Breaking Down Katherine’s Hinge Profile, Part 2

Here are some things about Katherine: she’s super smart, a little silly, and very precise with language, and she knew she needed a partner who could match her on all three.

So she devised a plan: she would use a Hinge prompt to test her potential matches. When people commented on this answer and got it, that immediately earned them some points; people who commented and had clearly misread it, she could savvily weed out.

Katherine told me she’d get so many guys leaving comments along the lines of “I guess I can’t take you out for ice cream then :(“

Guys who were more her speed, on the other hand, understood that this was a clever, unique way to phrase that Katherine, true to her Midwestern roots, is obsessed with all things dairy (“extremely lactose tolerant“).

Once again, we learn something pretty regular about Katherine, but we learn it in a way that is bursting with personality. It’s so easy for your eyes to gloss right over Hinge prompt answers that you feel like you’ve basically seen on a million other profiles; ones that have a unique voice are the ones you’ll stop and pay attention to.

Katherine’s first three photos certainly had personality, but fundamentally they were all smiley and cute. Number 4 is a great place to introduce something different.

I’ll say what we’re all thinking: Katherine is clearly hungover in this photo. And I actually think this is a pretty clever way to let us know a couple of things about her.

1) We learn that she parties, but we learn it in a unique way. It’s not a sloppy, poorly lit photo from a bar that looks like everyone else’s; it’s got a real sense of humor to it.

2) We learn that Katherine doesn’t take herself or her vanity too seriously. She’s not going to be overly manicured; she’s okay with being pretty self deprecating. The caption helps with this—it’s a cute way to show that she’s self aware about what she’s communicating in the photo.

My critique is that this photo is definitely more of a personality pic rather than a fantastic conversation starter. I’m okay with there being a couple of things on your profile that are there just to round out certain sides of you and aren’t specifically engineered to help matches start conversations with you, but it’s always better if they do.

If I had to choose one favorite thing about Katherine’s profile, it would be this prompt answer.

This combines all the elements we’ve learned so far:

• It takes normal things Katherine enjoys (reading, tv, and musicals) and phrases them in utterly unique, interesting ways
• It provides truly countless different avenues to start a conversation with her
• It has a clear, compelling tone of voice
• It helps you identify if you’re going to be a good match with Katherine

Not every prompt answer of yours should be a list of things you enjoy—as we’ve seen, there are other cool ways to capture your personality as well—but having one like this is a must.

As some context for those of you who are not millennials or do not have millennial children: this is Katherine on Halloween dressed as the animated Disney character Kim Possible. The caption does a good job of clearing up any ambiguity over whether this is a costume or not! It’s another great example of using a caption to help steer a conversation—it doesn’t just state a fact (“Dressed up as Kim Possible for Halloween”), it challenges you on your memory of the theme song. So easy to leave a comment!

Much like the “lactose tolerance” prompt, I happen to know from Katherine that she used this photo as a bit of a test.

Her other photos could be described as “cute,” “sweet,” “pretty,” or “silly.” This one is not overtly sexy—she’s dressed as a nostalgic cartoon character, after all—but it hints that she has a bit of a sexier side to her in addition to the sweetness that we’ve seen.

Katherine told me she had this on her profile because of its playful sexiness, and that if anyone left a comment with something interesting about Kim Possible or Halloween that was great. But if someone liked the photo with no comment, or if the comment was about her appearance, she knew the person likely had other things on their mind than a long-term relationship, and she didn’t need to waste her time.

I totally understand why Katherine included this on her profile, but if you’re looking for something serious versus something casual, including a sexier photo comes with a risk. (Side note: it’s totally awesome if you’re on the apps for something casual, too!)

Remember, you can always try out photos and prompts on your profile and see what kinds of reactions you get, and change things out accordingly. The beauty of your dating app is that nothing needs to be permanently set in stone! Keep experimenting to see what does you the most favors.

We’ve reached the final photo on Katherine’s profile! To recap, the first three were clear “this is what Katherine looks like” photos; the second three are more “slice of life” photos.

Not every photo on your profile needs to show you posing for the camera looking your absolute best; in fact, I find those profiles boring. As long as you really establish that you’re an attractive and friendly-seeming person in your first two photos, you have a lot of room to play with in the others to show off your personality.

Things I like about this photo:

• It’s a full-body shot (you should have at least one on your profile)
• It shows Katherine in a social context (I think it’s great to have one photo on your profile with another person; just no group shots with more than 3 people or you’ll get lost in the crowd)
• It’s cute, a little sassy, and shows off that Katherine is a fun hang at parties

Things I have reservations about:

The caption refers to a NYT piece from 2021 about “languishing,” which is both outdated and too niche of a reference. Plus, even if you happen to get the reference, there’s really not a clear in for starting a conversation.

The vast majority of people aren’t going to think that the guy in this photo is either a current or former romantic partner of Katherine’s…. but the fact is, there are some people who get turned off by seeing anything that could be remotely construed as a couple’s photo. Use your discretion, but I generally advise against it.