On the research stage, we wanted to learn about our potential users and share those learnings. To achieve this, we conducted the user interviews and surveys, which among 20+ respondents (Quantitative), along with 5+ interviews (Qualitative). We also created three provisional user personas that were based on the stakeholder interviews and the online research.

We wanted to set the User Personas around the three major use cases we identified when interviewing users.

1. Alice is a Beginner Runner who couldn’t find the motivation.

2. Jack is an Intermediate Runner who goes to the gym 2-3 times a week.

3. Chloe is an Advanced Runner who runs over 40 miles per week.

 How to motivate our users?

Starting from the pain point, we tried to find solutions to solve them. after few discussion with our client, we turned into games, and came up several potential solutions to attract new users.

1. The Competition Mechanism

2. The Rewarding System

🎮🎮🎮 The Competition Mechanism

Our first priority is to design a new feature that can attract more users to develop their stickiness. You are then able to compete in real-time against other runners.

According to the user research we conducted earlier, we got few ideas about how to motivate the new users to join the Joyrun.

• Quick Run - Create a portal that can encourage users to start

• Ranking Run - Users are able to defend an attack other users who are in the same running game.

• Challenge Run- System will post daily challenges and limited time events.

What’s the priority?

After we had the basic ideas, now need to prioritize the features between these three, and figured out which features and initiatives to put on the roadmap and what prioritization frameworks to work on.

So we conducted the comparison table. We listed eight core value of gamification design, and tried to figured out which feature will be the first priority in this project.

Then here is our conclusion, and we started creating wireframes for these three features.

Priority 1 - Ranking Run

Ranking Run will be the most effective and valuable feature among these three.

Priority 2 - Challenge Run

The Challenge Run will also be a fun experience to users that could achieve accomplishment and make them feel challenging.

Priority 3 - Quick Run

Quick Run feature is needed to integrate the plan.

1st Priority: Ranking Run

New users can start the competition by joining the Ranking Run page. Users have the options to choose your record from previous games to join the competition, create a new record to beat the competitor.

STEP 1. PREPARING

The attack represents that users can use their records to challenge other users. 

The defend means users are open to other's running challenge. 

• I decided to use Modal Popup Screen to grab users’ full attention and have them focus on the task.

STEP 2. MATCHING

After choosing the preferable time period to start the game, during the matching process, the system will automatically apply the filters, that only match the competitors around the same rank. Users have 5 seconds to decide if they want to join this competition or not. 

To motivate users to continue to play. We set different game season, and it will last 8 weeks. Each new season signifies a fresh start. To help with this, the system will reset the records, rank and place you slightly lower so you can re-prove yourself by climbing the ladder.

• Always showing the title of the current view in the navigation bar, and help users understand what they’re looking at.

• Use the standard back button and 5s animated button that let users retrace their steps.

STEP 3. WARM-UP & RUNNING

We consider the user’s safety first, warm-up is the crucial part before exercise. Users can see competitors' positions. Users will be noticed by the app when they are falling behind.  

• Color: Use the red and green colors to give feedback in response to user actions, and help them realize what stage they are.

• Tab Bar: Limited the tabs to help the user to locate the information. Users can easily use one hand to tap the lock button and pass button while they are running.

STEP 4. RESULTS & SHARING

After the competition, users will immediately receive the feedback, also receive an incentive such as points and coins that encourage users to share with friends.  

• Scroll Views: It allows users to browse more information on the result page. (It will show a page control element and indicates which one is currently visible.)

• Sharing Action: Additional modal views above the page that provide a convenient way to share the result with social media accounts.

 What’s next？

After we finished the project, we conduct the usability test by sharing both paper prototypes and prototype video, and here are some insights:

Key Learnings

1. Navigation Hierarchy:

Minimize the steps and simplify the flows to optimize the user’s experience was a huge part of the design process. If I have more time during the researching part, I probably will spend more time on the whole flow and how to bring more value to the users.

2. Social Networking :

Bring more users to the app is a world challenge, but one thing I learned after the project is, no matter what kind of app you are designing, you should consider what kind of content you can share with your friends. Word of mouth is the most efficient way to promote a product. Integrating social features into non-social apps is a great way to connect friends, build networks, and keep users coming back to your app.

3. Accessibilities:

As a UX designer, it is important to build empathy and celebrate accessibility requirements as a set of design constraints to build a better product. What I learned and applied for this project:

• Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)

• ALT Tag (For showing images in the browser, but it’s super useful!)

What I tried:

• Apple Watch Interface Redesign: Smartwatches such as the Apple Watch or Motorola’s Moto 360 are growing in use, more and more people are used to wear the smartwatch every day. To make it consistent with our new features, I designed a brand new apple watch interface.

Thank you again for reading! I would love to hear any feedback. Feel free to comment and reach out to me!