App Raptors · 2018
ReKindle App
Took a stack of paper hiding a masterpiece and built a love-languages app for couples. Funding fell through before launch.
Overview
ReKindle is an app geared towards bringing couples closer together by having them learn about and communicate through each others love languages. Whether you’ve just gotten married or have been together for decades, ReKindle can help bring you closer to your partner. By using a series of assessments, ReKindle can identify each partner’s love languages and use a series of “Sparks” to help you communicate to your partner in the way they desire.
The Challenge
The owners built the original idea and had done a substantial amount of market and user research for the product. They just needed someone to take their ideas and put them down on paper so that they could hand it off to a development team to get it built. This is where I came in. I was introduced to the duo through some friends and immediately hit the ground running. Turning their stack of paper that was hiding a masterpiece, into a visually engaging product that users could use daily.
The Solution
I first started by reading through all of the research that they had already conducted. They had a lot of great content which made it easy on my behalf to break this product down into user groups. I then was able to take those two user personas and build a complex user flow, guiding the user through several minimal assessments that users could take at their leisure. They were rewarded for completing these assessments and unlocking new features of the app, and getting more insight into their partner’s love language. After that, I worked on some wireframes with the clients and built some high-fidelity mock-ups. Once we had a packaged file we could send to the development team, I then worked with them to come up with some branding and identity ideas for their app.
The Users
With the research the clients had already done, I was able to build out two user personas. The first is a couple that had recently had a change in their relationship, whether they just got together, or got married after dating for several years. Their relationship is very solid, but they want to find new ways to show how much they care for their partner. The second persona is a couple that has been together for quite some time, they have fallen onto some rocky points and would like to rebuild that love they once felt for each other.
The User Flows
The user flows for ReKindle were some of the most complex I have ever built. There were multiple assessments that had to be created, where each one unlocked new features of the app. Once all the assessments had been completed, there was also a paid tier that unlocked even more features. This took quite a bit of communication between myself and the clients to make sure that every piece of this puzzle was in the user flow.
The Wireframes
Next came the wireframes. There was nothing out of the ordinary here other than the sheer volume that had to be complete. This was one of the first products I had built from the ground up, and I quickly realized there were going to be a lot of screens to build.
The High Fidelity Mockups
At this point in the project the client was very impressed with my attention for detail. While this is always a great thing to hear, they soon informed me that because of this they would like to see what each of the assessments looked like with the questions and answers in them. Not just with lorem ipsum. Which meant building out A LOT of pages for them. They were happy with the results, and we kept on plugging away.
The Brand Exploration
At this point, the owners of ReKindle were ecstatic with the progress we had made. They were blown out of the water, and they were falling in love again with the product they had worked so hard on. The original scope of the project was complete and I was able to sell them on the idea that they needed a baseline brand set in place. We built this while the development team worked on the files we had handed off. They loved the idea and I started work on pitching ideas to them for logos, colors, and imagery.
The end of the line
This app sounds awesome, where can I get it?
Unfortunately, after we handed off the package to the developers and did some brand exploration, I stopped hearing from the clients. I would later find out that they were not able to secure the funding they needed to get the app built. I was heartbroken because I was emotionally invested in this project and wanted to see it succeed. I left the door open with the client and told them to let me know if the app ever got built.
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