Case Study
Thingiverse
implementing a rewards program on a 3D printing sharing website
Role
UX/UI designer, UX researcher
Tools
Figma, Maze, FigJam, Mural
Duration
75 hours, August to September 2024
Challenge and context
With the explosion of popularity of 3D printing, platforms such as Thingiverse have emerged for people to share and download 3D models.
However, Thingiverse has declined in popularity as competitors arrived with newer and more frequently updated paid features.
My goal was to revitalize the website by incentivizing and growing user engagement, while also staying true to the site's open-source and sharing culture.
Problem
The perception of Thingiverse as the premier 3D file sharing site has declined. However, Thingiverse still has a very strong reputation as free and open source, so any paid features would be categorically denied by users.
How might we balance attracting and retaining users without requiring them to pay?
Goal
Incentivizing and increasing user engagement on a website where users share, download and remix 3D printing files by implementing participatory missions and a rewards shop
Final Prototype
Iterations
Updated the Rewards tabs with icons
Changed the point amounts (500 points) to lessen affordance
Completed missions are moved below incomplete ones for better information hierarchy
Updated reward shop banner text and graphic
“Sort by” menu is now responsive and filters items appropriately.
Items are color coded to indicate whether they are physical or digital goods.
Results
Developed a new feature that incentivizes engagement without alienating loyal userbase
Developed a new feature that furthers business goals of increasing market share and name recognition
Integrated rewards missions and shop features with existing branding and style
Users navigated through the new features seamlessly
Users had a 100% success rate for the task of "completing a mission"
Users had a 84.6% success rate of "redeeming a reward"
100% of users explained correctly what the purpose of the filters are.
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