Gifted app
How we made starting new hobbies one swipe fast
When
Month, 2024
Client
Gifted
Industry
B2C, Match making
Product Design
Brand Identity
App Design
Gifted is a swiping mobile app that connects users for skills exchange, fostering a community of continuous learning and personal growth.
/ problem statement
Background
The demand for peer-to-peer skill exchange is growing as people seek flexible, hands-on learning beyond traditional courses. Platforms like Tandem (10M+ downloads), Meetup (60M+ users), and Italki (5M+ users) show that learning through real connections is on the rise.
However, most platforms focus on one-way learning rather than true skill exchange. Gifted App fills this gap—empowering users to teach, learn, and grow together in a dynamic, social, and rewarding way.
Key Problem
Aspiring learners struggle to find accessible and supportive ways to start new hobbies. Additionally, learning alone can feel isolating, making it harder to stay motivated. While potential mentors lack opportunities to practice teaching in an informal, confidence-building environment.
/ user-centric approach
Whom Does It Impact?
Aspiring Learners: Individuals who want to try a new hobby but feel intimidated, lack guidance, or fear failure. Without a supportive space, many hesitate to start or lose motivation quickly.
Aspiring Mentors: Skilled individuals considering teaching but lacking experience or confidence. They need a low-pressure space to practice, refine their approach, and gain trust in their abilities.
UX Research
To gain a better understanding of user engagement with skills exchange process, we run both qualitative and quantitative research. We conducted a survey with 24 participants and conducted interview with 3 people from our target audience.
Survey Goal:
The survey aimed to quantify the barriers to skill exchange engagement, focusing on safety concerns, motivation for personal growth, fear of failure, loneliness, and preferences for beginner-friendly learning paths.
Interview Goal:
The interviews aimed to gain qualitative insights into users' safety concerns, motivations, fear of failure, loneliness, and the elements needed to create a safe and engaging environment for skill exchange.
Key Research Insights:
Our research uncovered existing barriers preventing users from engaging in skill exchange, both as learners and aspiring mentors
People shared with us their safety concerns, showed high level of motivation for personal grow. Most of users voiced a sometimes coming feeling of loneliness and desire to meet new people in informal ways.
These findings indicate that users need engaging, low-pressure environments with trust-building mechanisms to boost confidence in both learning and teaching.
/ design process
Design Hypothesis
If we help 50% of sign ups users to get a good match within 2 days, they are more likely to continue with chosen hobby and recommend our app to other people.
By prioritizing such a personalized matching and trust-building mechanisms we will remove entry barriers to learning and teaching, making skill exchange more accessible and rewarding.
User Flow
Skill Matching & Exchange
/ solution presentation
Design Solutions
Solution 1. Beginner-Friendly Onboarding & Direct Matching → personalized recommendations prioritize mentors with same interests in learning/sharing preferences.
Users are being recommended educators for passive learners who needs guidance or be facilitated to be matched.
Solution 2.Community& Credit-Based Learning System → Users earn credits for teaching and redeem them to learn new skills.
Users are searching themselves from the community page, for the proactive learners who are active in general and needs information or data points or need to compare in order to select an educator.
/ impact and results
Outcomes
Beginners need supportive way to try out new skills and safe judgment free learning space. We designed an engaging, informal skill exchange platform that provides low-pressure, hands-on experiences.
First-time mentors struggle sometimes with confidence. Structured lesson planning tools and feedback loops help them refine their teaching approach.
Trust and credibility drive engagement. A review/rating system and verified profiles ensure safe, reliable skill exchanges.
Community and motivation improve retention. Gamification and in-person meetups encourage long-term participation.
By implementing these solutions, Gifted App removes fears of failure for beginners while empowering mentors to gain teaching experience in a supportive environment.
Unique Selling Point
Gifted App removes the biggest barriers to starting a new hobby by providing structured, low-pressure learning opportunities and a safe space for aspiring mentors to practice teaching.
Unlike traditional learning platforms, it prioritizes real-world practice over rigid courses, allowing users to ease into learning and teaching with structured support, feedback, and trust-building features. This makes skill exchange more accessible, supportive, and confidence-boosting than ever before.
Next steps
With a 15,000-member Facebook community, the first phase will focus on testing engagement, refining matching algorithms, and strengthening trust-building features to create a seamless skill exchange experience.
Success will be measured through user adoption, retention rates, and skill exchange completion rates to optimize the platform’s effectiveness.
