Improving critical flows at scale while balancing fun + trust.
Teen users of the My Invisalign app were disengaged and inconsistent in using the app, which reduced treatment adherence and limited referrals. The app lacked motivational elements, visible progress, and playful interactions that could encourage daily engagement.
How might we make using the My Invisalign app fun, motivating, and habit-forming for teen users, encouraging consistent treatment and app engagement?
To understand the problem, I conducted:
Desk research on teen behavior patterns and digital engagement strategies
Competitor analysis of other health, wellness, and gaming apps targeting teens
Direct interviews with teen users to identify motivators, frustrations, and reward preferences
Key insights:
Teens respond strongly to immediate feedback and visible progress indicators.
Customization (avatars, badges) boosts identification with the app.
Social and competitive elements (streaks, leaderboards) increase willingness to return daily.
A gamified system integrated in the existing app
Daily streaks & gems for consistent app use.
Avatar customization as a fun personalization.
Reward unlocks tied to milestones for motivation.
Motion design to make actions feel dynamic and rewarding.
Before
The original app home screen. No gamification elements were previously included.
After
Gems, streak, aligner progress, and achievements add visual interest and incentives to use the app.
Concepting & Ideation
Defined core engagement features: streaks, XP, avatars, rewards, progress feedback
Explored interaction and motion patterns to make the experience playful and dynamic
Design validation
Conducted unmoderated user testing with teen participants to validate engagement features and flows.
Tested streaks, XP, avatars, rewards, and motion/interaction patterns to ensure clarity and appeal.
Gathered quantitative and qualitative feedback on motivation, ease of use, and perceived fun.
Insights helped refine interaction timing, reward feedback, and progression cues before handing off to engineering.
Design direction & Mentorship
Guided an intern to execute designs aligned with teen engagement goals
Iteratively refined flows, visuals, and reward mechanics based on internal feedback
Handoff & Next steps
Delivered documentation and design specs for engineering
Built a foundation for future gamification features in the My Invisalign app
Example of test results for high-fidelity designs
I worked with our intern to validate the designs. Questions were centered around understanding user preferences for avatar selection. social sharing options, digital rewards, and widget usage.
Teens are guided through a more engaging, motivating app experience that encourages daily check-ins and treatment compliance.
The framework sets a foundation for future enhancements, including new reward systems, social features, and personalized AI nudges.
Mentorship and guidance for the intern ensured conceptual integrity, even as the designs were further developed for implementation.
Motivational widgets
A custom avatar widget reminds users to complete their required treatment tasks, offering another way for users to enter the app.
Achievements
When certain milestones are reached, such as completing tasks for weeks in a row, achievements are unlocked.
Social sharing
Users can share their treatment progress on social media or via direct messages to keep friends and family involved in their care.
Drove the project from early problem discovery with teens to design execution, while mentoring an intern to deliver a polished, engaging solution.
Delivered conceptual wireframes + prototypes to product stakeholders.
Mentored intern on UI flows, polish, micro-interactions, and animations.
Provided critique and ensured designs were mapped to strategic goals (engagement metrics, retention).
Leading the gamification design initiative taught me how to guide and empower a design intern while owning strategic decisions, balancing user needs, feasibility, and long-term product vision.
Talking with teens was essential for narrowing the scope to what features teens most resonate with.
Pushing through competing business priorities gave me experience reaching a compromise on project scope and combining efforts.
Creating more "fun" designs meant extra discussions with design system teams and advocating for pushing design boundaries for a more exciting consumer experience.