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Flame Dating Mobile Application by Artur Konariev |
Home > Winners > Design #100560 >Interview |
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FS: What is the main principle, idea and inspiration behind your design?
AK: Tinder is too popular, it becomes a monopolist. Healthy competition is always good. Interests are the most necessary way to start communication. One of the most common interests is music. Indeed, if you have similar musical tastes with a person, then you understand that a person adheres to the same views and ideas as you. Listening to the same music, we plunge into the atmosphere, feel the emotions and experience the same thing. What if you stop hiding your playlist from everyone, but rather share it? Sounds like the newest feature to find. This is what we tried to do.
FS: What has been your main focus in designing this work? Especially what did you want to achieve?
AK: Flame is a dating app designed for young people and millennials. Creating it, Wadoo. team aimed at making the app engaging for the users. Thus, Wadoo. experts came up with a simple yet appealing function of making pairs according to musical preferences. This feature provides users with a wider range of opportunities to interact with the application. Of course, the goal function remains meeting new people. However, to make this process engaging, a user can select a pair based on musical preferences. Thus, the users can start communicating about interests and tastes thy share in the messenger and move on to a real date.
FS: What are your future plans for this award winning design?
AK: Hopefully, this application will steadily gain popularity in the future. Who knows, maybe in some time it will need some more screens, functions and integrations. My team will be happy to make improvements. Besides, we hope that our application will inspire new ideas and projects in the future. This app has a universal application. The users can continue to use it during quarantine when a pandemic is raging because it has functionality with which it is interesting to interact, it is safe and interesting. Now we are looking for investors who are interested in launching a promising product.
FS: How long did it take you to design this particular concept?
AK: The project began in December 2019. We finished the discovery stage, created product requirements documents and developed the app map and user flow so that we had basic information for our work. It took us 3 weeks. After which we proceeded to the next step in creating low-fidelity wireframes. When we got the rough structure of the application, we went on to develop high-fidelity prototypes and created the UI Design and Design System for component interaction on their basis.
FS: Why did you design this particular concept? Was this design commissioned or did you decide to pursuit an inspiration?
AK: Wadoo. team followed its inspiration and aimed at making the app engaging for the users. Therefore, we wanted to add something particularly appealing. Thus, Wadoo. experts came up with a simple function of matching pairs according to musical tastes. This feature provides users with a wider range of opportunities to interact with the application. Of course, the main function remains meeting new people. However, to make this process fun, a user can select a perfect match based on common musical preferences. Thus, the users can start communicating about common interests and tastes in the messenger and move on to a real date.
FS: Is your design being produced or used by another company, or do you plan to sell or lease the production rights or do you intent to produce your work yourself?
AK: We conducted a detailed analysis of competitors, market, opportunities, risks and growth prospects for this product. We decided to start with a small Start-Up to develop this idea, and when we noticed that our application is gaining popularity, many became interested in it, and received awards. We are currently negotiating with investors who are ready to invest in launching a pilot version on the local market. I am open to new proposals, I want to further develop this application and fulfil a leadership role in its development.
FS: What made you design this particular type of work?
AK: You never know when inspiration will strike. Moreover, you never know why you get this or that particular idea. It just gets on your mind and you start thinking about it until it is ready to turn into a concept.
FS: Where there any other designs and/or designers that helped the influence the design of your work?
AK: Tinder, Bumble and CMB but we wanted to make something new and fresh and even more relevant. The problem with most applications is that they are created only for pair matching. This is a bit boring for users to interact with the application only on this principle. We need interactive, game elements that will help to captivate users.
FS: Who is the target customer for his design?
AK: Our user is a lonely person who would like to meet to have a good time. Users will interact with our product throughout the day, but more in the evening, in their free time after studying or working. From the total mass of our users, we distinguished two categories of users: men and women. Having analysed the portraits of our target users we draw the following conclusions: both personas have the same aim: make new acquaintances; we should not omit the opportunity for the acquaintances between the representatives of the same sex; it is important to provide the user with an opportunity to notice the similarities and commonalities in preferences with other people to reinforce the interest; Common interests is the most obvious reason to start communication. One of the most widespread interest in common is music.
