Mistral

Role

Product Designer · Team of 3

Research · Product Strategy · Prototyping · User Testing

Duration

2-week sprint

About the project

At the time of this project, Mistral AI's assistant was still called Le Chat. It has since been renamed Vibe.

This case study explores how lightweight gamification can support product adoption by helping users discover valuable AI capabilities without disrupting the core chat experience.

The brief provided one key retention signal, one requested lever, and two product objectives.

⏳

1/30

users still return daily after one month

🎮

Gamification

requested lever for engagement

📈

D30 retention

increase return rate after 30 days

📲

DAU

increase active users

The project was completed during The Design Crew bootcamp from a brief focused on Le Chat's engagement and retention.

While the initial concept was developed collaboratively during the sprint, I continued the project independently, creating a personal V3 informed by user testing insights.

INITIAL SPRINT BRIEF

How might we gamify Le Chat to increase engagement and retention?

01 ———— Problem framing

Framing the opportunity

Before exploring solutions, we broke the challenge down into its different dimensions to understand where gamification could create value and where it could become distracting.

This exploration highlighted the questions our benchmark needed to answer before we could define a solution.

🎯

AI use cases

Summarise · Prompt
Generate · Search

🧩

Gamification mechanics

Missions · XP · Rewards
Levels · Streaks · Avatars

🔁

Habit-building

Meaningful reasons
to come back

⚠️

Experience risks

No chat interruptions
No artificial game layers

02 ———— Benchmark

Learning from gamification patterns

We benchmarked products where gamification reinforces the core experience rather than distracting from it. We grouped the references into two complementary approaches.

👾

Integrated gamification

Built into the core experience

✨

Added gamification

Supports the main use as a light layer

This distinction helped us decide whether gamification should become part of the core experience or remain a lightweight supporting layer.

Native patterns we kept

Duolingo and Mimo showed how visible progress and guided missions can make complex learning easier to understand and complete.

BENCHMARK #1

INSIGHT #1

Duolingo

visible progress

use signals

Streaks and levels make progress easy to track.

use signals

DESIGN DECISION

WHAT WE LIKED

Visualise feature discovery through progression.

BENCHMARK #2

INSIGHT #1

Mimo

guided missions

use signals

Missions and paths turn complex learning into clear next steps.

use signals

DESIGN DECISION

WHAT WE LIKED

Guide feature discovery through contextual missions.

BENCHMARK #1
INSIGHT #1
Duolingo
visible progress
use signals
Streaks and levels make progress easy to track.
use signals
DESIGN DECISION
WHAT WE LIKED
Visualise feature discovery through progression.
BENCHMARK #2
INSIGHT #1
Mimo
guided missions
use signals
Missions and paths turn complex learning into clear next steps.
use signals
DESIGN DECISION
WHAT WE LIKED
Guide feature discovery through contextual missions.

Added patterns we prioritised

Waze and Strava showed how lightweight gamification can reinforce useful behaviours without taking over the core experience.

BENCHMARK #3
INSIGHT #1
Waze
subtle gamification layer
use signals
Waze stays GPS-first, while useful reports unlock points, badges and levels.
use signals
DESIGN DECISION
WHAT WE LIKED
Reward useful actions without interrupting conversations.
BENCHMARK #4
INSIGHT #1
Strava
activity-based rewards
use signals
Strava rewards real activity with badges, challenges and progress stats.
use signals
DESIGN DECISION
WHAT WE LIKED
Reward meaningful AI interactions over artificial tasks.

BENCHMARK #3

INSIGHT #1

Waze

subtle gamification layer

use signals

Waze stays GPS-first, while useful reports unlock points, badges and levels.

use signals

DESIGN DECISION

WHAT WE LIKED

Reward useful actions without interrupting conversations.

BENCHMARK #4

INSIGHT #1

Strava

activity-based rewards

use signals

Strava rewards real activity with badges, challenges and progress stats.

use signals

DESIGN DECISION

WHAT WE LIKED

Reward meaningful AI interactions over artificial tasks.

What we learned

These benchmarks converged around three principles that shaped the first concept.

⭐️

Support the core use case

Reinforce the core experience, not compete with it.

💪

Reward useful behaviours

Reward behaviours that create product value.

📈

Make progress visible

Help users understand what they've explored and unlocked.

Key design constraint

Gamification should guide users toward useful AI behaviours, without distracting from the core chat experience.

What we learned

These benchmarks converged around three principles that shaped the first concept.

⭐️

Support the core use case

Reinforce the core experience, not compete with it.

💪

Reward useful behaviours

Reward behaviours that create product value.

product value.

