SmileCraft Health: Designing a Gamified Oral Health App
A journey of research, design, and iteration to create an engaging and user-friendly app
The Challenge: From Concept to Reality
The Challenge: From Concept to Reality
The Challenge: From Concept to Reality
When I joined SmileCraft, the goal was ambitious yet clear: build an engaging, gamified mobile app that would help users improve their oral health habits.
The challenge?
✅ No existing product—we were starting completely from scratch.
✅ A niche problem—how do you make oral health education fun and engaging?
✅ No clear user journey yet—we needed to define our audience, their pain points, and their motivations.
It wasn’t just about making something beautiful—it had to be useful, engaging, and frictionless to ensure user adoption.
Understanding the Users: Research First
Understanding the Users: Research First
Understanding the Users: Research First
Before diving into design, I needed to understand the people who would use this app.
I conducted:
🔍 User interviews—talking to people about their dental routines, frustrations, and what motivates them.
📊 Survey analysis—identifying patterns in how users interact with health-related apps.
🎮 Gamification research—studying how interactive elements influence habit formation.
Key insights:
Users don’t want to feel lectured about dental care—they want bite-sized, fun interactions.
Many users forget when and how to properly brush, floss, and take care of their teeth.
A reward system would keep engagement high and encourage daily use.
Building the Foundations: Wireframes & Prototyping
Building the Foundations: Wireframes & Prototyping
Building the Foundations: Wireframes & Prototyping
With our insights in hand, I began designing the user journey and core interactions.
Created low-fidelity wireframes to map out screens and interactions.
Developed user flows to ensure every action felt intuitive.
Built interactive prototypes in Figma for early usability testing.
The focus was on simplicity—users should be able to open the app and instantly understand what to do.
✅ Impact: After testing, we removed unnecessary steps in the onboarding process, reducing drop-off by 35%.
Bringing the Vision to Life: UI & Branding
Bringing the Vision to Life: UI & Branding
Bringing the Vision to Life: UI & Branding
Once the structure was solid, I focused on creating a delightful visual experience.
🎨 Branding: Defined a friendly, modern style with soft colors, engaging illustrations, and playful typography.
📱 UI Design: Crafted clean, intuitive screens that felt natural on both iOS and Android.
🏆 Gamification Elements: Integrated streaks, badges, and progress tracking to keep users engaged.
Iterating & Refining: Testing with Real Users
Iterating & Refining: Testing with Real Users
Iterating & Refining: Testing with Real Users
Once we had a working prototype, it was time to test and refine.
🔄 A/B testing: Tried different UI elements to see what drove better engagement.
📢 User feedback sessions: Observed real users interacting with the app and noted where they hesitated or got confused.
📈 Data-driven improvements: Optimized flows based on actual user behavior.
One major finding? Users wanted quick interactions.
→ We redesigned the daily check-in process, cutting it from 6 taps to just 3, boosting engagement by 40%.
Final Results: A Product Users Love
Final Results: A Product Users Love
Final Results: A Product Users Love
🚀 Launched a fully functional app with a 4.8-star rating on the App Store.
📈 Refined product vision that led to 100% conversion into face to face meeting with potential investors.
🎨 Created a scalable design system for future feature expansions.
