its competition, we were certain that this app had to do away with meaningless matches and connect with people on a deeper level. Keeping users and their behaviour at our core, we designed a platform that filtered compatible matches based on the users’ preferences.
A lot of individuals struggled with finding ‘the right move’ to start conversations or to keep them going. It becomes important to prompt them to interact so things move forward, faster. The inculcation of GIFs, live stickers, emojis, and voice call features made it easier for them to build conversations and encouraged them to make the first move.