HI, I’M JOANNI 👋️



I’m a product designer based in Vancouver, B.C. I specialize in
UX research and interaction design.

When I’m not pushing pixels, you can find me throwing clay on wheels, listening to Red Velvet, or petting Chico 🐶




RESUME
 EMAIL

TINDER’S GHOSTBUSTERS




5 MINUTE READ



CONTRIBUTION
UX Research
UX Design
UI Design 
Project Management

LENGTH
 3 weeks

YEAR
 August 2022

CONTEXT 
academic project

TEAMMATE
Kiara Bendana




ABOUT GHOSTBUSTERS

Ghostbusters was born out of a three-week feature design project. It aims to re-align Tinder with its mission statement—"keeping the magic of human connections alive"—by discouraging users from ghosting other users on the app through added interactions and experiences. For this project, I spearheaded the UX research, led the strategy process for developing Ghostbusters as a key feature, and assisted with the UI design.

JUMP TO SOLUTION



CONTEXT

Time and time again, online dating proves itself to be the new norm in modern dating. But with headlines like The dating apps dilemma, The Evil Behind Dating Apps, Online Dating Apps Are Actually Kind of a Disaster proliferating through Medium and the op-ed sections of publications, it’s not a stretch to say that for most people,  online dating is a case yet to be solved.




RESEARCH & FINDINGS
I began the project by asking ten people to understand how people use Tinder, why, and how they feel about it. To supplement the interviews, I also read several op-eds and psychology articles regarding online dating and Tinder to get a broader scope of how Tinder is situated in people's lives. 


FINDINGS

  1. Interviewees joined Tinder to meet someone who could potentially be a friend, a hook-up, or a romantic partner.
  2. The ease of interactions made the app experience feel like a game to the users, who swiped on the app passively and idly rather than thinking of each swipe as an opportunity to connect with another person. 
  3. Because of the low stakes and lack of accountability, users were more likely to act in ways they wouldn't in person and treat each other badly (e.g., ghosting, catfishing) on the app.



ON DEHUMANIZATION

To put it simply, Tinder users struggle to form human connections because they dehumanize fellow users and are dehumanized by others.

To define humanization concretely, I used the framework for dehumanization developed by Nick Haslam (2006), a social psychology expert. Haslam declares that dehumanization occurs when people are denied qualities of humanness: uniquely human (UH) and human nature (HN) characteristics. For this project, I will focus on human nature characteristics as they are more relevant to the social dynamics of Tinder users.




The diagram above shows aspects of human nature and their corresponding forms of dehumanization. I used this diagram to help me analyze Tinder’s design to determine which features enable dehumanizing actions.


INITIAL DESIGN PROBLEM




INITIAL EXPLORATIONS


TINDER’S DEHUMANIZING AFFORDANCES

Based on my findings, I drafted three design problems that address Tinder's dehumanizing affordances and designed UX solutions for each.

ANONIMITY gives way to the online disinhibition effect (Suler, 2004), which enables users to act in offensive ways that they otherwise would not in real life. Although Tinder has a verification system, users don't need to verify their profiles to use the app.
LARGE QUANTITY OF PROFILES leads to user objectification, commodification, and disposability.
 LACK OF ACCOUNTABILITY perpetuates bad online behaviour. While users can report to Tinder, the fundamental design of dating apps normalizes dehumanizing behaviour.

After receiving feedback on our ideas, my teammate and I moved forward with the third design problem and Ghostbusters for its unique and robust experience design.


REFRAMED DESIGN PROBLEM




PROTOTYPING

RESEARCH & FINDINGS PT. 2

I conducted secondary user interviews to design for our new design problem effectively. This time, I focused on users' experiences with ghosting on Tinder and online dating. Once again, I supplemented the interviews by reading op-eds and psychology articles about ghosting.

  1. The primary reason for ghosting on Tinder is disinterest towards the other party based on their text-based interactions
  2. Interviewees preferred ghosting to unmatch because it allowed them to avoid confrontation (and kept the door open for future reconnection. 
  3. Though interviewees showed remorse (" felt bad") for ghosting, they believe that there are situations in which ghosting is okay (i.e., harassment).
  4. In almost all cases, users admitted that they would have preferred a more direct form of rejection (i.e., "would rather he had been like "I don't like you" than no explanation") to ghosting. 
  5. Users report extended periods of heartbreak and low self-esteem after getting ghosted (i.e., having thoughts like "Oh, am I not that good enough")

With all the new research and findings at hand, my teammate and I iterated on our wireframes to further ensure that the design meets our users’ needs.






THE SOLUTION

Ghosting is a convenient way for users to dissolve relationships without expressing disinterest directly, which is encouraged by Tinder's lack of user accountability despite its hurtful emotional toll on some users. In a nutshell, Ghostbusters aims to combat dehumanization caused by the lack of accountability on Tinder by discouraging and preventing ghosting. With Ghostbusters, users receive assistance composing messages to communicate their intentions more openly. At the same time, ghosters face penalties through a decreased user rating. This system provides closure for ghostees and holds ghosters accountable for their actions.




CHAT EXPIRY & USER RATING

Chats will be automatically archived after seven days from the last message sent, and the countdown restarts with each new message.

The user rating appears on profiles and acts as a form of social accountability. The user rating is determined algorithmically according to users' ghosting behaviour. Frequent ghosting will lead to lower user ratings.





ARCHIVING THE CHATS

Users can archive chats. Rather than unmatching, users can archive messages they no longer want to reply to. Archived messages present the opportunity to reconnect with matches in the future, which mimics offline relationships.




ASKING FOR AN EXPLANATION

Users can ask why their match is requesting to close the chat. When user A requests an explanation, user B has three days to respond. Failure to provide an explanation after the countdown will be considered as ghosting.  





EXPLANATION PROCESS

Users can utilize suggested prompts to compose their responses. Most users resort to ghosting because it can be challenging to express intents and feelings. I designed this feature while borrowing inspiration from Tinder's onboarding process, which is notable for its simplicity and efficiency. Composing a breakup message might be easier if we break the process into parts and provide prompts for users. The message format is informed by multiple articles that provide valuable insights into creating an effective breakup message.




EXPLANATION PROCESS+

Users can utilize suggested phrases to compose responses to simplify the process further. Some users ghost, not out of ill intention, but because they find it difficult to articulate their thoughts and feelings. The suggested text messages are from articles that provide suggestions for what makes a good breakup message.
© MADE WITH DEXY