Hinge

Enhancing the Safety of Dating

“The dating app designed to be deleted” - Hinge is a dating app that stands out in the online dating market by creating meaningful connections between users. Unlike other apps that prioritize endless swiping and superficial interactions, Hinge encourages users to build genuine relationships based on shared interests, experiences, and values.


Role:
Lead UX Researcher

Tools:
Figma
Photoshop

Duration:
3 weeks

For this project, we were tasked with one goal:

What feature can we create that users will find valuable?

Plan

  • Define a clear target: What problems do users identify with dating apps in general?

  • Analyze existing dating apps, and after determining what kind of feature we will develop, analyze services that have a similar feature

  • Align business with user needs, and design a solution that makes both sides beneficial

Research

We began by deciding on the research methodologies to use. We studied Hinge by downloading the app and trying their features ourselves, and we looked at publicly available data.

We conducted a brand audit, business analysis, and competitor analysis to understand Hinge’s mission, the dating app landscape, trends, best practices, and common design patterns.

View our in-depth competitor analysis.

To gather quantitative data, we created a survey that received 27 responses. For qualitative data, we interviewed 7 people who have used dating apps before. Afterward, we collected the data on sticky notes and created an affinity map by grouping trends together based on common themes.

View our affinity map.

After synthesizing our research thus far, some pain point trends include the fear of getting catfished and the desire to know why someone was matched with a user beyond superficial reasons. However, the highest trending concern was about safety.

After seeing that the largest trending pain point is related to safety, we went back to our secondary research and conducted a comparative analysis on services that offer physical safety features.

View our in-depth comparative analysis.

Key Insights

Our data revealed that users experience more anxiety about meeting matches for the first time than they do about imminent danger. It's important to note that safety is one of the most critical aspects of dating services. Among the competitors we analyzed, Hinge is currently the only one that lacks any physical safety features. This could be due to cost constraints or the inability to integrate such features within their current infrastructure. For the scope of this project, partnering with a third party, as some dating apps have done, is not feasible.

Introducing DateSafe - a streamlined feature designed to address user safety concerns and provide peace of mind. DateSafe simplifies the process of sharing date details with trusted contacts, a standard safety practice in online dating. Keep reading to discover how DateSafe works!

Persona

Meet Jasmine, a 36-year-old successful and outgoing nurse who has been single for the past two years. She is looking for a serious, long-term relationship and has turned to Hinge to find potential partners. However, after a few uncomfortable interactions, she now hesitates to meet new matches in person. She wishes dating apps had a better built-in safety feature that doesn’t compromise her privacy excessively.

Journey Map

This prospective Journey Map, based on Jasmine's experience with DateSafe, breaks down her interactions into individual moments. By visualizing her actions, thoughts, feelings, and pain points at each stage, we gain a comprehensive understanding of her experience. This allows us to identify areas for improvement and opportunities to enhance both Hinge and the DateSafe feature.

How might we facilitate meaningful connections for online daters while addressing their concerns about authenticity and safety when meeting in person?

Information Architecture

We hosted a Tree Test to see where prospective users would think they would find DateSafe and created a Site Map based off of the results.

Participants believed that DateSafe should be as close to a match’s message as possible. The Tree Test results also showed that DateSafe has the potential to be located in more than one location within Hinge.

View our Tree Test results and Site Map.

user flow

Let’s assume that Jasmine, an existing Hinge user, has confirmed a date with someone she met on the app. Upon receiving a prompt from Hinge, Jasmine chooses to utilize DateSafe to confirm the date details, including the restaurant name, address, and meetup time. She also opts to share this information with her friend for added security during the meetup.

This illustrates Jasmine’s Happy Path.

Design

After sketching, we designed our lo- and mid-fi wireframes.

At this stage, our design choices included:

  • Onboarding: Letting users know after an app update that there’s a new feature and that T&Cs have been updated.

  • Tree test results: Since participants believe DateSafe should be integrated within the matches’ messages as close as possible, we included the feature to lie within the chat settings.

  • Alternative path: We created a second flow where Jasmine can edit a DateSafe Card, in case any date plans have changed.

Usability Test

We conducted a usability test on our mid-fi prototype, and 12 users were asked to replicate Jasmine’s Happy Path.

Most users were able to complete both tasks, but we had a lot of misclicks for the second task.

DateSafe - Feature Walkthrough

With the suggestions made by users, we implemented the following:

  • An “Edit” button for the DateSafe Card that is larger and is on the Card itself, as we received many misclicks for the second task.

  • Made the checkbox to acknowledge the T&Cs larger

  • A checkmark icon to give users appropriate feedback when saving the date card

Try our hi-fi prototype here!

Next Steps

The safety feature received a 4.8/5 star rating and positive user reviews.

Based on the hi-fi test results, we plan to implement user feedback by adding auto-updates and consolidating DateSafe & Date Card to reduce confusion.

Currently, Hinge likely uses a keyword monitoring system to identify details like time, date, and location. We aim to enhance the feature by integrating geolocation APIs to allow trusted contacts to track their friends on dates and adding panic buttons to alert emergency services.

These enhancements will require higher expense, effort, and support from dev ops and other teams. Further discussions with legal to review T&Cs and ensure privacy compliance will also be needed.

Thank you!

Thank you for reading! If you have any feedback or suggestions, I’d love to hear from you. Please don’t hesitate to email me or connect with on LinkedIn!

Let’s work together!

Email me at hello@annettevu.com
View my LinkedIn

Designed with ♥ and ★ by Annette Vu @ 2024