Enhance user experience with gamification

Are you looking for ways to motivate the users of your application? Does your platform require the performance of a lot of repetitive actions? What you need is a good dose of gamification.

It’s been shown that adding gaming features to applications or platforms can make for a more successful user experience. These techniques build motivation, increase productivity, and increase the time spent using the application.

Find out what gamification is and how to use it in your projects with Flaticon.

What is gamification?

Gamification is a technique that consists of combining “serious” experiences with playful game mechanics to increase user engagement. This improves everyone’s happiness.

Humans are interested in healthy competition between friends or as a personal challenge. Adding a dose of resolve to repetitive chores makes them more enjoyable. If you are an Asana user, you’ll already be familiar with the unicorn that flies across the screen when you tick the boxes for completed tasks.

Why use gamification in user experience design?

There are no limits to the uses of gamification in experiences. From simple ideas like printed loyalty cards to Fitbit competitions for steps accumulated,  the gamification possibilities are endless. You just need to find the perfect idea for your project and implement it in the design.

The trick is in storytelling. Every aspect of the game should follow a story or a process – that’s how people get hooked and want to know more. Gamification is proven to improve the quality of the experience on any digital platform or for any repetitive experience. 

Here’s a list of the positive effects to give you an idea.

• Increased employee engagement
• Sales and customer care agent satisfaction
• Customer retention
• Improved levels of understanding and learning
• Positive emotional reactions

Earning fun titles and badges for completing tasks increases the sense of satisfaction and engagement in the story. Gamification makes the boring fun – and what’s already fun even more fun. 

Gamification styles to inspire you

Just as there are different styles of video games, there are different styles of gamification. Choose a game that fits your brand and its values. It should be a positive match that feels like it belongs. If your product, platform or application is related to a serious topic, gamification may not be a good idea. However, subtle gamification styles help the user complete boring or repetitive tasks.

Here are some of the most common gamification ideas. Which of these have you come across in the apps you use every day? And remember, if you have a smartwatch, you are already gamifying your everyday life.

• Competitions with points
• Badges
• Challenges
• Public leader boards
• Celebrations when you complete tasks
• Monetary prizes

Gamification applications proved to be effective

Gamification incentivizes users. Its use in agent and employee platforms has been very successful. Educational programs were the pioneers of gamification in digital products. Millennials and Generation Z kids learned to read and much more with digital games and gamification-filled platforms.

Here’s a list of the most effective uses of gamification in the digital and physical worlds.

• Platforms for sales reps and customer service staff.
• Learning, educational and training programs.
• Sports and wellness apps, smartwatches, and trackers.
• Time management and scheduling platforms.
• Interactive online tours. 
• Backgrounds for video calls.
• Tactile museums.
• Experimental art galleries.

Flaticon’s resources for gamifying

Within Flaticon, you’ll find icons, stickers and animated UIcons to use in your gamified designs. 

Give reward badge stickers when your users collect points by completing tasks or challenges. Animated icons increase the interactivity of any action and make it more fun. And icons hold a visual line between branding, playful design and functionality.

The destination of gamification

What’s next in the world of gamification? The next boom in gamification will be seen in the virtual and metaverse reality. You’re also going to be seeing increased instances of augmented reality in gamification in public and private spaces. Likewise, on digital shopping platforms and in catalogs.

Virtual lectures in the metaverse are already examples of gamification. What will your avatar look like in your company’s Meta office? Gamification is on the rise, jump on board, hold on tight and get ready for lift-off because it’s heading off like a rocket.