Designing for Motivation: Applying the Octalysis Framework to Lightroom Mobile
by Jessica Kende, Staff Product Designer at
As a product designer on Lightroom Mobile, I spend a lot of time thinking about what keeps users coming back — not just once or twice, but consistently over time. In a world flooded with mobile photography apps, how do we design experiences that not only work well, but feel good to use?
Recently, I’ve been exploring the Octalysis Framework, created by gamification expert Yu-kai Chou. It’s a powerful lens for understanding human motivation, and it’s helped me think more deeply about how we design features that resonate on a personal level with our users.
What is the Octalysis Framework?
At its core, the Octalysis Framework breaks motivation down into eight core drives that influence human behavior:
1. Epic Meaning & Calling
2. Development & Accomplishment
3. Empowerment of Creativity & Feedback
4. Ownership & Possession
5. Social Influence & Relatedness
6. Scarcity & Impatience
7. Unpredictability & Curiosity
8. Loss & Avoidance
These drives can be categorized as “White Hat” (feel-good, long-term) and “Black Hat” (urgent, compelling) motivators. The beauty of Octalysis is that it helps us balance these motivations to create more engaging, ethical, and delightful product experiences.
How We’re Applying It to Lightroom Mobile on the Growth team
At Lightroom, we serve a global community of photographers; from casual creators to professionals. Each user comes with different goals, but one thing is constant: photography is emotional. Our users are capturing memories, telling stories, building creative identities.
Here’s how we’re beginning to reflect these motivations in our design:
1. Development & Accomplishment
We’ve been exploring ways to help users feel a sense of progression, whether it’s through educational content, celebrating editing streaks, or highlighting growth in editing skills over time.
2. Empowerment of Creativity & Feedback
Lightroom is fundamentally a creative tool. That means giving users powerful editing features , but also helping them feel confident using them. We’re investing in real-time feedback, guided edits, and social validation through community galleries.
3. Ownership & Possession
Your edits, your look, your aesthetic , these are yours. We’re thinking about how to make that ownership more tangible, whether through saved presets, albums, or customizable spaces within the app.
4. Social Influence & Relatedness
Photography is a form of expression, and sharing is core to that. We’re learning from our users about how they want to connect, collaborate, and be seen not just on social platforms, but within the Lightroom ecosystem itself; like in our community which we call Discover.
5. Scarcity & Curiosity
We’ve experimented with use-limited filters, surprise challenges, and seasonal content all designed to keep things feeling fresh, rewarding, and just a little unpredictable.
A Responsible Approach to Motivation
Gamification gets a bad rap when it’s used to manipulate. But when applied thoughtfully, it can create more human-centered, emotionally intelligent products. The Octalysis Framework gives us a vocabulary and structure to do just that.
Designing for motivation isn’t about tricking users into coming back — it’s about understanding what drives them, what excites them, and how we can support those goals.
For Lightroom Mobile, that means empowering creativity, celebrating progress, and building meaningful connections around photography.
And that’s a challenge I’m excited to keep designing for.
Want to learn more?
You can explore the full Octalysis Framework here, or reach out , I’m always happy to chat with fellow designers interested in thoughtful motivation design.
