G7: Digital Prototype
Problem Recap
Currently, dating apps rely heavily on individual profiles with little to no friend networks involved. Users see profiles of other users and, if they like what they see, express interest in connecting. However, this does not simulate how people date offline, as it excludes the role of friends. Moreover, the current online dating model perpetuates safety concerns and questions about transparency – some users may be catfishing or hiding important information from their profile. Friends can play an integral role in the formation of relationships, from basic information to heartfelt gift ideas. We want to bring these connections onto the online dating space. For the scope of this project, our target audience is UW students who are interested in dating or interested in supporting their friends’ dating endeavors.
About Our Final Prototype
Our final prototype is an interactive website that includes our main functionalities and core pages. There is a browsing mode for users interested in dating and a dobbie mode that is for writing dobbies on friends’ profiles. What differentiates Dobbie from other dating platforms is the two user modes, given the key functionality of being able to “dobbie” friends on the platform. All users will have access to both modes, but can switch back and forth depending on their preferences. The “Dobbie” mode enables users to leave dobbies for their friends, which can then be chosen to be displayed for view in browsing mode by the friend. The “Browsing” mode allows users to find potential matches by “liking” profiles and messaging them in a chat.
Implementations from Testing
Technical issues that came up during the implementation phase primarily surrounded reading and writing into the database where users can “dobbie” other users, and where user dobbies are displayed. For our database, we used an Azure Cosmos DB by using a Python Flask API deployed as an Azure Web App. We then make GET and POST requests with the Javascript “fetch” function. One issue we ran into was that there was a CORS issue that arose when we tried to call the API. We fixed this issue by changing CORS permissions on Azure. We have now successfully connected the user dobbie data to the database, with the written dobbies will be added to the database and dobbies being displayed reading from the database, as opposed to being hardcoded. However, currently the 7 most recent dobbies are being displayed, where we’d want to refine the interface to allow the user to choose the dobbies being displayed. After receiving feedback from user testing, we also made adjustments to a couple interface designs, primarily regarding the flow and organization of the navigation bar. Users are now only able to access the Dobbie functionality in Dobbie mode and are unable to do so when in Browsing mode. If a user that is primarily in Browsing mode chooses to add a dobbie to a friend’s profile, they can switch to Dobbie mode and vice versa. This helps to clarify the differences between the two modes and allow for a smoother and more clear user interface.
Prototype:
Sign Up/Sign In Page:
Dobbie Mode Menu Bar:
Browsing Mode Menu Bar:
Browsing Mode: a potential match’s profile – dobbies from their friend displayed on the right hand side, while profile information is viewed on the left.
Dobbie Mode: view friend’s profile on the left hand side, and can submit a dobbie for the friend on the right hand side.
User Profile: profile information displayed on the left hand side, selected dobbies and friends displayed on the right.
