MeteorMate

Overview

MeteorMate is a student-built roommate-matching platform for the 20,000+ student population at the University of Texas at Dallas. The app simplifies the housing search with Tinder-style swiping, a personalized matching algorithm, and an accessible onboarding process.

In addition to leading the UX design and collaborating closely with developers, I created the new brand identity for MeteorMate — including the logo and visual system that ties the product’s theme to space, comets, and meteors. I also introduced a custom star texture background that became a signature part of the app’s UI and marketing materials.

The Challenge

Before MeteorMate, students relied on fragmented solutions like Facebook groups and outdated roommate boards. Problems included:

• No filtering for lifestyle compatibility.

• Lack of trust from unverified users.

• Bland, generic visuals that didn’t engage students or inspire confidence.

We needed to design a functional product with a memorable brand that students would immediately associate with roommate matching at UTD.

My Role & Responsibilities:

UX Design Leadership

• Directed the design vision and maintained consistency across all features.

• Provided feedback to other designers in the ACM Development club.

• Balanced usability goals with developer constraints.

Brand Identity Creations

• Designed the new MeteorMate logo inspired by space and comet imagery.

• Added custom star textures to reinforce the theme visually across screens.

• Developed a color palette and typography system for brand cohesion.

Feature Design

Landing Page — Finalized the hero layout and feature grid, integrating brand elements and star textures.

Sign-Up Flow — Designed an intuitive onboarding process that gathers roommate preferences without overwhelming the user.

Swipe Interface — Created the main card-swiping UI for roommate discovery, blending clean usability with brand aesthetics.

Design Process

1. Discovery & Research

• Conducted student interviews to identify top roommate-matching criteria

• Researched existing swipe-based and housing apps for inspiration

2. Wireframing & Prototyping

• Sketched low-fidelity layouts and iterated in Figma with developer feedback

• Added branding early in prototypes to validate visual direction

3. High-Fidelity UI & Branding

• Finalized a flat, modern logo with meteor-inspired curves and gradients

• Incorporated star fields into landing pages, backgrounds, and marketing assets

4. Developer Handoff

• Delivered annotated Figma files with responsive rules and brand usage guidelines

Key Screens & Visuals

• Landing Page with brand-aligned hero and call-to-action

• Sign-Up Flow with progressive forms and preference tagging

• Tinder-Style Swipe UI as the app’s core interaction

• Logo & Brand Assets applied consistently across UI and print

Expected Impact (In Development)

• Reduce roommate search time significantly

• Improve match satisfaction rates via preference-based algorithms

• Build strong brand recognition across the UTD student community

What’s Next

• Usability testing on both swipe and sign-up flows

• Expanding the brand kit with social templates and event banners

• Designing and finalizing next screens for dev handoff.