Working closely with the Principal Product Designer, we translated the workshop findings and strategy into a full set of wireframes covering all three pillars.

These were detailed enough to present to the client project team and the General Manager, and to get a green light to move into UI design.

With the green light confirmed, simulation design began. The first two phases were about consistency, not invention. Entry points, the buy and sell flow, order management. Getting the basics right so everything built on top could hold together.

Simulation phases 3 and 4 were a different kind of work. Tournaments, leaderboards, joining and leaving flows, a results view that connected simulated decisions to real outcomes.

For the first time the project had space to explore. This phase was built in close collaboration with the client's internal design team, working through directions together across multiple rounds.

The second presentation to the General Manager covered the complete simulation and learning work. Gamification existed only as wireframes at that point. With time pressure, the team had chosen to lead with simulation progress. That choice had consequences.

I didn't react immediately. I wrote down exactly what was said, what she had seen, and what it actually meant before deciding what to change. Translating a blunt comment into a real design problem is its own skill.

I rebuilt the simulation concept from a different question. Not "how do I trade" but "what am I actually trying to do." The new flow started by asking a user's financial situation and goal, then routed them through the app's existing tools toward a real decision.

I used Claude to map every combination of financial source and goal — nine in total — the tool sequence for each, and the resulting logic. Then I built a working prototype to present it.

After I presented the prototype, the team's feedback was direct: stop focusing on simulation. Gamification needed the attention.

With the redirect clear, I researched fintech and edtech apps on Mobbin for gamification patterns, then used Claude to synthesize the screenshots into a structured pool of 43 candidate mechanics from products like Duolingo, Kahoot, and Brilliant.

I filtered against four criteria: context fit, persona fit, sustainability, and build complexity. Three mechanics made it through: rapid-fire concept matching, swipe-based signal sorting, and branching market scenarios.

I presented these to the loyalty solutions tech company first, then to the client. Both aligned on a focused set of lightweight games.

To close the project, two pairs worked from the same brief in parallel: how the gamification structure, tier logic, and user progression should fit together. We aligned on a shared direction. These UI concepts, developed together with the Principal Product Designer, were the last screens we prepared before wireframes wrapped.