Designed to turn self-reflection into a shared experience.
01 / Overview
A social app that reveals perception gaps between two people through personality assessments.
Purpose
I built Haven because to harness the inherent social nature of personality tests. I'm optimizing for that moment of curiosity that sparks when you surface the similarities and differences you have with another person.
Mechanism
For each prompt, you answer twice: once for yourself, once for your partner. Then Haven shows you the gaps in your perceptions of one another, and allows you to build a shared profile with tailored converstion prompts based on results.
02 / Design Challenges
Relational products have friction in two places.
Cold start
If the value for users depends on another person right away, most user's won't start.
Retention
People tend to stop after getting results the first time. There needs to be a reason for people to return.
Design Goal:
Reduce friction and time-to-value, without making the experience one-and-done.
2.1 / Entry model exploration
Finding an entry models to reduce friction without losing the social value prop.
Relational apps fail when users need a partner immediately. The home screen had to support solo momentum while still making the duo value proposition feel primary.
Catalog-first
Easy browsing, but assumes you already have someone to play with.
(Solo) Profile-first
Great solo momentum, but makes makes the value proposition confusing.
Duo-first w/ fallback
Focuses on the shared experience with a solo entry point.
I chose Duo-first with a solo fallback because it's the only model that preserves Haven's value proposition (shared reflection) without requiring others immediately. It lets users begin alone, but always frames progress as something that becomes richer when someone else is added.
2.2 / Answer interaction exploration
Making answering twice feel natural.
After testing different ideas for this key mechanism with others, I landed on an interaction that felt effortless - using colours as perspective indicators, and a slider for intuitive answer progression.
Flip-Card
Toggle/Tabs
2.3 / Shared profiles exploration
Creating retention with buildable shared profiles.
To get people reusing Haven, I knew I needed to create a reason to return. I explored what a shared profile could contain so it's worth revisiting and adding to. In other words, I needed a place where results don't end the experience - they create the next one.
Scorecard
Slider Comparisons
This first exploration is easy to understand, but upon user testing, it was clear that it felt like an endpoint/report. I focused the next iteration on 1) revisit reason, 2) sense of progress, and 3) clear call to action:
03 / Core Flows + Final Designs
Start with a Solo baseline.
When users don't have someone ready, Haven still lets them explore the value of the app. The Core Assessment creates a profile that unlocks personal insights and standard comparisons with others who have also completed their profile.
Invite someone and run a paired assessment.
Pairing is the core value proposition. Users answer twice (Self and Predict for partner) so perception gaps are revealed in story format and saved to a shared profile.
Shared buildable profiles.
Profiles are built with your friends that store stories and reveal conversation prompts tailored to perception gaps.
04 / Reflection
130 on the waitlist, set to launch on February 27th!
From designing the prototype to building out the app, I learned a lot about building relational products.
Friction kills products
I can't focus on designing for the ideal user scenario. The real challenge is designing for where people are at.
Don't boil the ocean
Simple designs can be extremely complex. Scoping down is often the best way to explore and iterate effectively.
Clarity > Cleverness
Even simple mechanics require UI that makes the next step extremely clear. Don't assume what makes sense to me makes sense to others.