Bunkr
B2C
Mobile
Design Thinking
Using AR to Help Daters Break the Screen and Meet IRL
BUNKR is a mobile app, utilizing AR
Duration
8 Weeks
Year
2025
Team
Solo UX Designer
Client
Personal Project
Challenge
Problem
Modern dating culture was shaped by apps - where most first moves happen behind a screen - creating habits that feel safe, passive, and easy to repeat. It’s easier to swipe than to speak, and safer to stay online than risk a real-life approach, where rejection feels more personal and immediate.
While many users crave the spontaneity and meaning of in-person connection, taking the leap when those moments appear feels hard. Fear, doubt, and the comfort of digital routines hold them back. The result is a quiet frustration: a desire for real-life connection that rarely turns into action.
Goal
Lower the emotional cost of making a move offline.
Support users in choosing connection over comfort.
User research
Dating apps can be so daunting
To understand the challenges our users are facing, I interviewed 18 participants aged 20–30 who actively use dating apps or seek connections through social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram.
Key findings
Context Builds Curiosity
On social media, even small shared details gave users a sense of the person. This hint of a story made them more likely to engage - and less likely to ghost.
Trapped in Comfort Zones
Users often avoid real-life interaction because they’re afraid of being turned down. Apps make it easy to stay passive, reinforcing this pattern.
Constant Evaluations
Swiping culture reinforces shallow judgments based on photos, eroding users' confidence and sense of self.
From Analogy to Prototypes
Inspired by Israeli shelters, I tested real-life dating moments
The idea for BUNKR was inspired by Israeli bomb shelters.
spaces where strangers, brought together by circumstance, often leave feeling unexpectedly connected. These shelters create both a shared space and a shared emotional experience—a moment of collective vulnerability and communal faith. I used this analogy to guide two prototypes, each testing a different aspect
Prototype 1/ Interactive Elevator Prototype
To test how shared physical space could create unplanned connections, I transformed an elevator into an interactive dating space. A tablet offered playful prompts, and QR codes linked users to an app-based follow-up.
Prototype 2/ Proximity-Based Matching App
Building on the shelter analogy, I wanted to test how a shared emotional experience could be recreated using digital triggers in real-world settings.
Using the Wizard of Oz method, I simulated a loud in-app notification when two pre-matched users were physically near each other—creating a sudden, communal moment designed to spark connection.
Prototype Insights
Safety Matters Most
Many women won’t consider meeting in person unless the environment feels secure and respectful. Safety must be built into the experience from the start.
Digital Habits Are a Bridge
Users naturally rely on digital behaviors for comfort. Instead of avoiding them, the experience should use those habits to guide the shift into real-world interaction.
Shared emotional experience works
A sudden, communal moment can trigger real engagement.
Design Approach
From research insights to design guidelines
Shared Space, Shared Presence
Designing with physical context in mind means creating features that encourage users to engage while occupying the same space. Subtle prompts and proximity-aware triggers help spark interaction without forcing it.
Safe by Design
The product must foster trust in both digital and physical contexts. Features, flows, and tone should create a sense of control and comfort, especially for users concerned about privacy and safety.
Emotion as a Catalyst
Design should spark emotionally charged, shared moments—like surprise or tension—that help users move past hesitation and into real connection.
Low-fi Wireframes
At this early stage, I use rapid hand sketches to experiment freely with different design directions. I explore functionality, test potential layouts, establish hierarchy, and identify possible visual solutions. This process allows quick iteration and helps clarify the best path forward before refining the solution digitally.
Mid-fi Wireframes
Solution
Explore
Immediate, Location-Based Entry
Into Real Life
The map shifts focus from profiles to places, showing real-time activity at venues with active BUNKR users. It supports spontaneous, in-the-moment decisions based on vibe and presence. Users can search, filter, and explore. If checked in, a persistent banner keeps you anchored to your current venue and just one tap away from re-engaging.
