Introducing a personalized feature for students
Client
Studydrive
Expertise
Education App
Category
Ed-Tech
About is Studydrive
The project : Virtual Currency
The Virtual Currency project adds coins and an animated avatar store to the platform to make it more fun and engaging for Gen Z users. Users can earn coins, spend them to unlock avatars, and personalize their profiles.
Problem Statement
The platform had low engagement from Gen Z users because it lacked interactive, fun, and personalized features. Users were not motivated to participate actively, making the platform feel outdated and less appealing.
The challenge was to create a system that re-engages users through gamification, personalization, and rewarding experiences.
User-Centered Design Approach for Gamification Features
As a product design intern on the Virtual Currency project, I focused on understanding Gen Z users and making the platform fun and engaging.
I followed a simple design framework like Design Thinking. First, learn about user needs, then define the main problem of low engagement, brainstorm ideas like virtual coins and avatars, designing and mapping user flows, create quick prototypes, and test them to improve the experience.
This gamification approach encourages interaction, community participation, and keeps users engaged by making the platform more enjoyable.
Improving User Experience and Gamification Features
The early version of the project tested basic virtual coins and simple avatar customization. Users enjoyed earning and spending coins but wanted more advanced avatars, animations, and clearer ways to use coins.
Future improvements focused on enhancing the design, improving navigation and user flows, adding engaging features, and optimizing performance to create a more enjoyable and informative experience.
The Hooked Model guided the project by making the avatar store fun and engaging.
Animations acted as a trigger to catch users’ attention, spending coins to get avatars encouraged action, letting users continuously customize their profiles created ongoing investment and long-term engagement.
Key Learnings & User Insights
The key learning was that Gen Z users value personalization, interactivity, and gamification.
Features need to be thoughtfully designed to create a fun, rewarding, and identity-driven experience, highlighting the importance of user-centered design.
Project Outcomes & Impact
The project boosted Gen Z user engagement on Studydrive by making the platform more interactive and fun through virtual coins and an avatar store.
Users were motivated to participate, personalize their profiles, and engage more, creating a lively and connected community.