[For context: A-Spec people are incredibly diverse, with varying relationship preferences and types of Aromanticism/Asexuality. We’re aiming to create an app that will help connect Asexual and/or Aromantic people across the world and give them the power to search for the specific relationships they want]
Welcome back to part 2 on the features we expect to have in the A-Café Beta. See part 1 here. We have a lot to discuss so let’s get started! (Keep in mind that some features may not look exactly the same in the official Beta, as the photos presented are from the prototype).
When we last talked, you had just input your search criteria and received your search results for individuals. So, what now? Let’s say you want to know more about someone named Eren. To do so, click on her profile.
Here you can read her short bio. It describes in a few sentences who she is and what she’s looking for. To find out more, click on the blue “About” button underneath said bio.
The first part of the “About” section lists basic information pertaining to Eren.
Her orientation, gender, full pronouns, religion, and so on.
The second part, which can be accessed by pressing the “Preferences” button at the top of the screen, describes attributes that she wants her future partner to have.
This includes their orientation, gender, age, religion, child status, drug use, and so on.
In Eren’s case, she wants an Aromantic man who is around her age, and lives close by. Some other important attributes she desires are: not smoking, not drinking unless they’re in social situations, being child-free, being vegetarian or vegan, and so on.
Finally, the last part of the “About” section can be accessed by pressing the “Comfort” button in the upper right-hand corner of the screen.
Here, you’ll see exactly what Eren is and is not okay with regarding common relationship actions.
These actions include: Sex, Romance, Touch, Petnames, Kinks, and Polyamoury. For each topic, there is a text box which you can use to specifically describe your preferences. Above each box, is a slider to visually represent how strongly you like or dislike certain actions.
In Eren’s case, we can see that she loves Touch, and sensual affection in general. Her text box says: “I love cuddling, hugging, holding hands, kissing, etc.”.
Alright, you’ve learned a lot about Eren, and you seem to fit her criteria. How do you get in contact with her?
First, go back to her main profile page. There you’ll find a “friend request” button. If you click it, Eren will be notified that someone is interested in her. She can then choose whether or not to accept your request. If she does, you will be allowed to start a private conversation with her.
In A-Café, you cannot message someone out of the blue. And no one can surprise message you either, (except for the app’s Moderators of course). This helps prevent you from being contacted by users who don’t fit your criteria at all, or who are obviously trolls.
This can remain true even in Group settings (if you so choose). Speaking of which, how do you join Groups?
If you remember, Groups can be found in much the same way that individual people can. You input search criteria, and are met with a list of results. You can also switch between the two categories via the “Sort By” button.
In this case, let’s say that the Group “Hawaiian A-Specs” has caught your eye.
By clicking on their picture, you’re met with three descriptive sections: “Who are we”, “Meeting Times”, and “Activities”.
The Hawaiian A-Specs are “A club for adult A-Spec friends who like drawing, painting, and hanging out while creating in general!”
As for their meeting times, it depends on whether it’s offline or online, but generally they meet on Mondays and Fridays from 5 – 7 pm, (GMT timezone).
Finally, their activities include: “Drawing, Painting, and Chatting.”
Hey, that sounds like a fun group for an artist like you! Why not join them by clicking the “Join Request” button?
The group’s moderators will be sent a notification that you’re interested, and hopefully grant you access to their space. This might seem unnecessary compared to before; why should people request to join a group?
Fortunately, Group mods will be able to choose which parts of their group are public or private. This means that for some groups, you have to be “let in” by the mods to see or do anything.
But in other groups, you might be able to view upcoming events or see the group feed. It all depends on what the mods of those groups decide.
But we’ll get into all of that and more, next time! Until then, thanks for reading!