Venue Drawer
Building Trust, Sparking Curiosity
Not everyone feels ready to walk into a place and just talk
to someone. That’s why this screen does the
heavy lifting quietly.
It opens with a safety rating, so users know the vibe has been vetted. They see how many people are there, get a glimpse of who’s checked in (without faces), and preview shared interests to spark curiosity. A floating button invites them to navigate or check in, but only once they’ve arrived.
It’s not about pushing interaction, it’s about making people feel like something real could happen, and gently nudging them to step into it.
Check-In Screen
Designed for Immediate Action and Meaningful Connection
Designed to support immediate, confident action, this screen anchors users in the real-world venue experience. Visibility controls and editable statuses offer comfort and control, addressing key safety and privacy concerns. By prioritizing mutual interests alongside photos, profiles encourage meaningful exploration beyond looks alone. The prominent "Match" button on each profile further reduces hesitation, gently nudging users toward real-life connections.
Gender-Based Visibility Controls
Balancing User Needs with Engagement Trade-Offs
Female users have an extra visibility state—allowing them to privately browse profiles, visible only to users they actively "Match" with. The matched profiles see these interactions normally, ensuring no one knows the female user initiated first, preserving privacy.
Research indicated women prioritize safety and discretion, making this essential for their comfort. However, this added privacy could reduce overall engagement if offered universally - therefore, male users retain simpler visibility settings.
Explore
Building Trust, Sparking Curiosity
Not everyone feels ready to walk into a place and just talk
to someone. That’s why this screen does the
heavy lifting quietly.
It opens with a safety rating, so users know the vibe has been vetted. They see how many people are there, get a glimpse of who’s checked in (without faces), and preview shared interests to spark curiosity. A floating button invites them to navigate or check in, but only once they’ve arrived.
It’s not about pushing interaction, it’s about making people feel like something real could happen, and gently nudging them to step into it.
Explore
Embracing Digital Comfort
to Nudge Users Back into the
Real World
This was the most challenging—and important—part of the entire experience to get right. Helping users shift from digital interaction to real-life action meant carefully designing each detail to reduce friction and hesitation.
Rather than fighting users' preference for digital comfort, this flow embraces it—using familiar patterns and behaviors as a bridge back to the physical world. After a match is accepted, the app enters AR mode, guiding users with a directional arrow and live distance. This interface mirrors digital mapping habits, but repurposes them for face-to-face connection.
At the same time, users scroll through mutual fact cards—small shared details that build curiosity and make the person ahead feel familiar. These moments add emotional weight, keeping users engaged and motivated.
A persistent control bar allows for:
Exiting AR
Stopping the interaction
Starting a chat, in case help is needed locating the match
As the match comes into view, they’re highlighted with a playful aura—turning what could be an awkward moment into something light and celebratory. Floating icebreakers appear to help spark conversation and reduce hesitation.
Every element here is designed to help users take the leap—not by disrupting their habits, but by cleverly building on them.
Matches Screen
Encouraging Action, Not Accumulation
This screen was designed to solve a core problem in dating apps: users match but rarely follow through. By separating temporary and permanent matches, BUNKR creates structure and urgency. Temporary matches—formed through real-life encounters—include the location and a visible timer. If no message is sent within a set time, the match disappears. This reduces inactive match buildup, encourages immediate action, and lowers pressure around rejection. Once a conversation begins, the match moves to the permanent tab—ensuring only meaningful connections are kept.
What I’ve Learned
Focus on Essential Features with Scalability in Mind
This project has been a valuable learning experience. I discovered how powerful early prototypes can be when planned intentionally—not just for testing usability, but for capturing real reactions in the moment and validating assumptions in context. I also realized how critical it is for products to blend naturally into users' routines. If the experience feels forced, it’s far more likely to be rejected—coaxing simply doesn’t work.
I also learned:
The importance of designing for emotion, not just function - especially when helping users take unfamiliar or uncomfortable steps.
That small behavioral nudges, when timed right, can often do more than large features.
How crucial it is to remove friction without removing meaning - making things easy, but still intentional.