Background
We partnered with a leading US fintech platform to design a social gaming feature for their mobile app – a friends leaderboard built to drive engagement through competition and FOMO. The platform had strong game engagement but no social layer – no friends, no leaderboards, no competition.
We designed the full UX/UI of the feature to tap into two of the most powerful engagement drivers in gaming: competitive instinct and fear of missing out. The goal was to turn a solo experience into a community-driven one, increase game sessions per user, and create a referral flywheel that brings new users into the ecosystem.
Background
Engagement Strategy
Social UX
Gamification
Feature Design
Design
Mobile App UX/UI
Leaderboard Design
Friends System
Deliverables
Friends and Leaderboard Feature UX & UI
Challenge Flows
Social Connection & Friends System UX
We designed the friends connection system using the platform’s existing contact list infrastructure – surfacing which contacts already use the app and making it effortless to connect. No new architecture required. Maximum reach from day one.
Leaderboard UX & Gamification Design
The core leaderboard shows friends’ game milestones and earnings in real time, designed to make a friend’s progress feel like a direct challenge. Every data point on screen is there to drive one behaviour: play more.
Results
We delivered a social gaming experience that transformed a solo product into a community-driven one. The Friends Leaderboard gave the platform a new engagement mechanic built on competition and social proof, a referral flywheel to bring net-new users into the ecosystem, and the foundation for direct user-to-user challenges in future iterations.
