LOVEWICK
Date Drop
A feature developed for the Lovewick app to help couples follow through on date ideas they expressed interest in.
OVERVIEW
The Lovewick team noticed people were saving date ideas in the app, but much less often following through with the dates. We wanted to understand how the app could improve the dating lives of people in relationships.
The proposed Date Drop feature of Lovewick aims to help couples follow through on date ideas by offering limited time deals, options and alternatives, planning aids, and opportunities for surprise.
ROLE/SCOPE
I was the lead UX designer working directly with CEO, Ali Maggioncalda in 2022.
Discover
EMPATHIZE
Design a feature that incentivizes couples to go on more dates using techniques based on research
Design a feature that is easy to use and could fit seamlessly with the existing app
OVERARCHING OBJECTIVES
KEY INSIGHTS FROM EARLY RESEARCH
QUALITY DATES ARE CRUCIAL IN MAINTAINING HEALTHY RELATIONSHIPS
1
Couples who engage in meaningful conversations during date night are more likely to have a stronger and more satisfying relationship (Study by UVA)
Couples that had a weekly date night were 3.5 times more likely to report being “very happy” in their relationship than those who had no designated time for connection (2017 survey by the national marriage project)
2
PEOPLE IN RELATIONSHIPS STRUGGLE TO MAINTAIN A SATISFYING DATING LIFE
People feeling stagnant in their relationships often know that engaging in exciting activities with their partner will increase their connection, but they are not necessarily more likely to follow through (2016 article in Journal of Social and Personal Relationships)
“Sometimes it’s hard to make time for each other when our schedules fill up with other responsibilities” - Interviewee M, 23
What Gets in the way of a fun date?
EARLY RESEARCH
QUALITATIVE ONLINE RESEARCH
I conducted preliminary research online, searching social media, chat forums, and reading a variety of articles, looking for qualitative data for why people in partnerships struggle to maintain satisfying dating lives. I noted any popular advice given to people seeking to improve dates in their relationships as well as any trends that emerged.
QUALITATIVE SPRINT INTERVIEWS
We conducted additional preliminary research through interviewing five couples in various life and relationship stages. We created a list of questions to prompt them to talk about how dates work within their relationships and recorded their responses.
Define
REFINE DATA
IDENTIFYING BREAKDOWNS AND OPPORTUNITIES
We then formed general categories that the responses could be sorted into to help us synthesize where the problem is.
CATAGORIES
New Experiences Together
High Quality Dates
Date Define
Addons
Adapting
Time Restrictions
Date Ideation
Having a Plan
Dating not a Priority
Protected Time
PERSONAS
PERSONA 1 - Alana and Kenny
PERSONA 2 - José and Alex
PERSONA 3 - Aiden and Naomi
Alana (27) and her partner Kenny (29) have been dating for six months. Tuesday is their scheduled date night because of the “Taco Tuesday” discount at their favorite local Mexican restaurant, but they are starting to get tired of doing the same thing every week. Neither of them have a lot of money to spend on dates and are having trouble coming up with budget friendly ideas.
José (34) and his partner Alex (35) have been dating for three years. Both work full-time and have noticed that their date nights have become increasingly rare due to the limited time they have outside of work to plan activities. Even when they do have time off, organizing a date is challenging since the planning typically falls on one person. They believe that sharing the responsibility of planning dates would make it easier to enjoy them more frequently.
Aiden (47) and his partner Naomi (44) have been married for twelve years and have children together. Aiden and Naomi both work full time and are busy spending time with their kids after work. They are alway saving date ideas in the Lovewick app that they want to try, but they don’t even have time to think about planning the date much less going on it. Both of them wish they were able to make more dates happen in their relationship.
HMW QUESTIONS
CHALLENGE
The categories above allowed us to form questions that would point us in the direction that would be most applicable to users.
How might we help couples make/prioritize/protect time for connection?
How might we expose couples to new experiences that they can share?
How might we make it more likely that a couple goes on a date that they expressed interest in?
