Connecting users
Forge connections.
Better UX, tap by tap

Cheerio set out to build a social app where people could meet, talk, and play with like-minded strangers. Born during the COVID era, the product needed to feel as effortless as the connection it promised. We helped them get there.

iOS + Android

Platforms

UX Audit

Engagement

Hi-Fi Design

Deliverable

Meet the Client

Cheerio is a social app built for connecting strangers and turning them into friends. Its feature set includes video tables, group chats, live games, gifting, and smart matching. The app aimed to bring back the warm, low-stakes social interactions that the COVID years had largely removed from daily life.

Our engagement focused on the user experience. We conducted a thorough audit of the existing application, redesigned its core user flows, and delivered a high-fidelity design system for both iOS and Android, enabling the team to ship immediately.

Audit to a complete design system, delivered end-to-end.

01 · The problem

A powerful idea, tripped up by the build process.

Cheerio packed all the essentials for a social app: video tables, group chats, live games, gifting, and smart matching. The product was solid, but it simply wasn't reaching its audience.

What We Built:

New users landed without seeing Cheerio's unique value, making discovery unnecessarily slow.
Starting a video table took too many taps. The action that should have felt like opening a door felt like filling out a form.
The charming parts (games, gifts, group banter) were locked behind onboarding gates. Users had to commit before they got to see why.
New users were dropping off before Cheerio could show them why it existed.

More features weren't the answer. We cleared the path to existing ones.

37%

of new users were reaching the page where they could actually try video or chat. The other **63% dropped off** before they ever felt what made Cheerio worth opening.

Source: Cheerio internal product analytics, 2022.

02 · The approach

Audit. Rethink. Redraw.

Through a three-phase process of audit, rethink, and redraw, we delivered an onboarding flow that immediately showcased Cheerio's core appeal. We also established a robust design system for their team to build upon.

Technology Stack

Figma

FigJam

iOS Human Interface Guidelines

Audit, then wireframe

We audited the app screen by screen, identifying friction points and translating business goals into a clear plan: what to fix, keep, or scrap. All flows were wireframed before any visual design.

Pinpointed user friction, screen by screen.
We distilled business goals into a fix, keep, or scrap list.
Wireframes reviewed in workshops with the Cheerio team
Only validated flows proceeded to design.

Designing for genuine connection

A deep purple palette with a confident orange accent. Generous spacing. Compatibility scores up front. A visual language that feels social, not transactional. Premium without being cold.

Deep purple palette, confident orange accent
Generous spacing makes high-density screens breathable.
Instant compatibility scores on first contact.
Visual tone: social, not transactional

We ship working systems, not just files

The Cheerio team received a complete design library: foundations, components, and platform-specific patterns for iOS and Android. Built to ship from, not just admire.

Visual system: type, color, spacing, motion
A unified component library for every UI element.
Native-first design for iOS and Android.
Built to ship from on day one

03 · Where the thinking happened

From the wireframes.

Before a single pixel was painted, every flow lived as a wireframe. Here are the journeys we obsessed over.

WIREFRAME · DISCOVERY FLOW

Bringing people to the forefront, not buried in menus.

A first screen has one job: give the user a reason to tap. We made that reason a person — a face on the home screen, not a menu. Discovery had to handle the obvious lookup patterns (interest, name, location) and one we hadn't planned for at first: the empty-result state. Every variant got its own flow. Onboarding got the same treatment. The pre-app popup wall came out, replaced by small contextual nudges that ask for data only after the user has found a reason to share it.

Wireframe of Cheerio video table flow with call setup, table browsing, and invite screens.

WIREFRAME · VIDEO CALL FLOW

One tap to go live, configure on the way.

Originally, users hit a setup form before they could even start a call. We flipped that. Create now drops you straight into the call — and the setup didn't disappear, it just moved. There's a Create Mode panel inside the call where hosts can rename the table, swap interests on the fly, pull friends in mid-call, or toggle privacy when they need to. None of it requires leaving. The two flows we'd kept from the original — browsing for tables and inviting friends — both shrank from multi-screen to one screen apiece.

A DECISION WORTH ZOOMING IN ON

Prioritize the conversation, not the configuration Delays.

The most impactful change we made to Cheerio was deceptively simple. The initial user flow required a lengthy setup: naming a table, selecting interests, adding a photo, choosing friends, and configuring privacy. This extensive checklist created a barrier between users and their primary goal: connecting with others

Every tap before the fun starts is a tap where users quit. We engineered them out.

7 steps1 tapVideo calls start instantly, setup now lives in an optional in-call panel.

Wireframe of Cheerio live video table with participant grid and bottom game controls.

+30%

Day 1 user retention

+10%

Day 7 retention

+5%

Day 30 retention

The retention bar the redesign was engineered to meet.

04 · Where it landed

Onboarding that gets out of the way.

Cheerio walked away with an onboarding flow that puts the product's charm in front of users in the first session, and a design library the team can keep building from.

First session, not fifth

Users meet the magic the moment they land, not after a setup checklist.

A visual language for product success

Deep purple, confident orange, generous spacing. Reads as social, not as utility.

A design library, not a deliverable

Ship-ready foundations, components, and iOS/Android patterns for the team to deploy immediately.

Faster, clearer insights

Users see Cheerio's unique compatibility scores on first contact, instantly revealing its distinct matching.

Client Testimonial

The SynergyBoat team didn't just design screens for us, they understood what we were building and why it mattered. They pushed back where they needed to, simplified flows we'd overthought, and gave us a product language that genuinely felt like Cheerio. It's rare to find a partner who treats your idea like their own.

Avinash Upadhyay

Founder, Cheerio

Next step

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