Making business education engaging by transforming gameplay and user experience.

Actee is an interactive platform that offers educational games designed to improve decision-making and leadership skills.

https://actee.com/

Summary

Led the redesign of Actee to enhance user retention, focusing on a smoother gameplay experience that encouraged users to return and stay engaged.

Led the redesign of Actee to enhance user retention, focusing on a smoother gameplay experience that encouraged users to return and stay engaged.

Led the redesign of Actee to enhance user retention, focusing on a smoother gameplay experience that encouraged users to return and stay engaged.

Identified and resolved navigation and usability issues, reducing confusion and frustration to ensure users could focus on core actions without distraction.

Identified and resolved navigation and usability issues, reducing confusion and frustration to ensure users could focus on core actions without distraction.

Identified and resolved navigation and usability issues, reducing confusion and frustration to ensure users could focus on core actions without distraction.

Built a custom design system from scratch to support a more consistent, scalable interface across the platform.

Built a custom design system from scratch to support a more consistent, scalable interface across the platform.

Built a custom design system from scratch to support a more consistent, scalable interface across the platform.

Designed gamified elements like progress tracking and performance rankings to motivate users, ultimately increasing session duration and driving repeat engagement.

Designed gamified elements like progress tracking and performance rankings to motivate users, ultimately increasing session duration and driving repeat engagement.

Designed gamified elements like progress tracking and performance rankings to motivate users, ultimately increasing session duration and driving repeat engagement.

Applied A/B testing to optimize the design for business impact, aligning the solution with goals like improved user satisfaction, increased retention, and longer session times.

Applied A/B testing to optimize the design for business impact, aligning the solution with goals like improved user satisfaction, increased retention, and longer session times.

Applied A/B testing to optimize the design for business impact, aligning the solution with goals like improved user satisfaction, increased retention, and longer session times.

Role

Product Designer

Duration

12 Months

Period

June, 2023 - June, 2024

Period

June, 2023 - June, 2024

First Phase

Understanding

Research

Ideation

Hypothesis

Second Phase

UX Audit

Competitor Analysis

Low Fidelity Wireframe

Third Phase

Atomic Design System

Design Implementation

Gamification

A/B Testing

Belmin Salkica

Leif - CEO of Actee

Dev Team

First Phase

Understanding

Research

Ideation

Hypothesis

Second Phase

UX Audit

Competitor Analysis

Low Fidelity Wireframe

Third Phase

Atomic Design System

Design Implementation

Gamification

A/B Testing

Belmin Salkica

Leif - CEO of Actee

Dev Team

First Phase

Understanding

Research

Ideation

Hypothesis

Second Phase

UX Audit

Competitor Analysis

Low Fidelity Wireframe

Third Phase

Atomic Design System

Design Implementation

Gamification

A/B Testing

Belmin Salkica

Leif - CEO of Actee

Dev Team

First Phase

Understanding

Research

Ideation

Hypothesis

Second Phase

UX Audit

Competitor Analysis

Low Fidelity Wireframe

Third Phase

Atomic Design System

Design Implementation

Gamification

A/B Testing

Belmin Salkica

Leif - CEO of Actee

Dev Team

Team

Leif Sørensen

CEO

Belmin Salkica

Product Designer

Dev Team

Development

The Problem

Users struggled with unclear navigation and objectives, which reduced engagement and retention, increased support needs, and limited the platform’s ability to build a loyal user base.

Cycle Game Struggled With Confusing Navigation, Poor Score Tracking, and Unclear Results
Barometer Game Had a Complex Gameboard That Made Progress Tracking Difficult
Bubble Game Had Confusing Scoring and Goals That Impacted User Understanding
Profile View Was Minimal With Limited Feedback, Making Engagement Difficult
Host View Was Overwhelming and Inefficient for Managing Multiplayer Games
All Games Faced Cluttered Design That Reduced Focus and Engagement

Cycle Game Struggled With Confusing Navigation, Poor Score Tracking, and Unclear Results
Barometer Game Had a Complex Gameboard That Made Progress Tracking Difficult
Bubble Game Had Confusing Scoring and Goals That Impacted User Understanding
Profile View Was Minimal With Limited Feedback, Making Engagement Difficult
Host View Was Overwhelming and Inefficient for Managing Multiplayer Games
All Games Faced Cluttered Design That Reduced Focus and Engagement

Cycle Game Struggled With Confusing Navigation, Poor Score Tracking, and Unclear Results
Barometer Game Had a Complex Gameboard That Made Progress Tracking Difficult
Bubble Game Had Confusing Scoring and Goals That Impacted User Understanding
Profile View Was Minimal With Limited Feedback, Making Engagement Difficult
Host View Was Overwhelming and Inefficient for Managing Multiplayer Games
All Games Faced Cluttered Design That Reduced Focus and Engagement

The Solution

We redesigned the interface to clarify navigation and objectives, adding engaging feedback mechanisms to drive retention, increase repeat use, and reduce reliance on support resources, ensuring business growth through a user-focused approach

To tackle the confusion, we adopted a minimalist strategy by removing unnecessary elements from the game board. Our focus was to streamline the interface, ensuring that users’ attention was on what truly mattered at each step.

