Zoosk’s 2nd UX Design Challenge with Indiana University
Design challenge winners, Moosk.
For the second year in a row Zoosk partnered with the Human Computer Interaction Design program at Indiana University to give a design challenge to their master’s students. The students had four and a half days to work with the prompt we gave them and produce a deliverable. Once again we were impressed with the quality of work and wanted to share the winner’s ideas.
The Challenge – Create a Way to Support Relationships Beyond Online Dating
We presented a very open ended challenge to the students this year. The teams were asked to come up with a design that benefits members’ romantic journey outside of the time when they are actively using online dating. This could mean creating an experience for single people who aren’t actively dating yet, singles who are actively dating but not online, or people in a relationship.
Teams were required to submit a wireframe for their design concept. Any additional items that helped communicate the design were also accepted.
The Winners
1st Place Winner – Moosk
Jeffrey Gadzala, Anusha Radhakrishnan, and Julia Rickles
This team was a winner due to their simple, clean design that built upon Zoosk’s behavioral Matchmaking™ technology. The design was communicated well through a narrated video and interactive wireframes. They clearly positioned their design within the full experience of dating, which reflected how focused it was.
The concept this team presented was a simple game that couples could play to generate ideas for things to do on dates. Both people in the couple participated and gave input on what types of dates they would enjoy. Another interesting aspect was the ability to give quick suggestions on the fly to extend a date that was going well.
Runner-up – Alfred
Denique Ferguson, Pui Mo, and Clark Mullen
Alfred is an alert and dating tip concept that seamlessly integrates on the home screen of your phone. It was designed to inobtrusively give daters tips during a date. It also would integrate with other apps to help with planning before a date, and follow up after the date.
We thought Alfred was also a winning submission due to it’s ability to integrate into a date without taking focus away from the date itself. The subtle reminders provided support before, during, or after a date. Their use of example apps as comparisons helped us clearly understand how their concept would work.
Overall, it was another great project with a lot of well thought-out creative ideas.
Great job and a big thank you to all of the teams who participated!
Learn More About the Designers
Check out the portfolios of the winners and see their projects for the Zoosk challenge.
Moosk
Juila Rickles – http://www.juliarickles.com/
Jeffrey Gadzala – http://www.jeffreygadzala.com/
Anusha Radhakrishnan – http://ace-anusha.com/#home.html
Alfred
Denique Ferguson – http://www.denferguson.com/
Pui Mo – http://www.puimo.com/
Clark Mullen – http://www.clarkmullen.com/
