DAY 22: HINGE

The Only Dating App Built To Help You Stop Using Dating Apps

Hinge Is Designed To Give You Genuine Connections, Not Meaningless Matches

Damn, matches feel good. Don’t they?

The hottie on the screen is into you, and that dopamine hit feels great.

But it doesn’t last.

So you keep swiping...and swiping...and swiping.

If Dora the Explorer could see all the swiping you’re doing, she’d be pissed.

That’s the problem with dating apps. They’re not designed to create genuine connections.

They’re designed to keep you glued to the screen, swiping until you look up from your phone and Netflix asks “are you still watching?”

Because if dating apps “succeed” — meaning they actually get you into a meaningful relationship and you (hopefully) stop using the app — they lose.

It’s an interesting business model.

Present the veiled promise of a meaningful relationship through blurred out pictures in a queue that promises to tell you exactly who those pixelated faces are if you’ll just fork over $8 per month for the next 12 months.

But who are we to talk?

We’re Hinge — and we used to be just like all those other apps.

Until we changed.

The Dating Apocalypse Of 2015— Why We Killed Our Own App

In 2015, an article came out that announced our society had reached an apocalyptic state in the world of online dating.

One dominated by superficiality and swipes.

And we got called out, because we were contributing to the problem.

Back then, Hinge was just as bad as every other app out there. People were swiping, “but only 15% of matches were turning into actual conversations,” choosing those continuous dopamine hits over genuine relationships with other human beings.

So, we did something crazy.

We killed our app.

The best relationships are those built on honesty and vulnerability. And after looking at ourselves in the mirror, we realized we could do better.

We got honest about what we were actually doing, and we realized it wasn’t in your best interest.

So, we changed.

Why We Don’t Do Swipes

We don’t do swipes.

So, if you’re looking to get high on dopamine, we might not be for you.

We do genuine, authentic connection.

Your hinge profile is just that — a profile. Not a “playing card,” like those other apps.

Include information about your education, career, height (because apparently, that’s a thing), spirituality, and more.

But the beauty of Hinge is that you no longer have to spend hours trying to come up with a witty blurb that tries to show you’re funny, smart, and totally not basic in 500 characters or less.

We’ve handled that by giving you different “prompts” to answer on your profile.

Things like:

“I’ll know I’ve made it when…”

“A life goal of mine…”

“I’m convinced that…”

Why do we do it that way?

Because you’re more than a picture.

You deserve to be seen as a whole person, not just a picture that’s either discarded or tossed into the “keep” pile.

How Hinge Works

When someone looks at your Hinge profile, they won’t see a playing card.

They’ll be able to scroll through your whole profile.

That means they’ll see more than a filtered picture of you the last time you got dressed up to go out.

They’ll see who you really are.

And, while “likes” on other apps leave you guessing, “I wonder why this person is into me? What should I say first?,” Hinge lets people like specific aspects of your profile.

So, if a life goal of yours is to run a marathon, someone can specifically “like” that part of your profile and add a comment about it. (Maybe they’ll even send you some training tips.)

A Hinge profile is more than just a face you put on to try to impress other people. It’s a genuine representation of who you are.

And that’s great news, not just for your self-esteem, but for your future dating prospects.

Because we can learn about who you really are, we’re better able to connect you with people we think you’ll really like.

That means less time with your screen and more time with actual humans.

Hinge Features We Designed So You Can Stop Using Hinge And Actually Connect IRL

We Met

A short while after you exchange digits on Hinge, we’ll ask if you ended up meeting that person, and if you did, whether or not you’d want to hang out with them again.

That tells us whether we’re doing a good job or not. Because if we keep setting you up with terrible dates, we need to do better.

It’s our way of measuring what matters.

Most Compatible

It’s like your best friend setting up you up with somebody.

We take the information on your profile and compare it with other people who seem to be your type. Then, we choose the person we think you’d be most compatible with, and show them to you.

From there, it’s your call. We just create the conditions for a genuine connection.

Try Hinge For Free Today (And Stop Using It ASAP)

No games. No gimmicks.

We didn’t build Hinge to keep you swiping.

We didn’t build it to give someone an opportunity to send you weird messages.

We didn’t build it to get you high on dopamine.

We built it to help you form genuine, authentic relationships with people we think you’d like.

So, if you prefer staring into an endless void of faces, stuck in your phone looking for the next dopamine hit — we’re not for you.

But if you’re done with dating apps, if you’re ready to form an authentic connection with a real human being, give Hinge a try.

And then put down your phone and go get coffee with someone amazing.

[Try Hinge For Free]

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ANALYSIS

The actual writing today wasn’t too challenging, but it has been rough making the time to be at my computer while I’m at my family’s house for Thanksgiving.

Product

I wrote about Hinge — a dating app that’s made a point of being vastly different from both Tinder and Bumble.

Who is the Customer?

The customer is a millennial who likely lives in an urban area. While I have no data to back this up, I’d guess there’s a 50/50 split between male and female users. If this were a project I was being paid for, I’d do more research on that front.

Customer Level of Awareness

This customer is solution-aware.

They may be product-aware, but even in that case, I think the letter does a good job of explaining why Hinge works the way it does. Even if they’ve used the app, they may be unfamiliar with the logic behind its UX.

Big Idea + Rationale

Other popular dating apps in the market aren’t geared to get you dates — they’re geared to keep you using the apps.

Hinge, on the other hand, has been created to match you with someone you’d like so that you can stop using the app and get out in the real world.

Big Promise + Rationale

The promise is that, by using Hinge, you’re taking advantage of a more authentic and genuine dating experience

Lessons Learned

Writing for a product you genuinely believe in and have researched is nearly effortless.

If you’re convicted about what you’re writing, the words flow from your brain to the page seamlessly.

I think there’s something to learn in there about the projects we choose to work on.

Not only does writing for products we believe in feel better mentally and emotionally, it actually makes the work itself easier too.