Scope of work
User Research - UX Design - Concept Iteration - Business & Brand Values - UI Design - User Testing - Refinement - Marketing Video Production
September 2025- January 2026
NightShiftr
A Little Backstory
My best friend Anja is the perfect catch… but no one was fishing at midnight!
What does it look like to live your whole life in the dark, and how can we lessen the tradeoffs?
The User’s Problem & Key Findings
Users on typical dating apps struggle to connect, communicate, and make plans due to their conflicting and demanding work schedules.
Night Shift Workers live on opposite schedules, going to work when the rest of us are going to sleep.
Defining User Needs
Frustrating Paywalls
Limited features means self-filtering profiles.
Users find it tedious, exclusive & expensive.
“"if I had the ability to use as many filters and turn on all the exact filters I want, I could instantly find my soulmate" -’Anna’
Vague Profiles & Communication
Hidden deal-breakers waste precious conversation time.
users feel doubtful of connecting through awkward small-talk.
"The dating apps are definitely not linear. It doesn’t like stick to one thing. It really just kind of brings you on different angles." -‘Bella’
Planning & Scheduling
Vagueness and low success rate keeps users from finding connections worth meeting.
Users still face time constraints and low energy
"It’s difficult with night hift because it goes across two days and it makes your calendar look really confusing." -’Cara’
Solving the Problem
Organizing research from interviewees led to refining a statement addressing their 3 Must-Haves.
How Might We… personalize planning, communicating, & dating in a way that connects Night Shift Workers to people like them?
Early Ideas
Rapid Iteration and User Stories helped form some early concepts.
Calendar Overlaps was a key solution, which would use data synced from calendar apps, like Google or Apple’s. , It would find shared availability, shared “gaps” in their day.
Personalized Events would be algorithmically suggested based on user profiles, using hobbies and important key words to generate easy and effortless invitations.
Building the Vision
My brand visuals were chosen to blend the themes and colors of night-time with common night shift uniforms and settings.
I also flipped buzz words from interviews and replaced them with positive brand values.
Inclusive, Encouraging, Engaging.
Solutions & Refinements
Friend Verification promotes trust in users and planning with other friends.
Filters based on schedule compatibility and user values matches users with the most commonalities
Conversation Starters help users initiate conversations and strengthen connections
Calendar App Crossovers synced through Google or Apple calendar pair users based on availability and shared gaps in their day
Quick Communication tools use shared interests to create flowing conversation and end the Phone-Tag dilemma
Logs on smart watches improves accuracy of date suggestions
Mid-Fidelity Refinements
User Testing showed that calendar view preference was based on familiarity from their various occupations; either a monthly or daily layout. What I learned led me to incorporate both so that the app felt more like a planning tool.
Research showed that many users balance connectivity on their shifts with smart watches. I started to build out a stronger communication system that bridged between the phone and the watch.
Conversation Presets on watches from your information help conversation flow so busy Night Shift Workers can keep connecting despite limited free-time
AI Chat Suggestions can predict your next message even when you don’t have time to stop and type it
The Final Product
Interactive Prototype:
Try the unique features for yourself!
Marketing Video
Watch how the app works for Night Shift Workers!