G3: Low-Fidelity Prototype
Description
We’ve created a prototype of our application, with there being two main components – profile creation and friend dobbies. The prototypes also show the general layout of the components on the dating platform. This is intended to be a desktop view, so there is more horizontal surface area. For the current low-fidelity prototype, the wizardry comes from the development of profiles, which is currently completely manual, and the display of the “dobbies”, where the interface for the friend writing the “dobbies” would be different than that of the prototype. For this prototype, the “dobbies” are being represented by comments inserted on Google Slides. We created fake profiles and “dobbies” to simulate the way they would appear on the real app.
Drawing and Screenshot of the prototype:
Browsing mode
Suggested list of profiles
Browsing another profile
Browsing the profile owner’s list of friend
Dobbie mode
Test Findings
Going into the wizard of oz session, we wanted to learn more about the user’s view on supporting friends’ profiles as well as how they would like to support their friends. This could have ranged anywhere from how the dobbies were displayed to the anonymity (or lack thereof) of friends. Were the dobbie prompts clear enough? Would they feel silly while answering the prompts, or would they take the opportunity to let their friend’s personality shine? We also wanted to know whether users would get anything meaningful from the “dobbies” as they look at profiles, as we wanted to make sure that we were adding something that would be useful.
During the session, we gained a better understanding of the nuance that would go into commenting on friends’ profiles. While the session participants enjoyed learning more about users’ personalities through friend “dobbies,’’ some felt hesitant about contributing dobbies themselves. There was a common concern that a dobbie may not reflect what the user wants to present to prospective matches, citing a need for more control over self-presentation. Some solutions we considered was an “approval” system where the person has to approve each dobbie and limit or rotate the dobbies that are displayed. This is something that will continue revising and enhancing as we move forward, because usability and safety are high priorities.
Overall, we found that users were excited to learn more about potential matches on the dating platform and that they appreciated the authenticity and transparency that the dobbie feature provided. Although there is some more refining to do on how dobbies will be verified and displayed, we feel like there is a great opportunity here to innovate the online dating experience. The friend network and dobbie features added a layer of security for the users, who mentioned that they would trust a profile more if they saw a mutual friends’ comment. This is something that is not available in other dating apps on the market, and was a main concern for our user research participants. As we move forward, we will keep this in mind and continue to revise our functionality to create a safe social environment.