Fjord at the docks challenged us to look at our own data footprint online and how we as young designers can help people understand the data economy and more precisely peoples relationships with their own data. the concept produced was to raise awareness on how personal this data can be and the potential that companies have of making use of this for themselves. how can our data be used in encouraging ways or a more self reflective manner in our every day lives.
myself and my partner were particularly interested in online dating sites as so much personal and sensitive content is kept within these apps. location, gender preference, ideal partner age and hobbies and some of the many data tabs kept on profiles. We were also particularly interested in how data matches people in the algorithms and why might someone be matched to another. the popularity of these sites is growing each day, during the height of covid tinder received a surge of online dating with up to 3 billion swipes in one day.
Looking into data that tinder might collect about you and how Tinders algorithm works by using a primary example of friends I had that met through the app. Then comparing this to matches people had made outside of the app in normal social settings.
Main Points we had gathered about our data in online dating. How might we direct the project based on our findings.
Me and my colleague were particularly interested in what turned people on / off dating. We divided our survey into Red Flags, Yellow Flags and Green Flags. Over 30 people completed a survey to tell us what they though
From these survey results we decided to design a tinder premium which could be bought as a add on to the existing app. the idea was to create a 'buddy like' character called ODA (online dating assistant) to track and analyse your data and your matches data to determine whether you are a good match.
Oda would track text conversation between matches using text analytics. she would then give suggested actions to texts she found as red flags. it gives the user a sense of reassurance that they haven't disregarded any potential bad signals from their match.
A quick questionnaire at the start of the premium would give ODA a better understanding of what you personally find as Green flags, yellow flags and red flags. She would also notify you of a potentially good match with a green flag.
EXAMPLE OF IN APP CONVERSATION WITH ODA NOtification
Full Video of how the app works can be watched below
Video Link
https://youtu.be/DrhvLX6xDCk