It is said that you are only as successful as your last gig. Well, then we’re especially proud to announce that one of our latest projects has won an app design award for our client. The social networking app OUTlife has been named a Silver Winner of the 2016 [app] design awards.

What makes us even more proud is the cause driving the app: OUTlife was created to empower all gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people. The Macoscope design team is fully responsible for the app’s look and feel.

A Social Networking App for the LGBTQ Community

OUTlife includes features that enable the LGBTQ community to easily share their experiences, personal stories, and meet new people in a safe and hate-free environment. It is not just another dating app, but a secure community designed with a strong focus on friendships and mutual support in mind.

Designing a Social Networking App

When it comes to design, we decided on a neutral color palette, clear iconography, and minimalist typography to enable the users to focus on what’s most important: the content, their experiences, and friendships. Although bold blue and pink are OUTlife’s main brand colors, we decided against using them as the primary app colors. Such a strong and vibrant combination could easily overwhelm the overall look and feel of the application, making the user-generated content stand out less. We introduced a slightly blue-tinted greyscale color scheme with blue and pink accents representing states and actions.

Due to numerous advantages in terms of development, it was decided that the app will be shipped only for iOS devices with at least iOS 9. This only reinforced the decision to stay with the system font: Apple’s brand new San Francisco.

User Experience in a Social Networking App

Simple, slender, clear iconography has been created with the thought of making OUTlife usage more approachable and convenient.

To empower communication among users we designed an icon set that makes OUTlife visually unique.

Communication in a Social Networking App

The task of communicating every inspiring story, captured moment, and shared article across the timelines of friends and followers was entrusted to a simple, material design-inspired card.

Privacy in a Social Networking App

By design and by principle, all data remains safe and private within this secure and free-to-use community and our designs enhance and communicate the resulting feeling of safety and welcome.

User profiles and pictures are encrypted and will never be sold or show up on Google or other search engines. So, no matter whether user is open about their sexuality, single or in a relationship, in OUTlife they are free to be friends with whomever they want and to simply be themselves. OUTlife empowers members of all sexual minorities to meet new friends, find old ones, and grow their LGBTQ network of friendships and mutual support across the entire globe.

You can see the detailed case study on our profile on Behance.

Planning to launch your own social networking app? Let’s schedule a meeting to discuss a solution package tailored to your requirements. With more than 7 years of experience under our belt, we offer help with all the stages your apps needs to go through to be ready for launch.