Develop
IDEATE
Ideate on features that would be most useful for users
I started with the concept of a common prompt for a date, given to couples with a set timeframe for completion. These prompts expand on the ideas in the explore tab, providing more specifics and community aspects.
To help couples make, prioritize, and protect time for connection, I wanted to incentivize them to complete the date. Here are some ideas I came up with:
Option to invite friends
Pictures of how other couples completed the date
Shared timeline of couples completing the date
Discount for completing the date, forfeited if the date isn't completed within the timeframe
This presented a great opportunity to collaborate with other companies to sponsor dates, potentially offering couples discounts, prizes, or coupons. I began sketching how this idea could be integrated into the current user interface and what features it might include.
My initial sketches included a carousel on the home page featuring date cards and a time bar indicating how much time is left to complete the date.
Clicking on a date reveals detailed information and a section showcasing pictures of how other couples completed the date.
My next sketches expanded on this idea, providing an overview and detailing what is needed to complete the date. I focused on a social incentive by adding an option to invite friends, and introduced a “one-click shop” to purchase any date essentials.
Adding a “one-click shop” feature raised the question of choice: do couples prefer more or less choice when planning their dates?
I expanded on the idea of choice with my next set of sketches, adding expandable sections that offer three different versions of the date, depending on how much time the couple has to pull it off.
This sketch retains the main overview, time bar, and the option to invite friends, while also encouraging couples to complete the date by offering the chance to win a giveaway if they post about it on social media.
In the next set of sketches, I built upon the date cards on the Lovewick homepage, marking the beginning of my ideation for assisting couples with date planning. This design introduced a checklist feature with the option to export it to notes.
To align dates with couples' interests, I experimented with curating date ideas based on their tastes, preferences, and life events. For example, one sketch featured a surprise birthday date idea appearing only on one partner's app. Another concept explored surprising a partner with a previously saved date idea. This raised the question of how much surprise people desire in their dates.
Additionally, these sketches included options to save dates for later, see how many others are viewing the date, and maintained the feature to purchase materials needed for the date.
In my final set of sketches during the conception phase I combined the strongest ideas from previous designs. I maintained the option for choice by offering two versions of each date to suit different circumstances and kept the checklist feature for date planning. The design includes a time bar to track the remaining time to complete the date and an option to purchase necessary materials, with potential discounts and sponsorships.
I recognized the need to prioritize and address the assumptions and questions raised during the conceptualization stage, and aimed to test these with a broader audience.
FURTHER RESEARCH
TESTING QUESTIONS/ASSUMPTIONS
I took high priority questions or assumptions brought up during the feature ideation stage and formatted them into questions for an anonymous survey held by Survey Monkey. I then analyzed the results.
Do people in relationships want an easy way to split date planning and preparation?
Are people interested in both customized and general “challenges” or date ideas?
Does a short video of another couple completing the date make it feel more attainable compared to just pictures?
Are couples interested in surprising each other with dates?
HIGH PRIORITY QUESTIONS
Do coupons or cashback incentives encourage people to complete their dates?
Does seeing other people complete a date provide additional motivation?
Does having a time limit increase motivation?
Do people want to experience more dates in their relationships?
Which best describes your current relationship status?
Married
Engaged
In a committed relationship
Single
Who makes dates happen in your relationship? (Ranked on a sliding scale)
Me
Both of us equally
My partner
In an ideal world, who would make dates happen in your relationship?
We would divide the planning of each date equally
We would alternate planning dates without each other’s help
My partner would plan most of the dates
I would plan most of the dates
To what extent do you agree with the following statements:
I am satisfied with the number of dates that happen in my relationship
I am satisfied with the thought and/or creativity my partner puts into dates
Would the ability to divide a dates preparation make you more likely to go on dates (e.g., assign certain aspects to you and other aspects to them, etc.)? Why?
