Case study
One Liner
2020
Dating during lockdown
Case study
One Liner
2020
Dating during lockdown
Case study
One Liner
2020
Dating during lockdown
As far back as Match.com, online dating has been around for about 25 years and since the rise in popularity of dating apps such as Tinder, Plenty of Fish or Bumble, meeting people online is becoming more and more acceptable. However, the market is saturated with these apps and dating during lockdowns is either impossible or pointless if you cannot do it face to face.
Product
Car infotainment app
Mobile app
Services
Service design
UX design
UI design
My role
Product Designer
Timeline
2 months
The challenge
The challenge was in creating a meaningful socially distanced experience where people interacted with the infotainment system in a car during the physical event as well as further extend the experience to their mobile phones before and afterwards.
Problem statement
How do people make meaningful connections without having physical contact? The issue is that there is no current solution to this problem and the ones that have been designed to counter the social distancing have created awkward video calls and left users confused.
Research
Research was primarily conducted on the dating application market as well as car infotainment systems and interactions. A large portion focused on the translation of real world events to digital platforms and how they are maintained during times of social distancing.
Research
Research was primarily conducted on the dating application market as well as car infotainment systems and interactions. A large portion focused on the translation of real world events to digital platforms and how they are maintained during times of social distancing.
Research
Research was primarily conducted on the dating application market as well as car infotainment systems and interactions. A large portion focused on the translation of real world events to digital platforms and how they are maintained during times of social distancing.
01
Case studies
Revealed how the online dating world operates and how other people have successfully created infotainment applications.
02
Competitor benchmark
The majority of interviewees preferred the dating app over alternatives such as Tinder
03
Interviews
These revealed in depth motivations behind why people use dating services and how they have experienced dating during lockdown.
04
Speed dating
The original dating service. Understanding how a real life event unfolds helped me figure out how I can create a similar service.
05
The Hero's Journey
I researched the Hero’s Journey to identify story arcs and how to create an exciting experience. I used this as reference for my own user’s journey.
21%
21%
increase
increase
Bumble reported a large increase in messages across their platform since 12 March 2020
Bumble
Bumble
The majority of interviewees preferred the dating app over alternatives such as Tinder
7:10
7:10
The ratio of women to men on Tinder. Many other dating apps had more male users than female
Process
From the research that was conducted I moved into a round of how might we questions which started the process of ideating towards potential solutions. It was then that I took reference from a real world speed date and plotted the journey out in relation to what it’s digital counterpart may look like. This helped with conceptualising and visualising what a digital solution may look like.
Crucial to understanding how competitor products work today, I downloaded and registered myself on six dating apps and explored their usability and unique value propositions. This culmination of research and references enabled me to start looking towards the services design aspect of the product as well as how the digital solution fits in to the physical meet up
Process
From the research that was conducted I moved into a round of how might we questions which started the process of ideating towards potential solutions. It was then that I took reference from a real world speed date and plotted the journey out in relation to what it’s digital counterpart may look like. This helped with conceptualising and visualising what a digital solution may look like.
Crucial to understanding how competitor products work today, I downloaded and registered myself on six dating apps and explored their usability and unique value propositions. This culmination of research and references enabled me to start looking towards the services design aspect of the product as well as how the digital solution fits in to the physical meet up
Process
From the research that was conducted I moved into a round of how might we questions which started the process of ideating towards potential solutions. It was then that I took reference from a real world speed date and plotted the journey out in relation to what it’s digital counterpart may look like. This helped with conceptualising and visualising what a digital solution may look like.
Crucial to understanding how competitor products work today, I downloaded and registered myself on six dating apps and explored their usability and unique value propositions. This culmination of research and references enabled me to start looking towards the services design aspect of the product as well as how the digital solution fits in to the physical meet up
Service blueprint
Once I had an idea of how the event could unfold. I created a service blueprint, which helped me outline not only the service but also the user journey from start to finish. I plotted all relevant actions along the x-axis and found that it was helpful to superimpose the features a user may interact with at relevant parts of the journey.
Service blueprint
Once I had an idea of how the event could unfold. I created a service blueprint, which helped me outline not only the service but also the user journey from start to finish. I plotted all relevant actions along the x-axis and found that it was helpful to superimpose the features a user may interact with at relevant parts of the journey.
Service blueprint
Once I had an idea of how the event could unfold. I created a service blueprint, which helped me outline not only the service but also the user journey from start to finish. I plotted all relevant actions along the x-axis and found that it was helpful to superimpose the features a user may interact with at relevant parts of the journey.
The Hero's Journey
In order to create strong narrative I then turned to Joseph Campbell’s Monomyth to use as a plot driver for my speed dating service. I studied the Hero’s Journey and translated my own user to this framework in order to create a meaningful experience through the app.
The Hero's Journey
In order to create strong narrative I then turned to Joseph Campbell’s Monomyth to use as a plot driver for my speed dating service. I studied the Hero’s Journey and translated my own user to this framework in order to create a meaningful experience through the app.
