ux strategy
ai
startup
shipped 🚢
Timeline
May - September 2023
Role
Founding UX Designer
Collaboration
CEO, CXO, COO, 2 Engineers, 1 Product Manager, and 1 UX Writer
Overview
Think of Duolingo, but for Kindness exercises — KindWorks.AI (NextAI '23) is a Vancouver-based AI startup that helps workplaces practice intentional Kindness through bite-sized personalized exercises. As Beni faces a low daily engagement rate, we upgraded the UX by designing gamification features to encourage daily usage during our startup's critical stage of growth.
how might we
How might we gamify Beni to increase user engagement with limited resources?
deliverable
As the first UX design hire, I led the strategy and design of KindWorks.AI’s first Gamification Design System, boosting user engagement by 30% within 3 months.
problem statement
Users complete bite-sized Kindness exercises 🏋️ sent by our AI agent Beni with enthusiasm and passion — but it's difficult 😔 to follow through on a daily basis 🌱.
solution
A comprehensive gamification UX strategy with a badge collection and progression system, built and shipped within 2 months. Over 70 badges across 5 gamified elements, featuring storylines focused on building and creation.
An accessibility guideline for current and future design. The first internal guideline at KindWorks.AI on color contrast standards, text alternatives, flexible font sizes, and content design.
product context
Our AI agent Beni sends personalized Kindness exercises 🏋️ to encourage the intentional practice of Kindness. With the belief that Kindness is a muscle 💪, daily engagement 🌱 is an essential metric to our product.
platforms
Integrate with workplace communication tools, namely Slack, WhatsApp, and Microsoft Teams
kindness exercises
Send daily bite-sized individual and team Kindness exercises, fostering Kindness practice as a habit
the role of ai
Personalize exercises and deliver Kindness prompts at the optimal times when the user is most likely to engage
To enable long-term habit formation, our product needs to make daily Kindness exercises more rewarding to complete. Our UX challenge here is to implement gamification design with limited resources for better daily engagement.
Startup constraint
As KindWorks.AI is an early-stage startup, I had to work within design constraints — limited time ⏰ and minimal research 🔎 with a sole focus on shipping.
constraints
⏰ Time — We must build and ship a gamification solution within 2 months so that we could launch to 2 new clients.
🔎 Research — The founding team mandates minimal user research and accessibility considerations for faster pace.
what does this mean for design?
💡 A strong focus on velocity.
💡 Reliance on early assumptions and secondary research.
💡 Accessibility, to the founding team, being an afterthought.
Adapting to these constraints as the Founding UX Designer, I was flexible to balance the need to quickly ship an MVP with my commitment to a human-centered solution.
streamlined workflow
I followed an efficient, flexible design process that reduced unnecessary steps, allowing fast iteration
managing stakeholders
I asked for design review every 1-2 days, creating a transparent feedback loop with co-founders and engineers
user advocacy
I backed design decisions with insights and data, ensuring that UX remained a priority regardless of velocity
research
Secondary Research
As our founding team budgeted roughly 1.5 week for research with limited access to user insights, we relied on secondary research and had to make a lot of early assumptions prior to building.
Mental models
I explored Yu-kai Chou’s Octalysis Framework for Gamification and Behavioral Design as the theoretical framework of our design strategy. Based on 20+ years of gamification practice and study, this is a well-regarded model that has stood behind the success of tech giants like Google, Accenture, Tesla, and many other successful habit-forming products.
I narrowed down our focus onto 6 Core Drives that are deemed most relevant to our product.
Market Analysis
I had limited time to explore other successful habit-forming products with strong gamification design — Grammarly, Duolingo, and Instagram for Creators. While Instagram focuses on social interaction, Duolingo effectively turns learning into a game, and Grammarly emphasizes skill improvement.
research takeaway #1
User motivation is central.
📈 Supporting data: Tailoring tasks based on user interests can lead to a 50% increase in completion rates.
Understanding what drives users— whether it's social validation, competition, or skill improvement — is crucial for effective gamification.
research takeaway #2
Reward mechanisms enhance engagement.
📈 Supporting data: A well-structured reward system increases user retention rates by up to 41%.
