Level Up App
A 4 week sprint to develop a gamifiied productivity app for the Gen Z and Millenial customer.
My Role: Product Vision & UI/UX Design | App Animations | Case Study | Research, Customer Interviews and Testing | Documenting Patterns
Time Frame: 4 Week Sprint
Background: Team Personal Project | Barcelona Code School
Tools: Figma / Figjam / Notion / Miro / Illustrator
DISCOVERY
OPPORTUNITY STATEMENT The Opportunity: As young adults (Millennials and Gen Z) spend more and more time online, this takes more of their social life online too. At the same time, productivity, self-betterment and the pursuit of ¨main character vibes¨ are values firmly entrenched in the cultural zeitgeist which leaves young people feeling highly motivated and even at times pressurised to pursue and achieve personal goals within a shared culture with their friends. Ther The Outcome: A mobile app that enables young adults to set up their own personalised challenges and goals to share, compete and have fun with friends.. |
Assumption Matrix
Desk Research Summary
Age Profile of Gamers:
Two-thirds of people in the US under 18 years old play video games online, 48.3% of the population (162.9 million people) playing games on their smartphones.
The median age of gamers in Europe is 31.3, with 76 per cent of players being over the age of 18.
Mobile App Usage:
Good firms surveyed 450+ global mobile app users to study apps usage. Participants 68.55% male and belonged to ages - 18-24 (11.69%), 25-34 (56.85%), 35-44 (23.79%), 45-54 (6.85%), 55-64 (0.40%), and 65+ (0.40%).
People get to know apps via friends and family (69%), app stores and websites.
For 96.77% of the users, Productivity Apps are the most dominant kind of apps on mobile.
Gaming apps were reported being dominant on their phones by 46.37% of people.
Gaming Growth Potential:
The global gamification market is projected to grow from $9.1 billion in 2020 to $30.7 billion by 2025, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 27.4%.
Gen Z:
73% of Gen Z believe they need more self-expression to live a happy, healthy life.
33% of Gen Z said they see no difference between their online and offline selves and 35% say those selves are very similar.
33% of Gen Z even went as far as to say that their online identity is their most authentic self.
55% Gen Z say that they find the internet a more creative space than anything they experience offline.
Appetite for personalisation:
In the past year 2022, 65% of Gen Zers have spent money on virtual items within a game. But digital goods will break out of gaming and spread into the mainstream – so we’ll see brands unleashing proprietary assets and virtual spaces in response i.e. Metaverse. As of September 2021, $80.4bn was locked in different decentralised finance (DeFi) applications (The Block, 2021).
Roblox has 36.2 million users a day, with 54% of them under the age of 13 (many of whom spent a total of nearly $700 million in the first nine months of 2020).
Gamification & Motivation:
72% of people say gamification motivates them to do tasks and work harder on the job/task.
The adoption of gamification is increasing across industries, including education, healthcare, retail, and corporate training.
Gamified e-learning platforms are gaining popularity, especially for corporate training and education. The gamification of learning materials was shown to improve engagement and knowledge retention.
Mobile apps and games are a key driver of gamification, with a growing number incorporating gamified elements to enhance user engagement.
Gamification is increasingly used in health and fitness apps, motivating users to achieve goals, track their health, and maintain healthy habits.
Gamification App Users:
There are 13 main types of B2C users who commonly use gamification apps for various purposes:
1. Fitness Enthusiasts
2. Language Learners
3. Mobile Gamers
4. Personal Development Seekers
5. Loyalty Program Participants
6. Health and Wellness Trackers
7. Trivia and Quiz Enthusiasts
8. Social Engagement and Networking
9. Finance and Budgeting
10. Mental Health and Wellbeing
11. Home Organization and Productivity
12. Entertainment and Leisure
13. Dating and Relationship Building
Gamification User Types:
There are six types of users described with four basic intrinsic types; Achiever, Socialiser, Philanthropist and Free Spirit. They are motivated by Relatedness, Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose – RAMP.
Socialisers are motivated by Relatedness. They want to interact with others and create social connections.
Free Spirits are motivated by Autonomy and self-expression. They want to create and explore.
Achievers are motivated by Mastery. They are looking to learn new things and improve themselves. They want challenges to overcome.
Philanthropists are motivated by Purpose and Meaning. This group are altruistic, wanting to give to other people and enrich the lives of others in some way with no expectation of reward.
Players are motivated by Rewards. They will do what is needed of them to collect rewards from a system. They are in it for themselves.
Disruptors are motivated by Change. In general, they want to disrupt your system, either directly or through other users to force positive or negative change.
Sources:
Two-thirds of people in the US under 18 years old play video games online, 48.3% of the population (162.9 million people) playing games on their smartphones.
