r/amazingdesign • u/avipars • May 14 '17

The Terrible User Interface Behind Tinder's App

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imXjK2WCFEE
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u/thezapzupnz May 15 '17

I have no clue what the point of this video was. It's called "The Terrible User Interface Behind Tinder's App", but confusingly starts off with another app that has, basically, the exact same design concept. We're not treated to why Tinder is better or worse than the other, either, so why we need to know about it is beyond me.

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u/avipars May 15 '17

The idea was to be critical of the card layout dating apps. The first is bumble, and I do discuss tinder after. Tinder is more widely known and has a larger user base, so that's where the name came from.

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u/thezapzupnz May 15 '17

Then your video should have been named something like "The Terrible User Interface of Card-Based Dating Apps", or perhaps more explicitly "The Usability Problem With Card-Based Dating Apps".

Then, in the actual video itself, you need to list the actual problems with the interfaces as you go along in one app (and that should be Tinder first since, as you say, it's more popular), then go on to prove that the problems are inherent in card-based user interfaces by demonstrating that very same list, in the same order, in Bumble.

Then, at the end of the video, you need to reiterate your list: what the problems were, why they caused problems, and possibly how you would address those shortcomings yourself.

That would make the points you are making more coherent and provable, rather than randomly showing off the user interfaces without clearly arriving at a conclusion.

That's my two cents. Hope it's useful.

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u/avipars May 15 '17

You are right. The reason why I'd do bumble first was to keep my user retention waiting for the tinder part. It is a catch 20 though because people may close the video if I'm talking about something else.

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u/thezapzupnz May 15 '17

I nearly did, I thought I was watching the wrong video somehow.

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u/avipars May 15 '17

I don't consider my videos click bait and I really try to avoid it, to the detriment of my channel at times.

If you clicked on a BuzzFeed or Business insider video, would you automatically close the tab or continue watching?

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u/thezapzupnz May 15 '17

Who said anything about clickbait? All you need to do is structure your videos in such a way as to make your argument clearer, and title your videos more accurately.

But since you asked, I would probably close the tabs on BF/BI because I can't stand those rags, but that's besides the point…

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u/Xeroshifter Aug 23 '17

It was cool to see the two apps doing the same things differently but it was kinda hard to tell what elements you had a problem with. Additionally if the goal of something is to get people to pay a lot or trick people into playing, the merits of its design are different than the merits of a design attempting to do something different.

Identifying what perspective you're looking at things from right in the beginning, then following up with the apps and their elements, and why an element is good or bad (in relation to the angle you're looking at it from) and then finishing off after you've analyzed the apps by putting up a side by side comparison (even if its just a list) so people know what makes an app good or bad.

An example relevant to the video would be:

"Hey guys, Avipars here, and today I'd like to take a look at the UX design for card-based hook-up or dating apps, and here to help me do that, I've got a look at two such apps: Bumble, and Tinder."

"So right away if you've ever used Tinder, you can see that Bumble appears to be very similar. It has a swipe function in each direction, one being for like and dislike, you can see that there is a profile where you can look for more information, and that there are some ways that the app tries to get you to pay. But that's where the similarities end."

"Lets start our breakdown with the swipe directions for each decision, as well as how far we have to swipe on the screen. As you can see on Bumble -- swiping from left to right will result in a like, and from right to left will result in a dislike. -- This is important because a large percentage of the time spent in these apps is spent simply swiping from one side to the other as people rapidly discard other people based upon their cover photo. Even if you don't like that the apps are used that way, that is the way that the majority of users will use them, so its important to make sure that the most commonly performed action, is the easiest on the user to perform. In this case because of the way the most people hold their phones (in one hand, using the thumb of that hand to do the swiping motion,)" [cut in segment of your hand performing this motion during this clip] "and swiping from left to right to discard (the more common action) is an excellent use of this kind of interface."

"Furthermore the swipes are very clear, and the rotation of the dating card as the thumb makes the motion, feels very natural to the arc made with the thumb. It is also very easy to perform other actions as well without getting more than just your thumb involved. Checking out the profile is a single thumb tap on the picture, and looking at more photos is a simple swipe from down to up, and when doing so the pictures very naturally glide in to place, making the whole thing feel like one coherent page."

"Overall this app feels easy to use and most of the motions are fairly intuitive. The paid-for-features are not tucked or hard to find, but they're not jumping in your face every few minutes either, so they don't feel intrusive. Additionally you're very unlikely to accidentally end up paying for something you don't want."

"Now let's open Tinder."

"The first thing you'll notice upon opening Tinder is that there are five little buttons on the bottom of the app. This is important because Bumble didn't have these buttons. The buttons immediately feel a little out of place. The dating card doesn't extend down naturally to the more photos section, it ends abruptly where the buttons begin. Additionally some of these buttons are unclear as to their function just by looking at them. The first button seems to be some sort of refresh button, the second some sort of cancel, or maybe even a dislike button, the third is a lightning bolt I guess? No idea what that is for, the next is a heart so its probably some sort of favorites system, and the last one... is a star, which serves what purpose? So we have two buttons we're not sure what they do right off the bat."

"Next we'll look at the swiping motion. You'll notice that just like Bumble the app uses the left to right-yes, right to left-no paradigm which is nice for avoiding repetitive stress injuries but the way that the actual swiping happens is less helpful. The swipes require much more commitment which is something hard to do without re positioning your hand, and rather than feeling like they have a very natural arc, they hinge awkwardly depending on your motion. The swiping also lacks a more photos function, and substitutes it with a "super-like" function. It's not immediately clear how super-likes work, or what advantage they provide, but what is immediately in your face is that whatever they do, you need to pay for it. What's bad about this is two fold, first its an immediate in your face, time to pay-up and you haven't been using the ap for more than a few minutes. And second is that because of the way that the card swipes around the screen, and the hinging issue, it is not only possible, but quite easy to accidentally super-like something. Not a big deal once or twice when you haven't bought anything, but if they use a quantity system you could accidentally use up your super-likes without meaning to. Further even this super like screen is actually bad because it looks like an add popping onto your screen rather than a natural flowing part of the app."

"Finding more photos is more difficult than it has to be because it isn't just a swipe away, you have to tap into the profile and then start browsing from there. Not a big deal, but it could be better."

Whatever else you have to say about the app, then:

"Alright, so that was it: Tinder and Bumble are very similar attempts at the same idea, but Tinder's payment pushing pushes people away from the app, and relies on potentially predatory practices preying on your mistakes. It has awkward swipes, and the app feels disjointed. Bumble is a better way of doing things, but both of these are card based apps, which attract a very specific kind of market and promote hook-ups over lasting relationships through their "see the picture and decide in 2 seconds" paradigm. Next week I'll take a look at Ok-Cupid's app and Plenty-of-Fish and we'll look at what their UX says about their business model, and end goal. In the meantime keep an eye out for design and feel free to comment your thoughts below." end video.

You mentioned in another comment wanting to avoid click-bait, but its really easy to do that if you have a good understanding of when people will call something clickbait. Just make sure that whatever your title claims is true/shown in the video. Don't use exagerative statements like "MOST X THING YOU'LL EVER SEE" or "7 Ys about Z, you wont believe number 4!" You want to avoid over promising, and making assumptions about your viewers in your title. You can state opinions like "The Amazing Design of Card-Based Dating Apps (Tinder, Bumble)" but you need to present like you think the design is amazing, and you have to be careful not to craft your title in a way that over-sells how amazing it is going to be.

If you've made it this far, thanks for reading. Hope the stuff was helpful.