By eliminating distractions and emphasizing core actions, we created a clearer, more engaging experience. The redesigned interface allowed users to easily follow their objectives and understand the impact of their decisions.

Simplicity was key throughout the process, making the gameplay more intuitive and helping users stay focused on their progress.

Barometer Game

The Barometer Game focuses on leadership styles and their impact on workplace dynamics. Players make decisions and see how their leadership choices influence team morale, productivity, and organizational outcomes over time.

For the Barometer Game, we redesigned the main gameboard to simplify the user experience, making it more intuitive and visually accessible. We clarified the scoring system and added clear, actionable goals, so users could easily see the impact of their decisions.

Barometer Game Host View

The Host View lets facilitators manage gameplay, track players, control chapters, and view scores. We simplified the design to make managing multiplayer games faster and easier.

Cycle Game

The Cycle Game guides users through stages where they make decisions to progress. We clarified goals, simplified navigation, and redesigned the interface to ensure players could easily follow the game and track their progress.

Stakeholder Detailed View

The Stakeholder View shows key metrics like communication, problem-solving, and adaptability, helping users track satisfaction levels and adjust strategies to meet stakeholder needs.

Interactive Profile View

The Profile View shows game results like scores, rankings, and feedback. We redesigned it with gamified elements to make tracking progress interactive, motivating users to improve.

UX Audit

How the UX Audit Helped Identify Key User Challenges

To address the challenges within Actee’s platform, I began with an in-depth UX audit. This involved careful testing the app to experience the user journey firsthand and uncover any obstacles or frustrations users might encounter.

During the UX audit, one of the first issues we discovered was the overwhelming complexity of the app’s interface. Unnecessary elements, such as unrelated side and main navigation, were cluttering the game screen and diverting users’ attention away from the learning experience.

These distractions made it difficult for users to focus on the game and understand the learning objectives.

By documenting each unnecessary element, our goal became clear: simplify the interface by removing anything that wasn’t essential for the current action, ensuring the user experience remained focused and intuitive.

Competitor Analysis

In-Depth Competitor Analysis to Extract Key Features

I conducted an in-depth competitor analysis, focusing on well-established learning apps like Duolingo, Kahoot, and Simply Piano. By studying their approaches to engaging users and structuring learning flows, I identified best practices that could be adapted to enhance Actee’s gameplay, ensuring a more effective and engaging learning experience.

I focused on user engagement, onboarding, and overall experience, identifying the best features that could be adapted for Actee.

These insights guided the design process, leading to a more intuitive and engaging platform that helps users connect with the educational content effectively.

Users Felt Lost Without Clear Game Objectives and Progress Tracking

The most significant problem users faced wasn’t just navigation but the lack of clarity around game goals and how their choices affected progress.

Users often felt lost, with no clear understanding of the objectives. They struggled to see how their decisions impacted the gameplay, leading to confusion and disengagement.

I kept making choices, but I never really understood how they affected my progress or the game’s outcome.

Christina P.

Actee User

“

”

Across the game boards, there was a common issue of unclear progress tracking and poor feedback on actions taken. Users didn’t know how their choices were shaping outcomes, which made it difficult to strategize and move forward.

It was hard for them to focus on current tasks due to cluttered screens, making it challenging to find necessary elements such as stakeholder opinions or game progress insights.

The game provided explanations for actions, but the text was difficult to read and too lengthy, making it hard for users to quickly grasp the outcomes of their decisions.

The complexity of the language and layout left users struggling to understand how their choices impacted the game, ultimately leading to confusion and disengagement.

Wireframing

Exploring Solutions with Wireframes Based on UX Research

For each gameplay scenario, I created 2-3 different wireframe versions, exploring various ways to simplify navigation and improve user experience. These versions were based on insights gathered from the initial UX audit, ensuring that each iteration addressed the pain points identified.

Weekly brainstorming sessions with the CEO, who was also the product owner, were crucial. I presented multiple design options, and together we refined and polished the best solutions, ensuring each iteration improved the gameplay experience.

We kept testing and tweaking until the design felt just right, making sure users could easily navigate through each step.

Tested multiple wireframe ideas to find the best solution, refining options based on research insights

Design

Turning UX Audit Results into Practical Design Implementation

Moving from the UX audit findings to the design phase was a key part of this project. The biggest challenge was that Actee’s platform lacked a consistent design system, making it difficult to maintain a seamless user experience and causing inefficiencies during development.

Original Interface Components

To solve this, I applied an Atomic Design methodology, a structured approach where we break down interfaces into smaller, reusable building blocks (like buttons, cards, and inputs). These components were then combined to create cohesive game screens and features.

This method allowed us to streamline the design process, save time on updates, and ensure consistency across the platform. By focusing on reusable elements, we improved collaboration between design and development teams, reduced repetitive work, and created a scalable system that could support future updates without starting from scratch.

