A dating app concept for people who want chemistry to move into real life faster. Nolja matches users through shared hobbies, local places, and trusted context, then guides them from mutual interest into a specific first-date plan.
I created this as a full UX/UI portfolio case study: research plan, personas, journey mapping, information architecture, lo-fi wireframes, hi-fi mobile UI, design system, motion direction, usability testing, and final recommendations. Research focused on dating-app users aged 20–34 who wanted more intentional ways to meet in person.
I synthesized interview notes, survey responses, and competitor audits across dating, maps, event discovery, and calendar products. The patterns below became the foundation for Nolja’s dating-app strategy.
The product architecture is built on one core insight: chemistry needs context. Nolja turns vague attraction into four scannable signals that make a match feel warmer, safer, and easier to meet.
The critical UX decision: make the first date the primary object. Instead of stopping at a match and an empty chat, Nolja starts with intent, narrows choices, and moves both people toward one comfortable first-date plan.
Before visual design, I mapped the core mobile flows at low fidelity: onboarding, dating-signal setup, match discovery, profile review, date suggestions, safety check-in, and confirmation. This helped validate hierarchy before investing in polished UI.
I ran two rounds of usability testing: first with lo-fi flows to validate comprehension, then with hi-fi screens to evaluate visual clarity, perceived usefulness, and task completion. The goal was to make Nolja read like a complete dating-app product design case study, not only a visual redesign.
I expanded the final UI into a fuller dating-app journey: first impression, date-signal setup, discovery, match moment, date proposal, safety tools, date detail, post-match conversation, and confirmed date. The screens show how Nolja moves from attraction to action.
The palette is rebuilt from the cream, sage, teal, and blue reference. Cream keeps the app warm and approachable, green signals trust and shared interests, and deep blue gives the dating experience enough structure to feel calm and safe.
Motion reinforces the dating flow: profile cards move with soft intent, match feedback feels warm without being loud, and date options appear one by one so users can compare comfort, timing, and venue context.
The hardest UX decision in this project was resisting the default dating-app pattern: match first, then leave users alone in an empty chat. The strongest insight was that people need a softer bridge from attraction to a real, comfortable date.
This project let me show the full designer workflow: framing the problem, validating assumptions, translating research into product architecture, designing screens, testing the prototype, and documenting a system that could realistically ship.
The name Nolja means “let’s play,” so the identity needed to feel social and light without becoming childish. The lowercase nol icon became the anchor: short, memorable, and easy to recognize at app-icon size, while the new cream, green, and blue palette makes the dating experience feel calmer and more trustworthy.