The Hero's Journey
In order to create strong narrative I then turned to Joseph Campbell’s Monomyth to use as a plot driver for my speed dating service. I studied the Hero’s Journey and translated my own user to this framework in order to create a meaningful experience through the app.
Ownable moments
A point in the product experience where you can identify a change or escalation in emotion. Wanting an even more personalised experience I looked into the idea of ownable moments. I wanted to lean into the user’s emotions and have a response that would either elevate happy emotions or calm stressful ones.
I plotted my user’s journey again and every time I sensed a change in emotion I placed a star next to that change in emotion. I then indicated how I could go about solving each particular instance and decided to implement them in certain places throughout the journey and app.
Ownable moments
A point in the product experience where you can identify a change or escalation in emotion. Wanting an even more personalised experience I looked into the idea of ownable moments. I wanted to lean into the user’s emotions and have a response that would either elevate happy emotions or calm stressful ones.
I plotted my user’s journey again and every time I sensed a change in emotion I placed a star next to that change in emotion. I then indicated how I could go about solving each particular instance and decided to implement them in certain places throughout the journey and app.
Ownable moments
A point in the product experience where you can identify a change or escalation in emotion. Wanting an even more personalised experience I looked into the idea of ownable moments. I wanted to lean into the user’s emotions and have a response that would either elevate happy emotions or calm stressful ones.
I plotted my user’s journey again and every time I sensed a change in emotion I placed a star next to that change in emotion. I then indicated how I could go about solving each particular instance and decided to implement them in certain places throughout the journey and app.
Persona
Understanding motivations and frustrations, empathising and serving needs. The persona helped me put thoughts to words and informed the features in the experience. It also humanised the problem by figuring out what is important to the users, what they care about and how does this solve their problem?
Persona
Understanding motivations and frustrations, empathising and serving needs. The persona helped me put thoughts to words and informed the features in the experience. It also humanised the problem by figuring out what is important to the users, what they care about and how does this solve their problem?
Persona
Understanding motivations and frustrations, empathising and serving needs. The persona helped me put thoughts to words and informed the features in the experience. It also humanised the problem by figuring out what is important to the users, what they care about and how does this solve their problem?
Wireframing
The wireframes for the mobile application served as a start to the visual designs and using Apple’s UI as a base made for quicker wireframing.
The CarPlay wireframes were all made according to the custom wireframe UI kit I built on Figma. The kit was based on Apple CarPlay’s latest update and the application’s interactions were in accordance to the interaction guidelines laid out by Apple.
Wireframing
The wireframes for the mobile application served as a start to the visual designs and using Apple’s UI as a base made for quicker wireframing.
The CarPlay wireframes were all made according to the custom wireframe UI kit I built on Figma. The kit was based on Apple CarPlay’s latest update and the application’s interactions were in accordance to the interaction guidelines laid out by Apple.
Wireframing
The wireframes for the mobile application served as a start to the visual designs and using Apple’s UI as a base made for quicker wireframing.
The CarPlay wireframes were all made according to the custom wireframe UI kit I built on Figma. The kit was based on Apple CarPlay’s latest update and the application’s interactions were in accordance to the interaction guidelines laid out by Apple.
Solution
Create a socially distanced drive-through event, using the infotainment system in a car, where people can experience the thrill of dating in the pandemic while meeting new people and have that experience extend beyond the physical meet up.
Solution
Create a socially distanced drive-through event, using the infotainment system in a car, where people can experience the thrill of dating in the pandemic while meeting new people and have that experience extend beyond the physical meet up.
Solution
Create a socially distanced drive-through event, using the infotainment system in a car, where people can experience the thrill of dating in the pandemic while meeting new people and have that experience extend beyond the physical meet up.
Reflection
In this case study I learnt the value of service design and why you should outline the entire process as soon as possible in order to have a solid backbone to work off from. The biggest challenge for me was finding the motivation as to why someone would use this service over another and how I could justify that.
The work around for this was to expand on the motivations and needs of my persona as well as to write a back story to understand her context and justify her actions. Understanding my user group better tested my assumptions and ensured their needs were served through the solution.
Reflection
In this case study I learnt the value of service design and why you should outline the entire process as soon as possible in order to have a solid backbone to work off from. The biggest challenge for me was finding the motivation as to why someone would use this service over another and how I could justify that.
The work around for this was to expand on the motivations and needs of my persona as well as to write a back story to understand her context and justify her actions. Understanding my user group better tested my assumptions and ensured their needs were served through the solution.
Reflection
In this case study I learnt the value of service design and why you should outline the entire process as soon as possible in order to have a solid backbone to work off from. The biggest challenge for me was finding the motivation as to why someone would use this service over another and how I could justify that.
The work around for this was to expand on the motivations and needs of my persona as well as to write a back story to understand her context and justify her actions. Understanding my user group better tested my assumptions and ensured their needs were served through the solution.
Time in Cape Town, ZA
00:00
© 2025 Josh York Mc Donald
Time in Cape Town, ZA
00:00
© 2025 Josh York Mc Donald
Time in Cape Town, ZA
00:00
© 2025 Josh York Mc Donald