Updated Interface Components

The design process was highly iterative, with each component being addressed as it became necessary. This ensured that the design evolved naturally, solving problems in the order of their importance. For example, as we moved from wireframes to high-fidelity designs, the components were refined to ensure they met the standards set by the audit and wireframes.

Enhanced Design System

The Stakeholder View shows key metrics like communication, problem-solving, and adaptability, helping users track satisfaction levels and adjust strategies to meet stakeholder needs.

Gamification

Making Learning Engaging Through Gamified Features

We redesigned the profile view to deliver an engaging, gamified experience, making progress tracking simple and rewarding. By incorporating key elements from the Octalysis Framework, we created features that motivate users to return, improve, and stay engaged.

Interactive Profile View

Tracking Progress & Performance

This feature creates a gamified loop by ranking users’ performance against others while offering feedback on how they can improve. Users are motivated to replay challenges to climb the leaderboard, reinforcing engagement and loyalty.

Session Ranking & Skills Growth

This feature helps users track their strengths, compare rankings with peers, and stay motivated to improve. By combining skill growth insights with session rankings, users are encouraged to engage more and extend their learning sessions.

Theories and Learning Progress

This section ties decisions made during gameplay to real-world leadership theories. By connecting outcomes to theoretical concepts, users are empowered to apply these insights creatively, improving both gameplay and real-life learning outcomes.

Feedback on Decision Outcomes

Providing immediate feedback on user choices satisfies curiosity and helps players understand the impact of their actions. This feature is critical in guiding users to make informed decisions, increasing engagement and decision-making confidence.

A/B Testing

Solving UX Challenges Through Consistent Collaboration and A/B Testing

Throughout the project, consistent communication with the CEO, Leif, played a crucial role. We held weekly UX meetings where we discussed my design updates and explored additional ideas to ensure each component was progressing smoothly. These collaborative sessions allowed us to align on the best solutions and iterate quickly.

One of the key discoveries we made was related to navigation. Initially, we followed the common trend of placing navigation at the bottom, similar to popular apps like Duolingo.

However, during our testing phase, we realized this wasn’t the best fit for Actee. Some game types were taking up too much space, making it difficult for users to follow the game fully.

Placing navigation in right spot.

After a round of ideation, we decided to experiment with moving the navigation to the top right corner. A/B testing confirmed that this adjustment made the interface more intuitive and fluid for users, improving their ability to engage with the game without distractions.

Ultimately, the collaborative approach helped us find the optimal solution and elevate the user experience. This version simplifies the language and makes the process clearer, while highlighting the key role of communication and A/B testing in finding the right solution.

Testing different main action button colors.

After few test we did with new navigation it was clear that we have to implement something different inside of colors inside of actions.

Since it was not really dragging user attention what could be next action and where supposed to be main action we were testing brand orange color and as section option we went with green. After few weeks of testing we realized that green is working much better with our user base.

Key Features

Redesigning the game with a focus on better usability, clearer insights, and smoother gameplay flow.

A complete redesign that improved gameplay and made user interactions easier. We focused on key features and kept the system consistent, ensuring smoother navigation, clear feedback, and a design that works well across the entire platform.

Redesigning the game with a focus on better usability, clearer insights, and smoother gameplay flow.

Established a Scalable Design System

Optimized Cycle Game for Smoother Navigation

Clear Goal Tracking in Barometer Game

Enhanced Usability for Bubble Game

Optimized Result View for Actionable Insights

Improved Host Controls for Seamless Management

Simplified Onboarding Process

Redesigned Game History for Easy Tracking

Redesigned Multiplayer Mode

Redesigned Multiplayer Mode

Results

Limited Access to Final Results, But Valuable Insights Gained During Testing

As this was a freelance project, I didn’t have access to the long-term performance data or metrics once the designs were fully implemented. My role was focused on the design phase and early testing, but we couldn’t track the overall impact of the changes over time.

Throughout the process, we used tools like Hotjar to gather insights into user interactions with the app. This data, combined with internal user testing at the company, guided many of our design decisions. While we weren’t able to measure the full results, the early feedback from testing and user behavior helped shape the final product direction.

We’ve had the pleasure of working with Belmin on the UX and UI design for our games, and the experience has been outstanding. Belmin brings exceptional creativity, attention to detail, and a deep understanding of user experience to every project. His designs are not only visually engaging but also highly functional, enhancing the overall gameplay and user interaction on our platform. Belmin consistently delivers high-quality work, is responsive to feedback, and approaches challenges with innovative solutions. His ability to align design with our vision has made a significant impact on the user engagement of our games. We highly recommend Belmin to anyone looking for a skilled and dedicated designer.

Leif Sørensen

CEO, Actee

Leif Sørensen

CEO, Actee

Leif Sørensen

CEO, Actee

Leif Sørensen

CEO, Actee

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Have a Big Idea? Let’s Bring It to Life!

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Have a Big Idea?
Let’s Bring It to Life!

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