Consumer product · early career
Designing for connection: a safer dating app MVP
Meet through
friends. Real people,
real (good)
matches
Guroo is a dating app that helps you find the best first dates.
Note: This is an early-career consumer product project. It's included to show research-driven concept development and UI craft, not B2B outcomes. We were tasked with designing an MVP for Guroo, a dating app. The problem: how do you make it easier for people to find better first dates, and feel safer doing it?
My Role
UI / UX Designer
Contribution
Product Design, UI/UX, Marketing, UI Animations, Design System, Graphic Design.
User interviews
The first thing we did was research on how people actually meet each other in real life, which included 30+ in-person interview sessions, as well as interviews on college campuses. We found out that only after meeting dates in person did women feel confident in their selection of dates.
We then stumbled upon our biggest insight: A lot of dating apps try to replicate the actual experience of meeting someone online but fail because they are missing one crucial element: face-to-face conversations!
We decided to design an experience that would replicate the first date within the app itself by adding things like conversational starters, timed dates, and trivia questions, all of which would elevate any of the frictions in conversations between two strangers.
Narrowed focus
We decided to design an experience that would replicate the first date within the app itself by adding things like conversational starters, timed dates, and trivia questions, all of which would elevate any of the frictions in conversations between two strangers.
To validate our assumptions we created wireframes and quick prototypes to validate our ideas with the initial user set.
After a few weeks of research and ideation sessions with our team, we had a clear picture of what we wanted Guroo to look like.
We also discovered 5 distinct elements that acted as our framework to filter all experiences with:
A feeling of safety
Entertaining
Filtering out & screening people
High inventory
Conversation flow
Introduction of second-degree connections
To make it easier for users to meet other people who are not on their current contact list, we introduced a 2nd-degree connection into the match card, which helps users to meet and interact with new people they don't have in their contact list. Plus users can send an invitation to their friends through SMS.
Outcome
After multiple rounds of research and iteration, we delivered an MVP tested with the initial user cohort. The five-element framework we developed · safety, entertainment, filtering, inventory, and conversation flow · became the filter for every feature decision. Users responded positively to the timed date and conversation starter features in early testing.
Outcome
The core insight driving the design: most dating apps try to simulate meeting someone online, but skip the part that actually creates trust · face-to-face conversation. Guroo replicated first-date dynamics inside the app through timed sessions, conversation starters, and trivia · giving users a way to screen and connect before committing to an in-person meeting.
Meet through
friends. Real people,
real (good) matches
It's simple:
1. Pick a friend.
2. Match them or ask them to match you.
3. Let the magic happen!
