16 Design Patterns for User Engagement

In this GSummit 2012 session, Nadya Direkova, who has run more than 100 design sprints at Google, walks through practical design patterns that motivate users to try a product, invite their friends and keep coming back.

The patterns draw on game design and cover rewards, progression and quests, the onboarding experience, and how to build an experience for expert players once people are past the first steps. It is a useful talk for anyone thinking about gamification and long-term engagement rather than one-off visits.

Several of the mechanics she discusses, such as achievements, levels and guided onboarding, are documented with examples in the UI-Patterns.com pattern library.