Problem
Kids want to help but lack immediate feedback. Invisible consequences don't stick. Existing tools talk at children, not with them.
Solution
Gamified quest system. Personal ocean that transforms. Creature collection mechanic. 3-tap action→reward loop.
Impact
Task completion under 10 sec. Zero instruction needed. "What's the next creature?" — unprompted motivation.
Splashy is a gamified iOS app that makes sustainable habits tangible for children. Complete real-world quests, earn sea creatures, and watch a personal ocean transform from polluted to thriving.
The core challenge: make the feedback loop short enough to matter to a 9-year-old. Every decision answered one question: how many taps between doing good and seeing it on screen?
Six children interviewed. Three rounds of testing. All illustration hand-drawn in Adobe Illustrator.
Task completion time after quest screen redesign
Previously: hesitation and wrong taps · After: consistent under 10 seconds
Sustainability education for children is adult-led and abstract. Most children interviewed expressed a desire to help but had no clear path to act on it.
Abstract impact
Most children struggled to connect daily actions to outcomes. Invisible consequences didn't stick.
No ownership
Tools talked at children. Without personal stake, engagement faded quickly.
Rewards too late
Long-term rewards failed. Children needed immediate, visible feedback.
No real-world link
Screen-only apps missed the point. Behaviour change happens offline.
Semi-structured interviews with six children aged 7–11. I asked about games they loved, things they collected, and moments that made them proud — not feature wishlists.
Two patterns emerged consistently. Neither came from me.
"I love collecting things. Like Pokemon."
The creature collection mechanic came directly from this.
"I'd want to show my friends my ocean."
The named ocean taps into pride and social identity.
The loop between real-world action and visible reward had to be three taps or fewer. This constraint drove every interaction decision.
Designed for minimal friction between real-world action and visible reward. Three taps or fewer.
Stage 01 · Initial explorations
Stage 02 · Refined directions
Stage 03 · Illustrator drafts
Initial creature set — each tied to a specific eco-action category
Continuous gradient — ocean gradually changes with each quest. Tested but children didn't notice incremental shifts.
Three distinct milestone states with creature unlock animations. Creates deliberate, noticeable reward moments.
Thresholds based on observed engagement during prototype testing. 0–5 quests established baseline; 6–15 felt like progress; 16+ required sustained effort — mapping to variable rewards with escalating value.
Splash
Building
Thriving
Quests
LogAfter the quest screen redesign, one child completed five tasks without a single question. Before, they'd stop and ask what to do after every tap.
Observation from final prototype testing
Quest screen had too much text
Two of three children skipped reading entirely and tapped the largest button.
Icon-led cards
Reduced copy ~60%. All three were able to complete quests without reading after the change.
Ocean changes weren't noticeable
Children didn't distinguish between early ocean states. Completing quests felt meaningless.
Three distinct states with unlock moments
Tied each transition to a creature unlock animation. The difference became unmistakable.
Constraints
No instruction needed
All three participants grasped the quest-to-ocean connection without explanation.
Unprompted motivation
Two of three asked "what's the next creature?" without prompting.
Task time reduced
Log progress action completed in under 10 seconds consistently after redesign.
I initially designed for the child I imagined, not the one I met. The first quest screen assumed a reading level and attention span that didn't exist. Watching a child skip every word and tap randomly was humbling. That failure forced the icon-led redesign.
Research is structural, not preliminary. The creature collection mechanic came from a child mentioning Pokemon. The named ocean came from a child wanting to show friends. I didn't invent those features — I heard them and built accordingly.
If I were to do this again: I'd test with children earlier, even with rough paper prototypes, rather than waiting for high-fidelity. The feedback is immediate and brutal in the best way.
Next project
Hunza & LuxR →