📈

Make progress visible

Help users understand what they've explored and unlocked.

Key design constraint

Gamification should guide users toward useful AI behaviours, without distracting from the core chat experience.

03 ———— Design directions

From reminders to contextual missions

Early ideas focused on bringing users back through reminders, widgets and shortcuts.

However, these concepts lived outside the core chat experience. They increased visibility, but did little to support product discovery.

We shifted toward contextual missions embedded in real conversations, allowing product discovery to happen naturally within the chat experience.

Widgets and reminders
Early direction
Mission hub
Concept evolution
Missions inside Le Chat
Final direction

Widgets and reminders

Early direction

Mission hub

Concept evolution

Missions inside Le Chat

Final direction

Pattern exploration

These patterns shaped the first version of our product concepts.

Personal V3 exploration

User testing validated the overall direction while revealing several usability issues.

Our team addressed the main findings through a V2 iteration during the sprint

. After the sprint ended, I continued exploring the concept independently, developing a personal V3 focused on discoverability, guided learning and product-value rewards.

04 ———— Concept & V1

A mission-based discovery system

Guided by our benchmark insights, we designed a first concept built around a simple progression loop. Completing missions rewards useful behaviours, makes progress visible and gradually unlocks new rewards.

Missions
Guide users toward valuable AI behaviours.
XP
Reward meaningful actions.
Progression
Make exploration visible.
Rewards
Encourage continued exploration.

Missions

Guide users toward valuable AI behaviours.

Reward meaningful actions.

Progression

Make exploration visible.

Rewards

Encourage continued exploration.

Concept

Rather than adding game mechanics for their own sake, we focused on reinforcing meaningful product usage through visible progression and lightweight rewards.

How missions work

Missions could be launched from the mission hub or triggered contextually after relevant user actions, turning everyday usage into learning opportunities.

The first prototype focused on familiar AI use cases, prompt improvement and guided product exploration.

Document summary
A familiar use case that helps users quickly understand Le Chat’s value.
Better prompting
An AI best practice that improves the quality of real conversations.
Try or create an agent
An advanced feature introduced through guided exploration.

Document summary

A familiar use case that helps users quickly understand Le Chat’s value.

Better prompting

An AI best practice that improves the quality of real conversations.

Try or create an agent

An advanced feature introduced through guided exploration.

Visual language

To stay consistent with Le Chat's visual identity, the reward system reuses its existing pixel-art language while introducing new assets for progression, missions and rewards.

Created pixel-art assets

Pixel-art existing illustrations

Created pixel-art assets

Pixel-art existing illustrations

Turning usage into learning

The prototype demonstrates how contextual missions integrate naturally into conversations, rewarding meaningful behaviours, making progress visible and encouraging continued exploration.

My contribution

This concept was developed by a team of three. I focused on the following areas:

⚙️

Interaction design

Designed the mission system, reward experience and V3 flows.

🎨

Visual design

Created mission icons,reward copywriting and pixel-art avatars.

🔍

UX research

Created the interview guide and synthesized key insights.

🎯

Product strategy

Defined the gamification strategy, aligning retention and product adoption.

⚙️

Interaction design

Designed the mission system, reward experience and V3 flows.

🎨

Visual design

Created mission icons,reward copywriting and pixel-art avatars.

🔍

UX research

Created the interview guide and synthesized key insights.

🎯

Product strategy

Defined the gamification strategy, aligning retention and product adoption.

05 ———— Tests

Validating the first concept

We wanted to understand whether users noticed missions, understood the progression system and perceived value in the experience.

We tested the first prototype with five participants through remote semi-structured interviews.

Our panel

Nihel, 31

Professional use

Ilan, 30

Professional use

Simon, 27

Regular user

Ben, 36

Regular user

Anne, 41

Occasional user

Our panel

Anne, 41

Occasional user

Ben, 36

Regular user

What we wanted to validate

☐ System comprehension

Do users understand missions, XP and rewards?

☐ Discoverability

Do users notice and interact with missions?

☐ Perceived value

Do missions make users want to explore more?

🎙️

45-min semi-structured interviews

Natural flow then retrospective questions

Remote video calls

Nihel, 31

Professional use

Ilan, 30

Professional use

Simon, 27

Regular user

06 ———— Iterations

Insights & Design priorities

Interviews confirmed some of our assumptions while challenging others.

Three consistent patterns emerged:

INSIGHT #1

2/5

understood the system upfront

use signals

→ system too hidden
→ banners mostly ignored
→ focus stayed on chat response

use signals

“It felt a bit like an ad; my brain completely filtered it out.”

