Case Study

Testing and iteration are always part of the process early on, but for this engagement we needed to account for a system that could be scalable as it grew. The team at Den Social had a robust roadmap, integrating complex user profile matching to support students in a variety of verticals, including social events, dating, and roommate finding. We knew we needed a solution that could be both sticky yet flexible, so we wanted to provide multiple options for the client to test and validate to set up the foundation to be as strong as possible.

This initial design testing phase included:

1. In-app navigation and information architecture
2. Search functions and user group definition
3. Dashboard experiences and breakout experiences

We started off by whiteboarding these flows and quickly transitioned to a higher fidelity after getting client buy-in. The client was then able to take these high fidelity design prototypes to test with real users - the students - to produce a clear path forward for the app, both in the near-term and in the longer product strategy.

Finding roommates is one of the most important parts of a new college student’s life - it affects their entire school year and sets a precedent for creating friend groups in a new environment. We designed a platform that enabled students to find their perfect roommate quickly and reliably, using specific lifestyle indicators as a baseline for roommate matching.

Through robust research and user testing, we came up with a set of critical filters to organize the potential roommates into. Through a fun and engaging onboarding process, each user’s personality indicators trickle down into filterable tags that mean the most when figuring out who will - and won’t - work.

Developing a style is always fun, but being able to do it for a Gen Z audience that truly holds a high standard for technological experiences makes it a challenge as well. This required us to build a system that puts the spotlight on what matters while also standing out from the crowd. This was achieved through pairing grotesk and monospace typography, employing bright and accessible colors, and integrating the use of emojis throughout the experience.

With Den, we had the exciting opportunity to work with a team of innovative entrepreneurs in building a cutting edge consumer focused mobile app. We opted to go with a React Native Javascript application to give Den a versatile go-to-market strategy while still providing a premier mobile experience. Some key parts of the mobile experience revolved around optimizing for an image heavy user experience, real time chat and multi tenants. On the backend, one of the key components was a robust API to help capture user meta data for our connection making matching engine.