UI/UX design and gamification : bridging entertainment software insights into startup business practices
Qi, Mengshi (2025)
Kandidaatintyö
2025
School of Engineering Science, Tietotekniikka
Kaikki oikeudet pidätetään.
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe2025051240300
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe2025051240300
Tiivistelmä
User interface/user experience (UI/UX) design and gamification have become important factors in user engagement and retention, especially among software startups. This study reveals how startups can leverage gamification principles to enhance user experience, foster customer brand bond, and drive sustainable business growth. This study also explores theoretical findings such as Self-Determination Theory (SDT), Flow Theory, and Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) to elucidate the psychological underpinnings of user engagement through a systematic literature review (SLR).
Findings from this study illustrate that successful gamification includes extrinsic rewards and internalization of motivation through autonomy, competence, and relevance. The “flow state” that can be achieved through balanced challenges, clear goals, and immediate feedback further increases engagement and retention. Technology acceptance increases significantly when gamification improves usefulness and ease of use.
This study also presents a conceptual application, “LingoSwipe,” that demonstrates a practical implementation that combines these insights, supported by a technology plan declaring the reason for the technical choices and how exactly the implementation of the application followed the findings from this study. The functionality diagram illustrates the breakdown of the main functionalities and their related subfunctions. The LingoSwipe logic flow design covers the user’s journey from gamified element design to maximize engagement and learning experience. The application design integrates adaptive difficulty, personalized content, social interaction, community support, and an innovative swipe-based interaction method. It showcased a practical way to embed theoretical findings into a feasible design decision-making process to achieve enhanced user engagement and retention.
This study highlights practices that startups can borrow from entertainment software, such as adaptive difficulty, personalization, and social features, and emphasizes the need for future empirical research to test these theoretical and conceptual findings in a more real-world manner.
Findings from this study illustrate that successful gamification includes extrinsic rewards and internalization of motivation through autonomy, competence, and relevance. The “flow state” that can be achieved through balanced challenges, clear goals, and immediate feedback further increases engagement and retention. Technology acceptance increases significantly when gamification improves usefulness and ease of use.
This study also presents a conceptual application, “LingoSwipe,” that demonstrates a practical implementation that combines these insights, supported by a technology plan declaring the reason for the technical choices and how exactly the implementation of the application followed the findings from this study. The functionality diagram illustrates the breakdown of the main functionalities and their related subfunctions. The LingoSwipe logic flow design covers the user’s journey from gamified element design to maximize engagement and learning experience. The application design integrates adaptive difficulty, personalized content, social interaction, community support, and an innovative swipe-based interaction method. It showcased a practical way to embed theoretical findings into a feasible design decision-making process to achieve enhanced user engagement and retention.
This study highlights practices that startups can borrow from entertainment software, such as adaptive difficulty, personalization, and social features, and emphasizes the need for future empirical research to test these theoretical and conceptual findings in a more real-world manner.