Arcade: Leveling Up Gamification

Enterprise gamification was stale. Every platform in the space looked the same and felt uninspired. Despite promoting "fun," they were just leaderboards with little real engagement.

As Head of Design at Arcade, I overhauled the brand, product, and marketing site. The existing platform had two core user problems: salespeople couldn't find games, and the games they found weren't fun. Sales directors struggled to create competitions and had no way to broadcast results in real time.

Make gamification feel like actual games. I redesigned the UI/UX for clarity and engagement, built a structured quest and challenge system beyond simple leaderboards, revamped the sign-up flow for product-led growth, and designed a scalable rewards store with wishlists and exclusive deals. I also architected the UX for Slack and Teams integrations, putting the game where people already worked.

Arcade's brand was vague. It could have been any SaaS company. After internal interviews, one takeaway was clear: it lacked identity.

My pitch? A brand should have an opinion. It should know its users and reflect their work. While others stay vague to seem universal, Arcade should do the opposite: focus on making work more fun and rewarding.

I hired Northerly for the logo and rebrand, developed a bold 3D illustration style, and established "Be the fun you want to see in the world" as the core mantra.

1. Branding and Identity Refresh Hired Northerly for the logo and rebrand. Created the brief, organized discussions, recorded feedback, and helped pitch directions to stakeholders. Developed a company mascot to embody the playful spirit.

2. Product Redesign and UX Overhaul Mapped out pain points across the existing app. Developed a design system for rapid iteration. Made the experience scalable for future features and native expansion.

3. New Gamification Mechanics Developed Quests and new game types: Race, Target, Accumulation, Tournament, Weekly Superstar, and Quest mode. Not just leaderboards; users got personalized task incentives based on milestones. Scaled for onboarding and long-term progress tracking.

4. Rewards Store and Recognition Redesigned the rewards experience. Introduced wish lists and a scalable search system. Expanded beyond gift cards to experiences and exclusive offers.

Investor enthusiasm skyrocketed. Clickable prototypes helped push the Series A valuation from $8M to $11M. The product expanded into new industries, securing contracts beyond wireless and automotive sales.

I left before long-term data could confirm the full impact, but early traction showed strong potential. As one stakeholder put it: "If Arcade can pull this off, it's a good bet that you will own the segment."

Collaboration: Shaun Moynihan at Northerly did the rebrand and logo redesign.