Youth Lifestyle App Design: “GNC”
* Brand: Turkcell - GNÇ
* Role: Interaction Designer
* Problem/Opportunity Tackled: Redesign the youth lifestyle subbrand's digital touchpoints, explore gamification opportunities and create a simple yet hip interaction model within the application.
BACKGROUND
GNÇ is one of the earliest youth clubs, established in 2006. The brand was going through a transformation phase, and strategic conceptual designs previously created by R/GA were to be translated to the current needs in the market. I was involved in the project as a UX designer and collaborated with the marketing/product teams to come up with the redesign of the application, which is the main communication channel for the young customers. We collaborated with R/GA, TBWA and IBM IX through the design process.
TARGET SEGMENT FOCUS GROUPS
UX and marketing teams collaborated to create an extensive research study at the beginning of the project. Needs, desires, hopes and painpoints of the target group were carefully analyzed to come up with new features/offerings, a new communication and refresh the application.
INTERACTION DESIGN
Previously aligned conceptual designs needed adaptation since the brand strategy and user needs had changed. We restructured and detailed all interactions within the redesign. User expectations were always the starting point of all created journeys, such as targeted campaign communication, reaching customized chatbot providing assistance for young users, browsing through products, following up with remaining monthly plan information and offering solutions at the right moment.
KEY FEATURES
Key journeys and features relating to monthly plan usage were carefully constructed, leaving minimal leakage from the application - aiming to solve all relevant issues within the GNC app.
NEW FEATURE EXPLORATION - MOBILE PAYMENT
Integration with critical products were also a key part of the project. The mobile payment solution “Paycell” was integrated to the lifestyle application, adapting the value proposition to suit the needs of young customers and daily use expectations. GNC users are able to transfer money to each other instantly without any charges, and receive money from their parents.
GAMIFIED CAMPAIGN DESIGN
We collaborated with the marketing agency TBWA to create an exciting gamification to increase activity ratio and create word of mouth for the applications relaunch. GNC users receive notifications to join the egg cracking game, where they receive surprise rewards twice a week. The days are set in a custom way for every user, and the user has to join the game in these given days. They receive data and free usage from other applications, to promote cross-app activity.
The game was a big hit, the eggs were a central part of the campus activities of the GNC brand. Students were really excited to take part in games within campuses and the brand received high interaction throughout the campaign activation period.
The youth club, after the redesign and campus activities, was revitalized and currently remains as one of the most popular youth clubs globally.