A mini game design for WeChat
Agency
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MediaMonks
Client
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LEGO
Project
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New Year Campaign '18
Introduction
Chinese New Year is an important gift giving occasion where everyone participates. LEGO China wants to position LEGO Toys as the ultimate gift for this occasion through a We-Chat mini game and some set of animations. My role was designing the user journey from the point where users reach the game up until they present their gift and share their experience.
Skillset
User Flows
Creating user flows helped me to get a comprehensive understanding of the user journey and revealed almost every touch point. Let's walk through these journeys.
Game Flow: Users will access the application to play the game. If they gain a certain score, they will win discount coupons that they can use at LEGO Stores to buy LEGO toys. This flow starts with a user opening the game and ends when they present the gift.
When users buy a LEGO with their coupon, they get another QR code which enables them to access to the Share Photo Function.
Share Photo Flow: Here, users can either take a new photo or upload one from their gallery. They can add some stickers on the photo as well. When they are ready to share, a LEGO frame designed for CNY '18 will be automatically added.
Challenge: WeChat
I couldn't design an experience for an application that I have never used before. So I download We-Chat and spend some time to get familiar with this all in one social media tool. Here are some screens that I designed for the touch points in our users journey.
Challenge: Design Principles
I follow some design principles almost inherently when I work for European cultures. I was doubting that I can follow the same rules when I design an app that will serve to Chinese Culture. I checked most popular Chinese websites and apps as starting point.
These websites may look a bit overwhelming for the ones who are used to see minimalist designs, like Western Cultures. The major reason behind it is the Chinese typography.
"The Chinese characters are divided into strokes but the number of them can vary between 1 and 60 strokes, making them appear very complex and detailed. Adding to the fact that there are over 8,000 simplified Chinese characters, no capital letters, and no space between characters, apps seem more intense as there is much less breathing room."Besides the design aspects, characteristics of Asian users also need to be considered. I used Hofstede Insights Culture Comparison Tool to understand the difference.
Source
Individualism and Masculinity are the most relevant dimensions in our case. They explain why being the best gift giver and proving this to your friends by sharing a photo is playing an important role in this mini game.
In collectivist socities like in China, it is important to be a part of the big family. You need to put some effort to stay as a member of the family. Giving gifts is a good way of doing so.
A high score on this dimension indicates that the society will be driven by competition, achievement and success, with success being defined by the winner / best in field.
Game Experience
Although I didn’t design the whole game experience, I learned some of the essential steps that builds a fluent and natural feeling game flow. We need to ensure that users are getting the right feedback at the right time, for example: positive in-game feedback is crucial for the user to learn that they are doing the right thing.
Here are extracts from the UX presentation that I prepared for the project team to clearly describe the game experience and key touch points.
Conclusion
The campaign, involving the mini-game and a full CG video celebrating joy of giving the perfect gift, was released at 2018, during the Chinese New Year.