Hiki: Creating
an inclusive onboarding flow for an autism dating site
Organization: Hiki (startup)
Context: Contract
Duration: 2 months
SNAPSHOT
BACKGROUND
Hiki is a dating app designed specifically for the autistic community. As the company was preparing to launch an updated version of the app with several new features they asked me to conduct a usability review and make improvements to the app to make it as accessible and inclusive as possible.
RESEARCH APPROACH
Remote product walk-throughs
8 participants, all active Hiki users
2 iterations
Adapting to different communication preferences
Individuals with autism have have differing levels of comfort with verbal and non-verbal communication. I conducted remote video interviews that allowed users to either talk or type their responses. I also started by asking for more open-ended responses but had alternative numerical ranking questions for those that were less talkative.
FINDINGS
Too much going on
Lots of colors
Lots of images
Lots of things to look at
Unclear directions
Implied actions were not sufficient
Vague language
Long process
Many screens to click through
Unclear what could be skipped
Unclear how much is left
COLOR AND IMAGERY
Before
After
Making it visually simple
Autistic individuals are more prone to sensory overload so I focused on having a simple clean design with one color, limited imagery, and few items on the screen at a time.
LENGTH
Before
After
Helping users reach the end sooner
The onboarding flow was quite long with many distinct tasks. This made users feel overwhelmed and not all were up for completing the entire profile. I shortened it by combining related tasks and making the skip function more obvious.
PROFILE SUMMARY
Before
After
Creating logical groupings
The original user profile had photos and personal info scattered throughout the page in a way that allowed for exploration but not for targeted scanning of information. User testers also reported being confused as to if bio info directly below photos were descriptions of the photos. I created dedicated sections for photos and bio info with all basic demographic info at the top and with clear, prominent placement indicating weather a person was looking for romance or friendship.