The median age of gamers in Europe is 31.3, with 76 per cent of players being over the age of 18.
Mobile App Usage:
Good firms surveyed 450+ global mobile app users to study apps usage. Participants 68.55% male and belonged to ages - 18-24 (11.69%), 25-34 (56.85%), 35-44 (23.79%), 45-54 (6.85%), 55-64 (0.40%), and 65+ (0.40%).
People get to know apps via friends and family (69%), app stores and websites.
For 96.77% of the users, Productivity Apps are the most dominant kind of apps on mobile.
Gaming apps were reported being dominant on their phones by 46.37% of people.
Gaming Growth Potential:
The global gamification market is projected to grow from $9.1 billion in 2020 to $30.7 billion by 2025, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 27.4%.
Gen Z:
73% of Gen Z believe they need more self-expression to live a happy, healthy life.
33% of Gen Z said they see no difference between their online and offline selves and 35% say those selves are very similar.
33% of Gen Z even went as far as to say that their online identity is their most authentic self.
55% Gen Z say that they find the internet a more creative space than anything they experience offline.
Appetite for personalisation:
In the past year 2022, 65% of Gen Zers have spent money on virtual items within a game. But digital goods will break out of gaming and spread into the mainstream – so we’ll see brands unleashing proprietary assets and virtual spaces in response i.e. Metaverse. As of September 2021, $80.4bn was locked in different decentralised finance (DeFi) applications (The Block, 2021).
Roblox has 36.2 million users a day, with 54% of them under the age of 13 (many of whom spent a total of nearly $700 million in the first nine months of 2020).
Gamification & Motivation:
72% of people say gamification motivates them to do tasks and work harder on the job/task.
The adoption of gamification is increasing across industries, including education, healthcare, retail, and corporate training.
Gamified e-learning platforms are gaining popularity, especially for corporate training and education. The gamification of learning materials was shown to improve engagement and knowledge retention.
Mobile apps and games are a key driver of gamification, with a growing number incorporating gamified elements to enhance user engagement.
Gamification is increasingly used in health and fitness apps, motivating users to achieve goals, track their health, and maintain healthy habits.
Gamification App Users:
There are 13 main types of B2C users who commonly use gamification apps for various purposes:
1. Fitness Enthusiasts
2. Language Learners
3. Mobile Gamers
4. Personal Development Seekers
5. Loyalty Program Participants
6. Health and Wellness Trackers
7. Trivia and Quiz Enthusiasts
8. Social Engagement and Networking
9. Finance and Budgeting
10. Mental Health and Wellbeing
11. Home Organization and Productivity
12. Entertainment and Leisure
13. Dating and Relationship Building
Gamification User Types:
There are six types of users described with four basic intrinsic types; Achiever, Socialiser, Philanthropist and Free Spirit. They are motivated by Relatedness, Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose – RAMP.
Socialisers are motivated by Relatedness. They want to interact with others and create social connections.
Free Spirits are motivated by Autonomy and self-expression. They want to create and explore.
Achievers are motivated by Mastery. They are looking to learn new things and improve themselves. They want challenges to overcome.
Philanthropists are motivated by Purpose and Meaning. This group are altruistic, wanting to give to other people and enrich the lives of others in some way with no expectation of reward.
Players are motivated by Rewards. They will do what is needed of them to collect rewards from a system. They are in it for themselves.
Disruptors are motivated by Change. In general, they want to disrupt your system, either directly or through other users to force positive or negative change.
Sources:
- https://www.insiderintelligence.com/insights/us-gaming-industry-ecosystem/
- https://www.goodfirms.co/resources/app-download-usage-statistics-to-know#:~:text=Productivity%20Ranks%20First%20Among%20Most,kind%20of%20apps%20on%20mobile.
- https://www.mordorintelligence.com/industry-reports/gamification-market
- https://openresearch.ocadu.ca/id/eprint/3005/1/Davies_Amy_2020_MDES_SFI_MRP.pdf
- YMS, 2021
- https://www.zippia.com/advice/gamification-statistics/
- https://www.gamified.uk/user-types/
Discovery Survey - Main Takeaways
55 respondents to a survey questionnaire. 66% of respondents were aged 18-34 years old.
- 1FRIENDS ARE IMPORTANTSpending time with friends in their spare time was the most important thing for respondents when asked about their ideal day or weekend.
- 2OUR USER IS PURSUING GOALS64% said that they were currently pursuing monthly or weekly personal goals.
48% said they were currently tracking these goals and had experience with tracking apps.
50% said they were currently pursuing group goals with friends.