Immediate feedback through likes, points, or performance stats keeps users motivated and encourages continuous interaction.
research takeaway #3
Community and social features matter.
📈 Supporting data: Apps with social sharing options experience a 22% increase in daily active users.
Incorporating social elements can significantly enhance user engagement, although the extent varies across platforms.
strategize
I formed the HMW statement and gamification UX strategy based on limited user insights that we had.
How Might We Statement
How might we gamify Beni, thereby making it more engaging to use on a daily basis 🌱?
sub-questions
🌐 What are our users' strongest motivators?
💬 What gamified elements are top priority for MVPs?
Early Assumptions without Primary Insights
Due to a lack of primary user interviews and insights, we proceeded with these early assumptions while working closely with a Behavioral Science Consultant.
users' motivations
🌱 Self-improvement — We assume users want to enhance their Kindness practice, driven by personal growth and achievement.
🌱 Meaning — We assume users seek meaning in practicing and completing their Kindness exercises.
🌱 Community recognition — We assume users want to feel recognized within their community for their Kindness practice.
🌱 Curiosity and adventure — We assume users want to engage in new experiences that spark their curiosity and sense of adventure.
gamification strategy
💡 Implement clear metrics and reward systems.
💡 Craft a strong narrative for visual storytelling.
💡 Highlighting how user actions contribute to broader goals or communities.
💡 Ensure Kindness practices are acknowledged publicly.
😃 How do we feel about making these early assumptions?
Our team saw ambiguity as opportunity rather than risk. Although there was a lack of primary research, we were relatively confident to proceed under these assumptions because they are grounded by established human-focused frameworks and relevant market data that strongly center user motivations.
Mapping Our Strategy and Current Assets
outcome
Our MVP solution involves 5 gamified elements: daily streaks, milestone markers, Kindness impact awards, leaderboard, and progress tracker.
overarching ux principles
💡 Consistency — daily streaks
💡 Reward systems and achievements — milestone markers, Kindness impact awards
💡 Personal and community metrics — leaderboard, progress tracker
💡 Sense of purpose — visual storytelling and narrative
launch
Gamification Design System
As the sole UX designer on the team, I collaborated closely with our co-founders, engineers, and content designer to ship gamification within 2 months. We launched more than 70 badges in 4 different gamification categories.
Streaks
Streaks are badges users get to collect based on completing Kindnesses for multiple weeks in a row.
The concept is Garden of Kindness: every act of Kindness is like planting a seed. Using streaks as a consistency cultivating tool, we allow users to grow one garden of Kindness after another.
Milestone markers
Milestone markers are badges users collect based on achieving a certain number of acts of Kindness.
The concept is Kindness habitat: we want to make users feel like they are embarking on a "quest" to "unlock" essential elements for the sustainment of a natural habitat.
Kindness impact awards
Kindness impact awards are based on sporadic moments throughout the user's journey to emphasize the impact they are achieving.
Our narrative-driven design approach hopes to tap into the user's innate desire for meaning and purpose, giving them a sense of accomplishment and excitement.
Validate
How is Beni Performing 1 Month Post-Launch?
After focusing all our efforts on shipping our MVP quickly, we finally gathered primary user feedback through team and individual interviews. We met with users from 2 organizations — a Big 5 bank in Canada and a US-based skincare company with $150 million in annual revenue.
💡 Daily user engagement increases by 30%, with user feedback describing gamified elements as "motivating" and "meaningful."
💡 Daily exercise completion increases by 20%, highlighting that the current strategy drives consistency.
These early positive results suggest the new gamification design is effectively motivating users and driving greater user participation. Moving forward, we plan to continue monitoring these metrics closely and look for opportunities to further optimize the gamification features to sustain and build upon this initial success.
reflection
What did I learn?
Shipping fast beats perfection.
As a startup, we deeply valued being able to ship fast to gain feedback from users right away. This lean UX approach allowed us to validate our problem hypothesis AND ship a solution within 3 months of product development.
Ambiguity presents opportunity.
This experience marks my first exposure to the strategy behind the gamification design of an AI chatbot, a unique habit-forming product that has limited UI real estate. The early-stage startup environment is fast-paced, action-biased, and full of ambiguity, which presents opportunity for innovation, ownership, and creative problem-solving.