Nihel

INSIGHT #2

INSIGHT #1

2/5

interacted with the mission list

use signals

→ task descriptions needed
→ states not scannable
→ difficulty levels missing

use signals

“I’d like to see how it works under the title.”

Ilan

INSIGHT #3

use signals

3/5

wanted more advanced rewards

use signals

→ users wanted deeper missions
→ rewards stronger when useful
→ XP needed clearer affordance

use signals

“I’d like some use-to-win logic, like unlocking Pro capabilities.”

Simon

DESIGN PRIORITY #1

INSIGHT #1

Better discoverability

use signals

Introduce contextual entry points that support the chat experience.

DESIGN PRIORITY #2

INSIGHT #1

Clearer progression

use signals

Make missions, rewards and XP progression easier to understand.

DESIGN PRIORITY #3

INSIGHT #1

Hands-on learning

use signals

Replace passive tutorials with contextual, hands-on exercises.

06 ———— Iterations

INSIGHT #1
INSIGHT #1
2/5
understood the system upfront
use signals
→ system too hidden
→ banners mostly ignored
→ focus stayed on chat response
use signals
“It felt a bit like an ad; my brain completely filtered it out.”
Nihel
DESIGN PRIORITY #1
INSIGHT #1
Better discoverability
use signals
Introduce contextual entry points that support the chat experience.
INSIGHT #2
INSIGHT #1
2/5
interacted with the mission list
use signals
→ task descriptions needed
→ states not scannable
→ difficulty levels missing
use signals
“I’d like to see how it works under the title.”
Ilan
DESIGN PRIORITY #2
INSIGHT #1
Clearer progression
use signals
Make missions, rewards and XP progression easier to understand.
INSIGHT #3
use signals
3/5
wanted more advanced rewards
use signals
→ users wanted deeper missions
→ rewards stronger when useful
→ XP needed clearer affordance
use signals
“I’d like some use-to-win logic, like unlocking Pro capabilities.”
Simon
DESIGN PRIORITY #3
INSIGHT #1
Hands-on learning
use signals
Replace passive tutorials with contextual, hands-on exercises.

Insights & Design priorities

Interviews confirmed some of our assumptions while challenging others.

Three consistent patterns emerged:

INSIGHT #1

2/5

understood the system upfront

use signals

→ system too hidden
→ banners mostly ignored
→ focus stayed on chat response

use signals

“It felt a bit like an ad; my brain completely filtered it out.”

Nihel

DESIGN PRIORITY #1

INSIGHT #1

Better discoverability

use signals

Introduce contextual entry points that support the chat experience.

INSIGHT #2

INSIGHT #1

2/5

interacted with the mission list

use signals

→ task descriptions needed
→ states not scannable
→ difficulty levels missing

use signals

“I’d like to see how it works under the title.”

Ilan

DESIGN PRIORITY #2

INSIGHT #1

Clearer progression

use signals

Make missions, rewards and XP progression easier to understand.

INSIGHT #3

use signals

3/5

wanted more advanced rewards

use signals

→ users wanted deeper missions
→ rewards stronger when useful
→ XP needed clearer affordance

use signals

“I’d like some use-to-win logic, like unlocking Pro capabilities.”

Simon

DESIGN PRIORITY #3

INSIGHT #1

Hands-on learning

use signals

Replace passive tutorials with contextual, hands-on exercises.

Personal V3 exploration

User testing validated the overall direction while revealing several usability issues.

Our team addressed the main findings through a V2 iteration during the sprint. After the sprint ended, I continued exploring the concept independently, developing a personal V3 focused on discoverability, guided learning and product-value rewards.

PERSONAL REFINEMENT #1

Better discoverability

User testing revealed that missions were too hidden within the natural chat flow.

I redesigned their entry points to introduce them contextually without interrupting the conversation.

V1 : initial concept

Missions remained hidden

V3 : personal iteration

Contextual invitation & clear CTA

V1 : initial concept
Missions remained hidden
V3 : personal iteration
Contextual invitation & clear CTA
3
3

PERSONAL REFINEMENT #2

Clearer missions

Users struggled to understand what each mission involved before starting.

I redesigned mission cards with clearer descriptions, difficulty indicators and stronger visual hierarchy.

V1: initial concept

Minimal mission context

V2: team iteration

Added mission description and difficulty

V3: personal exploration

Clear mission preview and simplified hierarchy

PERSONAL REFINEMENT #3

A more coherent mission hub

Browsing missions felt fragmented and progression was difficult to understand.

I simplified the mission hub while surfacing product-value rewards earlier to encourage exploration of advanced features.