56% said that they could imagine themselves participating in shared goals with a wider online community such as an environmental cause. - 3PLAYING MOBILE GAMES IS SOCIAL61% said they enjoy playing games for productivity.
62.5% said they preferred to play games with friends.
Competing with others, entertainment reasons, and the feeling of achieving something were the 3 top reasons respondents gave for playing games.
Discovery Interviews
2 interviews were conducted in person with target customers. A further interview with a group of 4 friends was conducted via Zoom.
- WolfieSales Manager, 31 years old
" I think that it would be cool if you could also punish the loser, not just reward the winner. For things like housemate challenges would work well." - PedroSoftware Engineer, 20 years old
" I want somewhere where I can set challenges or tasks to compete with my friends, where you get points for completing tasks and also you set your own rules." - AnaMarketing Associate, 21 years old
" My perfect day is getting up early and working out, completing some work, and hanging out on the beach and out to dinner, all with my friends. I don´t want to waste the day." - LuisaBio-Medicine Student 21 years old
" Competing with my friends is a strong motivator to take part in a challenge. If I´m tracking it in an app I don´t want the process to take a long time, it needs to be easy and fast."
Discovery Summary
In summary, our app should focus on fostering friendly competition with gamified elements. The design should be simple, easy to use and promote social interaction. Personalisation options and rewards should also be present to cater to user preferences.
- 1FOSTER COMPETITIONUsers are motivated by competition and the sense of winning, making gamification an attractive approach.
- 2A SIMPLE & EASY DESIGNThe app's design should prioritize simplicity and ease of use to ensure user engagement.
- 3KEEP IT SOCIALSocial interaction and the ability to create challenges with friends is important. Users prefer sharing progress and competing with people they know, highlighting the importance of a strong social and interactive element in the app.
- 4OFFER REWARDS TO BOOST PARTICIPATIONIn addition to the simple act of ´winning´, offering tangible, even in the form of gift cards or subscriptions, can significantly boost user participation.
- 5INCLUDE PERSONALISATION FEATURESFlexible personalisation features should be incorporated to allow users to tailor challenges according to their needs. They should be able to set their own rules, forfeits, prizes and tasks to complete their challenges.
- 6KEEP THE USER IN MINDInstagram and Tiktok Influencers and people online who share relatable yet aspirational levelling up provide inspiration for users when it comes to their own goal-setting and progress tracking behaviors. We should always keep this in mind when building a design experience for the user to make sure its relatable but also aspirational.
DEFINE
MVP Challenge Completion: Drawing on all learnings in the discovery phase, the MVP would be a mobile app that allows users to create their own challenges for different activities to increase their individual and group productivity. Most importantly, the app would will help them to manage these activities in a fun, enjoyable and engaging way and incorporate a competition element by allowing users to set their own challenges and rules with their friends and other people they know. To complete/win a challenge, users must complete the various tasks or milestones in order to receive an x amount of points which have have been set with the person who has made and invited them to that game. The winner of the challenge is the one who has achieved the most points within a certain period of time, as defined by the game owner. Every game or challenge is different since the personalisation element for users is crucial. |
Information Architecture - End Points
Information Architecture - Main User Flow
Information Architecture - Site Map
User Persona
Heuristic Analysis
IDEATE
Style Guide
The visual identity of Level Up is based on the concept of the app providing a gamified online space where friends can have fun, interact compete and be their best selves. The Style Guide draws inspiration from the Metaverse (such as Decentraland and Roblox) when it comes to gamified brand experiences like Paris Hilton World and Nike and how Gen Z and Millenial users want and expect to experience their time online.
The selected typeface Futura is highly geometric and symmetrical with clean and precise proportions. It has a modern look with great readability, bringing an easy style to the visual identity. Emojis, avatars and animations bring an engaging and digitally up-to-date look and feel.
The colour of the year for 2023 ¨Digital Lavender¨ is the primary colour selected, representing wellness and digital escapism. Already embedded in digital culture, this imaginative colour helps to converge the user experience across virtual and physical worlds and is a gender-inclusive colour already established in the youth market, and more broadly across fashion product categories.
We went onto the streets of Barcelona to test this concept with our target customer and it clear that this Visual ID resonated the most.
The selected typeface Futura is highly geometric and symmetrical with clean and precise proportions. It has a modern look with great readability, bringing an easy style to the visual identity. Emojis, avatars and animations bring an engaging and digitally up-to-date look and feel.
The colour of the year for 2023 ¨Digital Lavender¨ is the primary colour selected, representing wellness and digital escapism. Already embedded in digital culture, this imaginative colour helps to converge the user experience across virtual and physical worlds and is a gender-inclusive colour already established in the youth market, and more broadly across fashion product categories.
