Game On: UI Design Meets Gamification

What if everyday tasks like clicking buttons and scrolling became fun?

7 min readMay 20, 2023

The battlefield falls silent, save for the pounding heartbeat in your ears. One bullet left. You take a breath, aim, and — victory! That triumphant rush, the exhilaration of beating a challenge, the sheer joy of achievement — these aren’t feelings we typically associate with everyday digital tasks. Yet, they encapsulate the essence of gamification in UI design. It’s about transforming interactions with apps, websites, or online forms from merely functional to genuinely enjoyable, turning the mundane into an adventure.

The game has changed in the world of user interface design. An increasing number of products are using gamification, or the integration of game elements in non-game contexts, to enhance the user experience. It’s no longer just about having a usable interface; it’s about creating a memorable, engaging, and rewarding experience for users.

Welcome to the Age of Gamification

We are in the midst of the age of gamification, where game-like elements pervade everyday experiences. Points, badges, levels, and leaderboards have found their way into areas as diverse as education, fitness, finance, and, of course, user interface design.

Gamification is the process of applying game design elements and principles in non-gaming contexts to increase user engagement and motivation. It can involve incorporating elements such as points, badges, leaderboards, levels, rewards, and challenges into various platforms and activities.

The goal is to make an activity more interesting and engaging, thereby encouraging users to interact more deeply or frequently with a product, service, or task. Gamification can be used in various sectors such as education, business, health and fitness, and marketing, to improve user engagement, data quality, timeliness, and learning.

Duolingo gamified user interface helps people have fun while learning

Take, for instance, the popular language-learning app Duolingo. Its interface is designed to feel more like a game than a typical learning platform, offering users XP (experience points) for completed lessons, streaks for continuous days of learning, and a leaderboard to ignite a sense of friendly competition. And it works. Users engage with the platform regularly, encouraged by these gamified elements.

How Gamification Reshapes UI Design

When we hear the term ‘gamification,’ we often think of games, but that’s just the surface. Gamification in UI design is about harnessing the motivational power of games to drive user engagement, satisfaction, and loyalty.

Imagine opening a productivity app for the first time. You’re greeted with a friendly tutorial presented as a quest, guiding you through the app’s features step by step. As you explore, you earn points, unlocking new features or customizations. Instead of feeling overwhelmed, you’re engaged, maybe even a little excited. It’s no longer about ‘having to learn to use a new app’, it’s about wanting to explore and level up.

Before and after Gamifying Cred reward card

Level Up: The Impact of Gamification

It’s one thing to say gamification enhances user engagement and experience, but it’s quite another to back it up with data. Let’s explore the significant, measurable impacts of gamification in various sectors:

1. User Engagement and Retention

Gamified applications can see a substantial increase in user engagement and retention. According to a report by TalentLMS, 85% of employees would spend more time on software that was gamified. Further, gamified mobile apps have a 29% better retention rate on day one and retention rate improvements of 36% and 34% on day 7 and day 30 respectively.

2. Learning and Productivity

Gamification also has a notable impact on learning and productivity. Research by eLearning Industry found that gamified e-learning platforms could increase learning engagement by 60% and boost productivity by up to 50%.

3. Health and Fitness

Fitness and health apps like Fitbit and MyFitnessPal have utilized gamification effectively. Users typically show higher motivation levels, better adherence to fitness routines, and increased overall health markers.

4. Consumer Behavior

Companies like Starbucks and Nike have used gamification to influence consumer behavior. The Starbucks Rewards program, for instance, led to a 26% rise in profit and an 11% rise in total revenue.

The Principles of Gamified UI Design

Gamified UI design is not simply about shoehorning game-like elements into your interface. It requires understanding the core principles of games that motivate people and applying them effectively.

Consider rewards. In a game, rewards come in the form of points, levels, or achievements. They provide players with a sense of accomplishment and progression. In a UI context, rewards could take many forms, from progress bars indicating how complete a user’s profile is, to badges for interacting with certain features.

Challenges are another game principle that can enhance UI design. Challenges in games often increase in difficulty as the player progresses, keeping the game interesting and engaging. Similarly, challenges in UI design can motivate users to engage more deeply with a product. For instance, a fitness app might challenge users to beat their previous workout records, incentivizing them to push their boundaries.

Implementing Gamification in UI Design

When it comes to implementing gamification in UI design, it’s crucial to remember that game elements should enhance, not distract from, the user’s primary goals.

Firstly, understand your user’s needs, preferences, and motivations. Are they driven by competition? Recognition? Or the feeling of progress? Then, select game elements that align with these motivations. For instance, if your users are motivated by competition, a leaderboard might be a great feature to include.

Remember to keep things simple. Gamified elements should be intuitive and straightforward, not make your UI more complex. And finally, balance is key. Too few gamified elements might not affect user behavior, while too many can overwhelm or distract users.

In the Game: Real-Life Brand Example

To illustrate how gamification is revolutionizing UI design, let’s dive into some real-life examples. From fitness to finance, these brands are making the user experience not just a process, but a game worth playing.

1. Fitbit: Making Fitness a Game

Fitbit, the popular fitness tracking device, uses gamification to encourage users to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Users earn badges for achieving their fitness goals and can compete with friends in challenges. The colorful, progress-focused interface makes tracking exercise and health stats feel more like a game than a chore.

2. Starbucks: Brewing Points and Rewards

Starbucks’ reward program is a classic example of gamification in a consumer context. Users earn “stars” for every purchase they make, which can be exchanged for free food and drinks. The UI of their mobile app is designed to make the star collection process visually appealing and satisfying, adding a fun twist to the customer experience.

3. Forest: Stay Focused, Grow Trees

Forest, a productivity app, uses gamification to help users stay focused. When you want to focus on a task, you plant a virtual tree. If you leave the app to do something else on your phone, the tree dies. Over time, you can build up a forest, turning focus and productivity into a game. It’s a simple, visually appealing way to fight phone addiction.

4. CRED: Reinventing Finance with Gamification

CRED, a leading Indian fintech company, leverages gamification to make financial responsibility engaging. Users earn CRED coins for paying credit card bills, redeemable for various rewards. The platform also hosts interactive games, such as ‘CRED Snakes & Ladders’ or ‘CRED Wipeout,’ for users to earn extra coins and prizes. This fusion of financial management and game-like elements has significantly boosted user engagement, establishing CRED as a standout in the fintech space.

Different ways in which CRED increases user engagement through gamifications

The Future of Gamified UI Design

With technologies like virtual reality and augmented reality becoming more mainstream, the possibilities for gamified UI design are endless. Imagine, for instance, a shopping app where you can earn points by ‘exploring’ a virtual mall, or a fitness app where you ‘race’ against others in a virtual landscape.

However, the future of gamified UI design isn’t just about integrating new technologies. It’s about constantly reevaluating how we can create engaging, rewarding, and delightful experiences for users. As UI designers, we have the power to turn even the most mundane tasks into exciting adventures. The question is: Are we ready to play?

Final Level: Conclusion

In the age of gamification, UI design becomes a form of storytelling. Each interaction, each button click, each swipe, is part of the user’s journey through our digital world. As UI designers, our role is to guide users on this journey, crafting experiences that are not just usable, but enjoyable.

Gamification is more than just a trend — it’s a powerful approach that can make our digital experiences more human, more engaging, and ultimately, more fun. So next time you’re designing a user interface, ask yourself: How can I turn this task into a game? The answer might just change the way you approach UI design.