(Open ended)
SURVEY QUESTIONS
Rank from 1 (biggest barrier) to 5 (smallest barrier) the most common barriers for going on a date:
Dates are too expensive
We don’t have the time to plan a date
We don’t have time to go on a date
We don’t have the energy to put in the effort required
We can’t come up with good date ideas
What would make you most likely to actually complete a date you and your partner are interested in?
Seeing several photos of friends completing the date
Seeing several photos of random couples completing the date
Watching one short video of a celebrity or influencer completing the date
Watching one short video of a random couple completing the date
Getting a time-sensitive discount
Do you like when your partner surprises you with a date or do you prefer to be in the know?
I like when a date is completely unexpected, both timing and details
I like to know when we have something planned but want to be surprised with the details
I like to know what we are going to do and when, but small surprise elements can be fun
I like to know what we are going to do and when, no surprises
SURVEY RESULTS
I organized the response data into a sheet.
SURVEY SUMMARY HIGHLIGHTS
People generally feel that date planning is mostly equal in their relationship, though it is slightly skewed toward themselves.
43% of people would like to split the planning of dates evenly.
33% of people would like to alternate planning dates.
Most people appreciate surprises to some extent. However, 13% of individuals do not enjoy being surprised on a date.
The two largest barriers to going on a date are “We don’t have time to go on a date” (32%) and “Dates are too expensive” (26%).
46% of people are most incentivized by getting a time-sensitive discount (~30 points more than the next highest option).
41% of people think that the ability to divide a date's preparation with their partner would make them more likely to go on dates
31% of people do not think that the ability to divide a date's preparation with their partner would make them more likely to go on date.
55% of people are satisfied with the amount of dates that happen in their relationship.
64% are satisfied with the thought and creativity put into dates.
People want to go on more dates where they split the planning, featuring small surprises and time incentivized discounts.
Deliver
REFINE CONCEPT
PAGE FLOW
I identified the need for three main screens and two pop-ups, accessible from each screen.
Lovewick Home Screen
This is the established landing page users see upon opening the app.
From here, users can access the Date Drop Home Screen, Save Idea pop-up, and Plan Date pop-up via an embedded thumbnail.
Date Drop Home Screen
This screen provides all the necessary information to execute the recommended version of a date.
It also offers access to the Save Idea and Plan Date pop-ups.
Alternative Screen
This Screen contains all the details needed for the alternative version of the date.
Users can access the Save Idea and Plan Date pop-ups from here as well.
Save Idea Pop Up
This is an already established feature, but would add the option to hide the date idea from your partners page.
This feature can be accessed from all the main screens.
Plan Date Pop Up
This pop-up is used to plan the date, including details such as time, location, and other specifics.
This feature can be accessed from all the main screens.
PROTOTYPE
SCREEN DESIGN SKETCHES
I used Figma to turn my low-fidelity sketches into a high-fidelity prototype. The company developer was inspired by the project and designed a basic template for the home page's "thumbnail" which I integrated into the existing home page. I then developed new screens and pop-ups for the Date Drop feature, creating an example Date Drop event to refine the text and showcase the feature's various elements.
Using Figma’s prototype tool, I created a final interactive prototype to demonstrate how this feature will function within the app.
PROTOTYPING IN FIGMA
DELIVERABLE
Final high-fidelity Figma prototype
I created an example event to showcase the various features of Date Drop. The event, a picnic with take-out, suggests grabbing take-out (ideally using our discount with a hypothetical partner like UberEats) and taking your partner on a picnic date. An alternative option is to set up a quick picnic in your living room or bedroom using leftovers or take-out delivery. This alternative caters to those who may not have access to outdoor spaces, lack childcare options, or are short on time or energy.
The screen includes a pop-up recommending a small surprise, such as bringing a bottle of wine or picking up their favorite dessert. This pop-up will not appear on the partner’s screen.
The items listed under the “What You’ll Need” and “How to Make It Happen” sections are automatically populated in the Date Planner pop-up, where users can check them off, add new items, or delete items from the list.
SCREENS
Lovewick Home Screen
Alternative Screen
POP UPS
Date Planner
Date Drop Home Screen
Save Idea
