Midterm Slides:

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/10ctTznt5J6d_N1JfdJStJ07SuuJnm6ZpPMcXNONlgXo/edit#slide=id.p

SAT Slides:

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1OaPHqdKaRQZIE6xhVCAzoDPhm6ZcXU04eCwxiavL6Xs/edit#slide=id.p

I tried to take the suggestions I got after the midterm and apply it to coming up with my Show A Thing presentation so I created two different user journeys, one app based one website based.

To describe each journey simply-

App: A user signs up, fills outs basic information (age, gender, seeking age/gender/distance), then fills out a questionnaire, and the matching process works by looking through people whose filters match what they’re seeking and has to read the bios before ever seeing a photo. If both people like their bios, then they match and can see their photos.

Website: Sign up and info steps are the same, there is a questionnaire (slightly different), then they are provided with results of activities they they may sign up for based on how they filled out their questionnaire, it would show different events for group meets where an even number of (for  heterosexual daters) men and women for the event so there is enough of each. The user may sign up then get confirmation and reminder texts/emails.

Feedback:

I got a ton of feedback and questions from Dana, Marina, and Jim. I have a lot to consider and think about as I move forward from what they gave me, but there were a few main takeaways. I asked about what I felt were the main challenges in both. For the app it would be getting people to move beyond conversation and actually meet in person which doesn’t always happen when conversations dry out. For the website it is how to get people to actually show up for something they RSVPed. One thing that Dana suggested is for the app, to possibly remove the ability to freely message altogether. To have specific messages prewritten or limit characters or something so that it would schedule a time/place to meet. I thought and still think this is an interesting idea and something to consider however, when I brought this up to Marina she thought it might be a safety issue, some people want to get to know or be comfortable by messaging before meeting up with someone. For the website Marina suggested to put in some sort of consequence for missing out, this would require some way of proving that the user showed up and if not they could either be fined or suspended from the site for a week etc. Jim brought up that picking the right kind of penalty for your audience is important because different things will deter different audiences, some won’t work at all, some will work perfectly, and others will be too harsh that they may want to quit the site.

I got a lot of great suggestions for both directions and how to go about either of them, in terms of how to design the bio for the app or the overall steps of the website (would there be leaders? how else to confirm arrival?). Additionally, they all suggested making the audience even more narrow for the sake of the project, rather than for example all people within the age group of 21-31, to have it be only a 3-4 year gap in a specific (most likely familiar to me) area so it’s easier to do research.

All three of them seem to like the website idea best, but I also spoke with friends, some like the app some like the website. I think I like both ideas equally and can find pros and cons for both, so this is definitely something I want to address so I can move forward with diving deeper into research, interviews, and user testing. Part of choosing which one to go with may also relate to location and audience, because I would need to consider that different places and people would probably be more inclined to prefer one over the other. For example someone in college or younger may not have access to a car to conveniently take them to a meet up, so I’d probably go with an older demographic. And it would need to be in a city where there are plenty of activities to do. Whereas an app seems like it could have been a broader audience.

What do you need to change or develop to encourage your ideal interaction?

Definitely looking to decide on the final format and direction, hopefully by the end of the 1:1, I think I could work with either one I just think it would be helpful to talk out what can come of each of them.

What additional research would help advance your project?

If I go with the app, I would need to do more research on figuring out questions that can actually make a difference. One resource that was recommended a few times including during feedback was OkCupid and how they have blogs with information about dating statistics including questions that reveal compatibility, so looking into things like that and interviewing people can help create more meaningful questions to put in a bio. If I went with the app, I would need to figure out the consequence system of not showing up and the types of questions users would fill out, also through more research. I would also need to familiarize myself with existing platforms.

Do you need to update your production timeline?

Yes I do. While I am doing ongoing research and discussions with people I know, I need to have a final form set so that I can prototype and conduct more formal interviews and user tests.

What user testing do you have to do?

I want to interview people first, then create a prototype based off of what I get. Once I have that set I want to send them to people I’ve interviewed, and possibly some I haven’t and a list of different questions. This is probably the second big area I want to go over during 1:1 which is what is the best way to user test something like this. I’ve heard that giving someone your prototype and watching them interact with it can be a great way, but what if it doesn’t always work like that and needs to be done on their own time? If I send it to someone and say use this and then fill out this form, how do we choose the best questions to gain useful feedback? I know it’s not enough to just ask “Do you like it” but I need to think about specific questions that will get actual useful critique.