Reactions: More Than Just Likes
Everyday queers use to Lex to find friendships, seek advice, share ideas, make connections and expand their queer communities. When Lexers write a personal or a missed connection they want to be understood and feel heard by other queers. Until now Lexers were not able to react to posts, they could only “Like” (to show their admiration). Oftentimes “Like” doesn’t say enough, so we decided we wanted to reach deeper. We looked closely at the ways in which folks are using Lex and came up with a set 7 of reactions that integrate seamlessly for our community.
The Reactions
We’re so pumped to present to you — Reactions!
It took multiple great minds and early morning conversations to get here. We’ll share our process with you.
The User Research
- We took a look at the most popular 1–2 word comments on
@Personals Instagram*I'm down / me!!Yes pleaseDreamySo goodI feel seen*note: Lex evolved from an Instagram account called @Personals. - We analyzed the most popular emoji comments on @Personals Instagram circa 2018.
3. Our team spent a lot of time reading through posts on Lex & noting everything that we were feeling when reading them (sad, romantic, etc). We tallied these to ensure that the repeating emotions were being accounted for. We later did the exact same exercise with several Lexers via Zoom.
4. Once we had several reactions mocked up, it was time to test them out! We showed our reaction mockups to Lexers to see if they interpret them as we do. For example, it turns our that a “raised hand’ was not understood by most participants (see image below).
5. Base on user feedback we refined our reactions and went right back to testing. We tested to:
(1) ensure that users’ interpretation of these reactions were the same as ours (for the second time)
(2) ensure that users had every type of reaction that they may need
To test the ladder, we asked users to scroll through the app and let us know which reaction they’d use for every post on their feed. We knew we were successful with our selections when users had a reaction to pick out for any type of post.
6. Last but not least, once we locked down the reactions, we did usability testing to ensure that the reactions feature is easy to use.
The Icon Design
Illustration
We quickly discovered that a word can correlate to multiple pictures. We iterated on many different ways to draw our reactions through whiteboarding and rapid sketching sessions, and then validated our choices through user testing. Notable mentions include the Let’s Do It! moving truck, and the Romantic lavender rose, both of which make a nod to queer culture and resonated with our test participants.
Color
We kicked off the styling process by looking back to queer culture and
history with the stunning handkerchief codes. Hanky code is a color-coded system, employed among the LGBTQ casual-sex seekers of the ’70s and ’80s to indicate sexual preferences, what kind of sex they are seeking, and whether they are a top/dominant or bottom/submissive. The color of the hanky identifies a particular activity, and the pocket it is worn in (left or right) identifies the wearer’s preferred role in that activity.
Interface
These illustrations were not intended to exist on their own, rather they live within our interface. Our process went past aesthetics, placing consistency, usability and flexibility at the top of our minds;
- Consistency: We needed to keep these visually consistent with our flat, lo-fi interface — while still depicting a sense of movement and dimension. We’ve always admired the simplicity and directness of emoticons. Their friendly faces are so lovable, even the frowning face. We also dug into this multi-part essay on the History of Emojis, which highlights the original 176 emojis designed by Shigetaka Kurita for DOCOMO, the AOL of Japan.
- Usability: We performed accessibility color contrast checks for all iterations of the icons.
- Flexibility: These icons would appear alone in an advertisement, clustered in a list, and magnified in a pop-up menu. We ensured that each icon would be flexible enough to be used across many environments by testing each for scale, and adding backgrounds and shadows when necessary.
The Finale!
Reactions give Lexers a way to express their thoughts, feelings, and desires in a quick and concise way. This pandemic has made it harder for queer folks to connect with their community, and reactions are one step closer to bringing us all together. With an end to COVID-19 finally in sight, we hope reactions will foster connections that turn into relationships beyond the digital world.
“Reactions create new ways of connecting on Lex. There’s now a wild combination of expressions ranging from positive affirmations to flirtations to tender love and support.” — Kell Rakowski, CEO
Press and hold the “Like” button to reveal a pop-up menu of 7 different reactions. Lex reactions range from a fire (hot) to a rose (romantic) to our personal favorite, a moving truck (to signify that someone’s along for the ride, a trope in the queer community). Reactions make it easier for Lexers to announce their intentions without the uncertainty that comes with sending
a message.
A reaction is a nudge to let someone know that they have your attention. Starting conversations can be overwhelming — we want Lexers to feel comfortable expressing their emotions with a gentle interaction.
🌀
Bravo and Thank You to Team Lex!
Maayan Eldar, Product Manager
Inbal Sella, Product Designer
Anita, Social and Brand Manager
Rafal Zawadzki, CTO
