akaani — Gamified Learning Hub & Leaderboard

Transforming nutrition education into a playful experience with progress tracking, rewards, and social competition that keeps users motivated to learn healthier habits and make better choices.

Role: Lead Product Designer(UI/UX)

Timeline: 3 weeks

Platform: iOS & Android

Setting the Scene

Reading about nutrition is boring. But if you quiz me, I'll do it.” — Interviewee, 26 Users were curious about why certain foods were good for them, but traditional learning felt like homework. Articles were too text-heavy, videos were long, and motivation faded fast.

Priya, a 26-year-old student, put it perfectly:

“I want to learn more about nutrition, but scrolling through articles feels like homework. I'd rather do something quick and fun.”

They didn't need more content, they needed an experience that made learning feel rewarding

The Challenge

How might we:

Make nutrition learning fun and addictive, not overwhelming?
Build social accountability so users don't learn alone?
Provide clear progress feedback to reinforce motivation?

Existing apps were missing the fun. Akaani's insight was simple, Learning should feel like playing a game, not reading a textbook.

My Approach

Inspired by Duolingo, I designed a gamified learning ecosystem where education, competition, and progress merged into one loop.

1. Framing the Solution

Turn education into bite-sized quizzes, fast, tappable, and rewarding.
Add leaderboards to create friendly competition and community.
Reward consistency through XP points, streaks, and badges.

2. Design Execution

Gamified Quiz Cards

Designed question cards with feedback at the end of the section
Added animations and progress bars for a dopamine-driven loop.
Each correct answer adds XP and contributes to streaks.

Leaderboard System

Global leaderboard: community-wide competition.
Real-time XP updates and rank progression indicators.

XP, Streaks & Badges

Users earn XP from quizzes, maintain streaks with daily participation, and unlock badges (e.g., “Nutrient Ninja,” “Consistency Queen”).
These elements form a habit loop, motivation through visible progress.

3. Collaboration

Partnered with nutrition experts to simplify quiz data without losing accuracy.
Worked with developers to implement lightweight animations and smooth transitions for mobile performance.

The Breakthrough

One user shared:
“I only opened the app to check my meals, but now I'm trying to beat my friend's XP score.” That moment confirmed it, learning wasn't a task anymore; it became a game users wanted to win.

My Process

Step 01

Discovery & Research

These findings directly shaped the Learning Hub and Leaderboard design: motivation gaps inspired gamification, isolated learning led to social interaction through leaderboards, and short attention spans inspired streaks and weekly recap challenges that make food education feel rewarding and continuous.

Step 02

Concept & wirefreames

Early wireframes emphasized structure and flow. Final iterations introduced streaks, badges, and leaderboards, transforming simple lesson cards into a motivating, gamified learning journey.

Step 03

Final Design

The final design transformed structured learning into a dynamic experience. Lessons now unfold through interactive cards, while XP points encourage consistency. Every visual element was crafted to turn nutrition learning into a sense of achievement rather than obligation.

“It's wild. I came for the recipes, but I stayed for the XP.”

Outcomes

40%

increase in daily learning participation

30%

active users now take quizzes daily

+28%

leaderboard engagement after XP rewards launched

Gamifying education changed how users interacted with health content.

Instead of consuming information, they played with it.

By combining progress visibility, social motivation, and micro-interactions, we created a learning environment that taught users to eat better , without them realizing they were studying.

Future Iteration

Personalized nutrition topics based on dietary goals (e.g., weight loss, heart health)
Adding voice quiz mode for hands-free learning.