Design Project
Salams App Endorsements
Project Overview
The idea for Endorsements started as part of a match off-boarding flow, a moment when users would unmatch and have the option to leave feedback about the person they’d interacted with. Instead of just collecting data passively, we saw an opportunity to turn this into something more meaningful and community driven.
Endorsements evolved into a feature that let users highlight positive traits, like kindness, good communication, or good character that could show up as badges on a person’s profile. This helped reflect someone’s dating profile beyond what they chose to write about themselves.
For the Salams community, this wasn’t just about adding flair, it was about encouraging good behavior, building trust, and giving people better signals as they decide who to match with. It created space for accountability and recognition, while helping users find someone they could genuinely feel safe and aligned with.
My Role: As the lead UX/UI designer on this project, I was responsible for
Designed the Endorsement flow, from unmatch to badge display
Created lightweight, expressive avatars that visually reflected character traits without feeling too gamified
Worked closely with product and engineering to ensure the feature felt seamless and safe within the larger app experience
Team: Product Managers and Engineers.
Tools: Figma, Adobe Illustrator.
Research/ Comparative Analysis
When we first revisited the match off-boarding flow, we realized it ended too abruptly. Users could simply unmatch with a single tap; no reflection, no feedback, no real insight into what the experience had been like. It was a missed opportunity, not just for product data, but for creating something meaningful between users.
We looked at how other apps handled this moment.
Muzz had a simple but thoughtful grading system, where users could indicate if someone was polite, responsive, serious, and whether they’d recommend them.
Hinge used a more traditional unmatch reason prompt, offering an extensive list of explanations for why the user chose to end the connection.
In contrast, our flow didn’t ask how the match went at all which meant we weren’t learning anything about user behavior, compatibility, or how we could improve the experience. It also meant there was no space for accountability, or encouragement for good behavior.
Initial Design Concepts
We explored several early flow directions, some that mirrored our competitors, and others that leaned more emotionally open. One concept allowed the user to send a final message during the unmatch, while another introduced badges that could visually reflect someone's character.
Research & Iterations Continued
Eventually, we looked toward LinkedIn’s endorsement model as a source of inspiration. It felt familiar and low-pressure: users could select from a list of pre-populated traits to “endorse” someone they’d matched with. At first, these badges were shown publicly and included counts of how many people had endorsed each trait.
Evolving the Feature: Endorsements V2
As the feature matured, we realized endorsements didn’t just belong in an unmatch flow, they had the potential to shape the entire in-app culture.
Here’s how the feature evolved:
Introduced Avatars Instead of Numbers/Profile Photos
We replaced visible counts and profile photos with illustrated avatars to keep the tone light, approachable, and privacy aware. Since we were introducing something that reflects how others see you, we were careful not to make users feel self-conscious. The final design offered just enough of a signal to build trust, without feeling invasive or emotionally loadedWe also made a conscious decision to remove most negative traits from the public profile view. We wanted this to feel like an uplifting, community backed feature, not a space for critique but maybe a little nudge if you were ghosting your matches. Any feedback flagged as less positive would only be visible privately, tucked into the user’s edit profile screen.
Added the Ability to Remove Endorsements (as a Paid Feature)
Users could now pay to remove individual endorsements from their profile, giving them more control, offering a clean slate, and reinforcing a shift toward better behavior. It also supported monetization in a way that felt thoughtful, not punitive.Expanded Beyond Offboarding
We introduced Endorsements beyond just the unmatching flow and into the broader experience of the app. Now, users could endorse someone while still matched, kind of like saying, “Hey, this person’s been great,” after a few messages back and forth. It turned the feature into something ongoing and affirming, not just a closing note.
This shift turned endorsements into a community-wide gesture, not just a reaction to how things ended. It reframed the feature as something positive, ongoing, and part of building trust, whether things worked out or not.
Outcomes & Impact
43% of users who completed sign-up engaged with the Endorsements feature, a strong signal that people were open to recognizing others and being recognized in return.
The feature helped:
Encourage positive behavior and sincerity in matches
Create soft trust signals without relying on bios alone
Spark engagement even in quieter conversations
Reinforce Salams’ values of community, kindness, and intentionality
It also gave us a new layer of insight into how people interacted, helping users feel seen, and helping others swipe with more clarity and confidence.
Key Takeaways & Challenges
One of the biggest challenges with designing Endorsements was figuring out how to do something different, something that actually felt genuine and community-first, not performative or transactional. We weren’t interested in just copying rating systems or turning feedback into a score. We wanted it to feel human.
But when you're working with people’s feelings and reputations, the design stakes are high. We kept coming back to questions like:
How do we gently encourage better behavior without shaming anyone?
How do we make people feel seen, not judged?
How do we encourage kindness and sincerity and actually reward it?
That balance between emotional safety and accountability shaped every part of the feature. From tone to timing, every choice had to support trust, not pressure.
We also had to think about how to differentiate ourselves from competitors like Hinge and Muzz. A lot of apps focus on what went wrong or right in a match, but we wanted to go deeper than that. Our goal was to create space for community driven interactions that reflect trust, character, and sincerity. By allowing people to be recognized for things like kindness, good communication, or clarity, we weren’t just tracking behavior, we were reinforcing the kind of experience we want to nurture across the app.
This project reminded me how soft, intentional UX decisions can influence big things, like how people show up, how they connect, and what kind of culture grows from that. And when you're designing for something as personal as trust, every detail matters.
