An app for meeting real people,redesigned around trust
Common makes meeting people simple: anyone can host or join real, local events in seconds. We redesigned the app so it felt simple, safe and easy for strangers to meet.
Project in facts
- IndustrySocial & Events
- ClientCarmen (founder), New Zealand
- TimelineAbout 1.5 months of design
- Team3 people (UI/UX designer, CTO, full-stack developer)
- What we didUX/UI Design
- StackFigma (UI design & clickable prototype)
01. Where they started
Common was never meant to be another dating app. The idea was broader: help people make real connections, whether that turns into a friendship or a relationship, by getting them into the same room at a real, local event.
Carmen, the founder, based in New Zealand, had a working concept and an existing product. What Carmen wanted was a design that made the experience feel simple, safe and worth coming back to.
02. The hard part
Meeting strangers only works if people trust the other side. Every host and every guest needs a profile that feels real, a way to rate the experience and a way to report anything that is not right.
At the same time, hosting had to be fast. If creating an event takes more than a few seconds, people do not bother. The product had to balance two things that pull in opposite directions: low friction for hosts and enough safety for guests.
And the app needed to support very different kinds of meetups, from a one-on-one coffee to a group dinner where many people apply for a few spots, each with public or private controls.
03. What we built
Flows that make sense
We started from who uses Common and what a good first event looks like, then reworked the flows for hosting, joining and chatting so each one takes as few steps as possible.
Events in seconds
A hosting flow built for speed: pick what, where and when, choose public or private, and publish. Events show up for people nearby straight away, filtered by type like social or romantic.
Group events with applications
Hosts can post group events that many people apply to, then choose who joins. Guests can see at a glance what is happening this week and who is going.
One-on-one and group chats
Private chats between two people and group chats for each event, so plans, directions and last-minute changes happen inside the app.
Trust and safety built in
Trusted profiles, ratings after every event, follows and reports, plus private or public controls, so people feel safe meeting someone new.
A refreshed design
A cleaner, warmer interface redesigned in Figma, with a clickable prototype Carmen could test with users and hand straight to developers.
04. What happened
Common came away with a refreshed design across the core of the app and a clickable prototype that showed exactly how hosting, joining and chatting should feel.
Everything we produced belongs to Carmen: the designs and the prototype, ready for any development team to build from.
05. What this means for you
If you already have an app but it is not working the way you hoped, you do not have to start over. A redesign shows you what to keep and what to fix, and lets you test it with real users before you spend money on code.
And if your product brings strangers together, trust is not a feature you add later. It shapes every screen, and it is something we design in from the start.
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