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Case study · 2021–2022

SkillsPe

Turning a complex gameplay concept into an intuitive, scalable iOS experience — built from scratch, iterated with players, and shipped to a 95% App Store rating.

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About the project

Meet SkillsPe

SkillsPe is a social, skill-based challenge app where players compete with friends, apply analytical thinking, and earn real rewards through interactive gameplay. The product blends learning and competition into a single mobile loop — one that has to feel fast, fair, and worth coming back to.

My role

Product Designer

Owned the SkillsPe iOS app end-to-end — from translating an early product vision into a complete mobile experience to shipping and measuring it in the App Store.

  • Defined the core user journeys, IA, and interaction models across onboarding, challenges, bidding flows, and leaderboards
  • Ran iterative usability testing and gameplay validation to refine reward mechanics and progression
  • Partnered with engineering, content, and the founder to ship a polished iOS product
  • Tracked retention, session time, and store rating post-launch to measure outcomes
Impact

Measured & validated

95% App Store rating
+20% User retention
+30% Avg. session time

Research-led product design that lifted retention, deepened sessions, and turned curious downloads into committed players.

Client
SkillsPe · Skill-based gaming iOS app
Timeline
2 years · Jan 2021 – Dec 2022
Team
Product Designer (me), Visual Designer, Content Designer, 2 Developers, Founder & stakeholders
Toolkit
Figma · Google Analytics · Google Suite · Slack
The problem

A bold gameplay concept — buried under complex flows and unclear mechanics.

Early prototypes asked too much of new players. Bidding logic, reward tiers, and challenge formats lived in dense menus. Players were curious enough to download — but couldn't get to a first win fast enough to stick around.

SkillsPe landing page — the entry point that left new players asking what to do first No first win
Problem 01

First-time confusion

New players bounced before reaching a finished challenge.

Challenge info card stacked with rules and timing — the kind of dense layout that overwhelmed new players Cognitive overload
Problem 02

Dense gameplay mechanics

Bidding, scoring, and rewards competed for attention on one screen.

Original completion summary — a pair of screens that handed players a result without a celebration Flat motivation
Problem 03

Weak reward feedback

Wins felt the same as losses — motivation flatlined.

The solution

Make it fast to start, easy to read, and rewarding to return to.

Three targeted moves — a guided first win, one decision per screen, and progression that turns every play into visible momentum.

Redesigned Create Challenge screen — a single, clear decision per step in the new linear loop Redesigned flow
  1. Solution 01

    Guided first win

    A 60-second onboarding that walks every new player to a finished challenge.

  2. Solution 02

    Distilled mechanics

    Bidding, scoring, and rules collapsed into one-decision-per-screen flows.

  3. Solution 03

    Visible progression

    Reward states and leaderboards that make every win feel earned.

The process

A three-phase product design sprint, over two years.

01 · Discover & define Jan – Feb 2021
  • Founder & stakeholder alignment
  • Player interviews + competitor scan
  • Gameplay-loop friction mapping
  • Design principles defined
 02 · Design & iterate Mar 2021 – Aug 2022
  • IA + journey maps
  • Wireframes to high-fidelity flows
  • Multi-round usability testing
  • Reward + progression refined
 03 · Launch & measure Sep – Dec 2022
  • iOS handoff & design QA
  • App Store submission & launch
  • Retention + session-time tracking
  • Live-product iteration loop
01 / Phase One

Discover & define

Aligned with the founder, talked to players, and pinpointed where the gameplay loop was breaking.

Goals & research questions

Three unknowns from the founder became the anchors for every interview, decision, and shipped feature.

Discovery 01
Goal

Find the leak — pinpoint the step in the challenge loop that loses the most players.

Question

Where in the challenge loop do players drop, and why?

Discovery 02
Goal

Make wins feel earned — understand what makes a completed challenge feel worth returning to.

Question

How do players perceive the value of a win — and what pulls them back for another?

Discovery 03
Goal

Cut the load — reduce friction on the heaviest interactions in the loop.

Question

Which interactions feel heavy — bidding, scoring, leaderboards — and where can we lighten them?

Key behavioral observations

Three patterns repeated across every session and shaped the redesign brief.

Observation 01

No first-win loop

New players didn't reach a finished challenge in their first session.

I downloaded it, opened it, and just… closed it. I didn't know what to do. — Player 04
Observation 02

Bidding felt like math

Numbers, rules, and outcomes stacked on one screen.

Too much going on. I don't want to do calculations to play a game. — Player 07
Observation 03

Wins didn't feel like wins

Reward states reused ordinary screens — nothing to celebrate.

I think I won? It just took me back to the home screen. — Player 02
02 / Phase Two

Design & iterate

From journey maps to high-fidelity flows — every screen tested, every interaction earned its place.

Design principles

Three rules I held the design to — used to break ties whenever a flow felt overloaded.

Principle 01

One decision per screen

Cognitive load only goes one direction — down.

Principle 02

Earn the celebration

Every win needs a moment that makes the player feel the win.

Principle 03

Show, don't say

Animation, color, and rhythm explain mechanics faster than copy ever can.

03 / Phase Three

Launch & measure

Shipped to the App Store, then watched the data to see what actually moved.

What moved post-launch

Three signals confirmed the redesign was doing its job — retention, depth, and reviews.

Signal 01

Players came back

+20% user retention — the guided first-win flow turned curious downloads into repeat sessions.

Signal 02

Sessions ran longer

+30% avg. session time — clearer mechanics turned quick taps into engaged play.

Signal 03

Reviews stayed strong

95% App Store rating — players called out clarity, polish, and the feel of skill-based competition.

The outcome

A more intuitive, enjoyable experience — built screen by screen.

A tour through the shipped flows: challenge entry, live play, completion, leaderboards, and the portfolio.

Create a new Running Challenge — challenge brief with reward summary Challenge brief
Live challenge state — score and progress while play is happening Live play
Completed challenge — celebration screen pair Win moment
Leaderboard view — challenger rankings Leaderboard
Animated challenge info card — rules and timing in motion Challenge card
Player portfolio — challenge history and stats Player history
Reward state — visible progression for a finished challenge Reward earned
Final portfolio view — cumulative stats and achievements All wins
Result & impact

The redesign delivered.

95% App Store rating Players praised clarity, polish, and the feeling of skill-based competition.
+20% User retention The guided first-win loop kept new players in the app long enough to commit.
+30% Avg. session time Clearer mechanics turned curious taps into longer, more engaged sessions.
Reflections

Designing for play is designing for momentum.

SkillsPe taught me that gaming products live or die in the first 60 seconds. If a new player doesn't reach a small win quickly, they don't come back — no matter how rich the mechanics are downstream. Shaping the path to the first win became the most valuable design call I made on this project.

I also learned that mechanics aren't features to explain — they're feelings to design for. Bidding wasn't a math screen; it was a moment of stakes. A leaderboard wasn't a table; it was a reason to play tomorrow. Letting those feelings drive the layout — instead of the data — is what made the app feel like a game and not a calculator.

Two years, one shipped iOS product, and a tight feedback loop with real players — that's the work. The metrics moved because the screens did.

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