JIARUI HU

Swipe Right is a mobile strategy game that we designed and developed in Spring 2020 in the Advanced Game Design course at Cornell University.
In the game, players can strategically learn what the protagonists like and dislike through speed-dating, with the goal of finding the perfect match. Swipe Right is aimed at players, aged 13+, who want to experience the game of online dating and enjoy puzzle-solving and strategic thinking. It allows players a chance to be the ultimate matchmaker as they find a perfect match for a lucky candidate in this puzzling and amusing dating game.
Our team, Cupid Studios, consisted of 5 developers and 2 designers. I was the Lead Designer for UI/UX and visual design, responsible for game ideation, prototyping, background illustration, UI animation, design specification, and branding.

Our goal is to create a simple and interesting game that has the potential to 'go viral' and also needs to be technically feasible based on our development capability. We did research on the existing popular mobile games, sought opportunities, and thought of 20+ ideas of all game genres. Eventually, we decided to create a game that simulates the contemporary trend of online dating and speed dating.
Focusing on the dating theme, we came up with detailed game mechanisms, presented them in class and got feedback, and iterated 8 rounds till we finalized it. I was solely responsible for creating all the non-digital prototypes.
Below is some game mechanism exploration that I prototyped.
Our finalized game mechanism is a single-player card strategy game. Below is the QuickStart poster I designed that shows how to play the game.


We wanted the game to have a unique romantic style that helps the game stand out visually, and eventually chose to use the vintage style, which was one of the Behance 2020 Graphic Design Trends, to add a sense of old-time classic romance to the nowaday online dating technology.
The features and elements of our style include faded/earthy colors, flat style, stripes patterns, clear shadows, polaroids, etc.
UI Assets & Logo Design


After discussing with Workday, we decided to focus on only one stakeholder, the students, for the ideation and prototyping.
For the ideation part, I participated in creating the User Journey Map, and was responsible for brainstorming the initial prototypes.
User Journey Map

Brainstorming the Initial Prototypes
After discussing with Workday, we agreed to narrow down to focus on developing prototypes for students with no goals and students with vague/general goals: Help students to find career goal and set workable plan accordingly.
When brainstorming the initial prototypes, I came up with some ideas that eventually became the main functions:
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Exploring career choices (personal interests, professional / personality tests)
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Providing job descriptions & other career information
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Generating a skill tree for students to track their progress
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Easily contacting advisors, admins, and alumni





We cooperated to created over 100 mid-fidelity pages, including 3 main functions (Explore, Resources, My Goals) and 2 supporting functions (Message, Settings). I and Li Chai were responsible for the Resources function part.