Connexa: Turning Shared Interests into Real Human Connections 🧩
🎯My role : Lead UX/UI Designer responsible for user research, interface design, and prototyping.
🏷 Industry : Lifestyle , social media
🧰 Toolkit : Figma, Illustrator and photoshop
🕒 Timeline : Q4 2024 - 8 weeks
🔧 Project scope : Designing a social connection platform addressing trust, safety, and authentic engagement gaps commonly found in modern connection apps.
I led the full UX process to create a safer alternative to modern connection apps — driving trust, meaningful conversations, and community-driven engagement.
Designing for Deeper Connections
Modern connection apps leave users feeling unsafe, disconnected, and overwhelmed. Research showed users want authenticity, not endless swiping.
Dating apps overemphasize appearance-based matching, leading to shallow connections.
Safety concerns due to fake profiles and limited trust-building mechanisms.
Market context: Only 25% of Britons trust social media platforms, with many believing these companies are inadequately regulated and lack transparency. ~BBC News
We asked Users, Former users and people looking to use connection apps :
“I’m tired of feeling like just another profile picture.”
Sara 34 - Former Tinder user
User Research Approach
To deeply understand user frustrations and expectations, I conducted:
8 user interviews (5 previous dating app users, 3 currently active users)
Secondary research (competitor analysis: Bumble, Tinder, Hinge)
Synthesis using affinity mapping to identify key themes
How might we give users more authentic ways to engage, so they can build connections beyond surface-level interactions?
Turning Insights into Action
Listening to real users showed us that connection apps needed more than quick matches — they needed authenticity, trust, and shared passions. Guided by these insights, Connexa was designed to create safer, deeper, and more meaningful connections. Every decision, from onboarding to interaction flows, was shaped around the real experiences and frustrations we uncovered.
Feature Prioritization
Proposed solutions
🔒 Verification & Safety System
Building user trust through multi-layer verification processes.
To identify the right solutions, I led a user-centered process:
✨ Icebreaker Library
Helping users start authentic conversations confidently.
🎨 Interest-Based Hubs
Connecting users around shared passions, not appearances.
Design Execution / UX Process
📱Designing for Calm & Clarity
Onboarding ,Verification & Interests prototypes
Onboarding / Welcome Screen
"A safer, more meaningful way to connect from the very first step."
Verification Step
Multi-layer verification helps ensure users are real and trustworthy.
Hub Selection Screen
Users connect through passions, choosing hubs that match their values and interests.
Testing, Revisions & Applied Feedback
Early user feedback and testing revealed that while Connexa's core ideas resonated, some screens needed more emotional warmth and clarity to fully deliver a feeling of trust and ease. We refined key parts of the onboarding and exploration journey based on these insights.
✨ Improving the Sign-In Experience
Refined the sign-in experience for clarity and flexibility.
Introduced a tabbed layout for Login/Register, clearer input fields, and additional sign-in options to improve usability and reduce friction.
Redesigned the Interest Hub for better discovery and navigation.
Added intuitive filters (distance, age, occupation) and navigation buttons to help users explore matches more meaningfully and with ease.
Redesigned the Interest Hub for better discovery and navigation.
Added segmented tabs, category filters, and dropdown interests to help users explore shared passions more easily and connect meaningfully.
Enhanced the discovery experience with clearer navigation and filters.
Final Solution
🚀 What's Next ?
As Connexa continues to evolve, the next key focus is on enhancing personalization and interaction. This includes introducing intelligent recommendations based on shared values and behavior, and expanding low-pressure connection methods like polls, prompts, or group voice chats within Interest Hubs. These features will deepen engagement and make connections feel more natural and authentic. Future efforts will also prioritize building a more structured notification system and preparing for development handoff through a scalable design system.