FS: What sets this design apart from other similar or resembling concepts?
AK: We developed a dating application that helps to bring people around the world closer. In terms of functionality and information content. Similar musical tastes became a foundation for the app. Listening to the same music, we plunge into the atmosphere, feel the emotions and experience the same thing. What if you stop hiding your playlist from everyone, but rather share it? Sounds like the newest feature to find. This is what we tried to do.
FS: How did you come up with the name for this design? What does it mean?
AK: Flame - means “fire, ardor, passion, the object of love, bright light”. For the theme of our application, this word fits perfectly well. We reinforce the icon with the association.
FS: Which design tools did you use when you were working on this project?
AK: We use Mindmeister, Sketch and InVision - the main tools in our work. They cover 80%: the remaining 20% is Google Analytics, Usertesting.com, using them we check the correctness and performance of our theories, ideas, concepts. Wrike management tool for work and planning. Research and finding solutions to new problems play a big role in this, Dribbble, Behance, Pinterest help me with this. We have been studying competitors for a long time, how they work, trying to understand the pain of their users and the success, why they are followed. We understood a few insiders that we implemented in this application.
FS: What is the most unique aspect of your design?
AK: Wadoo. team followed its inspiration and aimed at making the app engaging for the users. Therefore, we wanted to add something particularly appealing. We designed a product that can solve particular needs. We developed a dating application that helps to bring people around the world closer. In terms of functionality and information content.
FS: Who did you collaborate with for this design? Did you work with people with technical / specialized skills?
AK: At the moment, we have developed a design only for the iOS platform and plans to do it for Android. Since we are developing a native app, we can take full advantage of the hardware system. Connect to Spotify, Apple Music, Google Play Music. We also plan to use the gyroscope and accelerometer in the application. For example, shake and see who is nearby.
FS: What is the role of technology in this particular design?
AK: The role of technologies is enormous. Modern design tools has made the design process much easier and faster. In addition, the proper functioning of the design application is impossible without the application of the corresponding tools and technologies. Thus, technologies lie in the heart of application functioning.
FS: Is your design influenced by data or analytical research in any way? What kind of research did you conduct for making this design?
AK: We used the features identified by the competitors' analysis, namely ease of use, viewing speed, swipe and micro-interaction with the user. We conducted market research and identified the factors for a successful product launch. Created a mind-map and developed the structure and prototypes of the application to make a quality app using human-centered design. We also had the opportunity to conduct local Interviews, Surveys, with users who already use dating applications. We also conducted small contextual inquiries and made Usability Testing concepts and prototypes using services like Usertesting.com.
FS: What are some of the challenges you faced during the design/realization of your concept?
AK: An important factor that users turn to is an idea. If the idea is new, interesting and there are no analogues - this is already half the success. But of course the main challenge was to assure that the app works, it is functional, it brings profit, and it is not just beautiful. We used good practices of the user interface to create a design that is universal and that users will like.
FS: How did you decide to submit your design to an international design competition?
AK: We did our best make this application functional and visually appealing. We were so passionate about it. As a result we are fully satisfied with our work. Thus, we decided to share our success. The recognition of our work at the level of international design competition should become a positive affirmation and a motivation for the team.
FS: What did you learn or how did you improve yourself during the designing of this work?
AK: A key idea, in this case is “never stop”. Never stop learning, experimenting, innovating and trying.
FS: Any other things you would like to cover that have not been covered in these questions?
AK: A Flame is a dating app designed for young people and millennials. In the application, you can find everything related to the dating service and the selection of couples for musical tastes, from choosing a playlist to swipes and correspondence in the messenger. We have done a lot of work, this is a significant part of the development, and we are looking for your support to implement this product. If you are interested, please contact us.
FS: Thank you for providing us with this opportunity to interview you.
A' Design Award and Competitions grants rights to press members and bloggers to use parts of this interview. This interview is provided as it is; DesignPRWire and A' Design Award and Competitions cannot be held responsible for the answers given by participating designers.
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