Meeting on an app
Rethinking relationships and social interaction systems
Bump is a disruptive strategy for new types of social encounters, where profiles are designed to depict lifestyle rather than looks. As a user, you get the power to shape your experience while preserving the spontaneity of the encounter. When you go online, you select the type of encounter and activity that you're looking for. Matching happens instantly: you get presented with online users who are available now, in your immediate area, with similar expectations.
The problem
DATING APPS ARE FRUSTRATING TO ~45% OF THEIR USERS
Over the past few decades, technology has redefined the way people meet, interact and develop relationships. The 18-34 years old category has witnessed a significant growth in the number of people not having a steady partner over the past 40 years. With more than 25 million people in the US actively using dating apps in 2019, technology has made it extremely simple for its users to meet people from the comfort of their couch. However, according to the Pew Research Center, these new ways of creating encounters seem to be frustrating to more than 45% of their users.
ACCEPTANCE AND VALIDATION ARE THE ULTIMATE NEEDS
When dissecting the users’ behaviors, acceptance and validation emerge as the ultimate needs they are trying to satisfy. These manifest themselves differently from one person to the other, often creating a mismatch in expectations. From a systemic viewpoint, the superficial generic profiles results in a lack of involvement in user journey.
The solution
DISRUPTIVE JOURNEY
Starting with the disruptive journey that allows users to meet instantly and find intentional serendipity. In usual setting, after swiping and matching, people have to go through the daunting task of texting someone you do not know to see if you are worth the meeting. During the texting phase, you can either lose momentum, get busy with other thing and never follow up, or find another match, so the real life encounter does not happen that often. With bump, the encounter is moved forward so that as soon as you match you are able to meet. By sending a picture to unlock the chat, you ensure that a person is behind it but it also holds you accountable to actually meet in person making you value the encounter more.
MEANINGFUL MATCHES
Second, the emphasis on meaningful matches will allow you to curate your encounter and match according to what matters most to you. By setting the time you are available for, the activity that you want to do and the mood that you are in, you set the expectations straight and avoid any deception from either sides. Furthermore, once you get matched, you are capable of filtering your matches based on what matters most to you. You can filter by mutual friends, lifestyle match, age or distance, and any of the 3 criteria you set for your meeting.
AUTHENTIC PROFILES
And finally, the authentic profiles that will allow you to discover new people and browse authentic profiles. Did you know that 71% of online daters think it is very common to lie about themselves in order to appear more desirable? This is insane. On bump, the profiles are built to be able to show both the similarities and differences you have with the person making them both equally interesting or appealing. The profiles explore this concept of neutral desirability that sounds paradoxical but that represents an equal desirability towards any sides of the spectrum. I look at personality, lifestyle and habits elements which allow people to describe themselves.
The prototype
STYLE GUIDE AND VISUAL DESIGN
INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE
The outcome
STEP 1 - ONBOARDING
Sign up
Homepage
STEP 2 - MATCHING
Matching based on activity
Matching based on mood
STEP 3 - FINDING YOUR MATCH