We went onto the streets of Barcelona to test this concept with our target customer and it clear that this Visual ID resonated the most.
Low Fi Screens
Mid Fi Screens
Mid Fi Testing Key Takeaways
5Interviewees were taken through the mid-fi flow and asked to give their feedback on the functionality, orientation and clarity of the design.
- 1MULTI-SCOREBOARD DESIGN WAS NOT CLEARTesters did not understand or notice the scoreboard carousel design to view a main overview scoreboard and then individual task scoreboards. Therefore they missed interaction and navigation to view the individual task boards completely.
- 2¨UPDATE A TASK¨ BUTTON WAS CONFUSINGThe plus button to symbolise ¨update a task¨ was not clear for testers. The plus was not a clear signal to update a task and was understood by testers to signal ¨add a new task¨ which was confusing in the context of an pre set-up game.
- 3SOCIAL INTERACTION WAS MISSING
Testers missed a way to interact between players like a chat or group message function.
- 4MORE EASE & FLEXIBILITY WANTEDTesters expressed a wish for more flexibility in the parameters required for a task update such as not adding a date or having image as optional.
MID FI CONCLUSIONS
We need to...
Develop a toggle button design to make it clear to users that they can switch between main scoreboard view and individual task scoreboard view.
Redesign the ¨update task button¨ to make it as easy and clear as possible for users - removing the plus symbol, writing clear copy and bringing the button to the front and centre of the main game homepage (scoreboard).
Add a group message function to allow players to interact in the game.
Make adding a task more easy, flexible and faster - by removing the date for task upload and making some parameters for the user optional depending on the task.
Redesign the ¨update task button¨ to make it as easy and clear as possible for users - removing the plus symbol, writing clear copy and bringing the button to the front and centre of the main game homepage (scoreboard).
Add a group message function to allow players to interact in the game.
Make adding a task more easy, flexible and faster - by removing the date for task upload and making some parameters for the user optional depending on the task.
Prototype Screens
Prototype Recording
VALIDATE
Prototype Interviews
3 interviews were conducted in person with target customers. A further interview was conducted via Zoom.
- AndySoftware Engineer, 28 years old
“I think if I didn’t know some of the players so well then remembering who is who only from Avatars on the scoreboard would be a bit confusing.” - PedroSoftware Engineer, 20 years old
“I love that the design is fun but also simple and clean. I honestly didn’t realise you could see the scoreboard by task as well as overall. It would have been better if this was clearer, then I would have used it to see how I was doing on certain tasks.” - BrunoSoftware Engineer, 22 years old
“It would be great if the messenger chat was actually live so I could talk to my friends and react to things they have done while they are also online”. - Ana
Marketing Associate, 21 years old
“I love the victory song idea, that´s super cool”.
Prototype Testing Key Takeaways
Overall the app received positive feedback from users regarding the UI, visual identity and engaging animations featured in the app. However, clear improvement points arose from testing. Feedback from test users all cited similar pain points, questions and comments and therefore led us to prioritise three main design aspects to iterate:
- 1SWITCH BETWEEN MAIN SCOREBOARD & PER TASK IS UNCLEARMany test users did not even notice you could see the scoreboard in the main view and broken down per task. A clearer design of toggles to switch between the two should be prioritised to improve orientation and clarity.
- 2AVATARS ARE FUN BUT AMBIGUOUS SIGNIFIERSAdding a name to profiles to make players more recognisable and clear would be a welcome addition for Users to orientate themselves.
- 3LIVE INTERACTION IS KEYAll users wanted a way to interact live with players directly in the app when they were playing the game. Therefore it is clear the current message function should be updated into a live chat messenger to enable live communication and reactions between players.
ITERATE
Design Solution 1 - Improved toggle for Scoreboards
Card visuals with outlined colour to highlight to the user that they can view multiple scoreboards.
Design Solution 2 - Names added to avatars
Profile names added to each player and their avatar to improve the clarity and orientation of the user to keep track of the competition.
Design Solution 3 - Messenger adapted to live chat
To enable users to interact directly with their friends when playing the game the messenger function was updated to become a live and more interactive chat, allowing users to react to eachother´s updates as well as live chat.
SUMMARY
This project was a flawed success: Feasibility: Working closely with a software engineer we were able to get the app into pre-production, ensuring our designs were able to be implemented to the engineer's parameters. Desirability: Throughout the project we received consistent positive feedback from users about the aesthetic design and style of the product. Viability: Clear user feedback that came out of testing rounds is that some key aspects remain unclear, particularly regarding how the player profile correlates with which avatar and getting the balance of fun and engaging elements with ease and clarity of use. Furthermore if or how this product would survive the market remains unclear due to lack of dissemination plan and strength of the user appetite. |