V2 : team iteration
V3 : personal exploration

V2 : team iteration

V3 : personal exploration

PERSONAL REFINEMENT #4

Guided practice

The original prompting mission relied on passive tutorials rather than real practice.

I replaced it with a guided exercise built around one of the user's own prompts, turning a real conversation into a contextual learning experience.

V2 : team iterations
Tutorial
V3 : personal iteration
Guided prompt refinement
automatically reuses the previous prompt
V3 : personal iteration
Guided prompt refinement
why it works
improved prompt

V2 : team iterations

Tutorial

V3 : personal iteration

Guided prompt refinement

automatically reuses the previous prompt

why it works

improved prompt

PERSONAL REFINEMENT #5

Product-value rewards

In V2, product-value rewards existed only as illustrative concepts.

In my V3 exploration, I designed how they unlock, communicate their value and integrate naturally into the user journey.

V2 : team iterations

V2 : team iterations

*Reward values are exploratory and require validation against business and technical constraints.

V2 : team iterations
V3 : personal iteration*
dedicated activation
clear value proposition
V3 : personal iteration*
immediate confirmation

03 ———— Design directions

From reminders to contextual missions

Early ideas focused on bringing users back through reminders, widgets and shortcuts.

However, these concepts lived outside the core chat experience. They increased visibility, but did little to support product discovery.

We shifted toward contextual missions embedded in real conversations, allowing product discovery to happen naturally within the chat experience.

Widgets and reminders

Early direction

Mission hub

Concept evolution

Missions inside Le Chat

Final direction

These patterns shaped the first version of our product concepts.

04 ———— Concept & V1

A mission-based discovery system

Missions

Guide users toward valuable AI behaviours.

Reward meaningful actions.

Progression

Make exploration visible.

Rewards

Encourage continued exploration.

Concept

Rather than adding game mechanics for their own sake, we focused on reinforcing meaningful product usage through visible progression and lightweight rewards.

How missions work

Missions could be launched from the mission hub or triggered contextually after relevant user actions, turning everyday usage into learning opportunities.

The first prototype focused on familiar AI use cases, prompt improvement and guided product exploration.

Document summary

A familiar use case that helps users quickly understand Le Chat’s value.

Better prompting

An AI best practice that improves the quality of real conversations.

Try or create an agent

An advanced feature introduced through guided exploration.

Visual language

To stay consistent with Le Chat's visual identity, the reward system reuses its existing pixel-art language while introducing new assets for progression, missions and rewards.

Created pixel-art assets

Pixel-art existing illustrations

Turning usage into learning

The prototype demonstrates how contextual missions integrate naturally into conversations, rewarding meaningful behaviours, making progress visible and encouraging continued exploration.

My contribution

This concept was developed by a team of three. I focused on the following areas:

⚙️

Interaction design

Designed the mission system, reward experience and V3 flows.

🎨

Visual design

Created mission icons,reward copywriting and pixel-art avatars.

🔍

UX research

Created the interview guide and synthesized key insights.

🎯

Product strategy

Defined the gamification strategy, aligning retention and product adoption.

05 ———— Tests

Validating the first concept

We wanted to understand whether users noticed missions, understood the progression system and perceived value in the experience.

We tested the first prototype with five participants through remote semi-structured interviews.

Nihel, 31

Professional use

Ilan, 30

Professional use

Simon, 27

Regular user

Ben, 36

Regular user

Anne, 41

Occasional user

What we wanted to validate

☐ System comprehension

Do users understand missions, XP and rewards?

☐ Discoverability

Do users notice and interact with missions?

☐ Perceived value

Do missions make users want to explore more?

🎙️

45-min semi-structured interviews

Natural flow then retrospective questions

Remote video calls

06 ———— Iterations

Insights & Design priorities

Interviews confirmed some of our assumptions while challenging others.

Three consistent patterns emerged:

INSIGHT #1

2/5

understood the system upfront

use signals

→ system too hidden
→ banners mostly ignored
→ focus stayed on chat response

use signals

“It felt a bit like an ad; my brain completely filtered it out.”

Nihel

INSIGHT #2

INSIGHT #1

2/5

interacted with the mission list

use signals

→ task descriptions needed
→ states not scannable
→ difficulty levels missing

use signals

“I’d like to see how it works under the title.”

Ilan

INSIGHT #3

use signals

3/5

wanted more advanced rewards

use signals

→ users wanted deeper missions
→ rewards stronger when useful
→ XP needed clearer affordance

use signals

“I’d like some use-to-win logic, like unlocking Pro capabilities.”

Simon

DESIGN PRIORITY #1

INSIGHT #1

Better discoverability

use signals

Introduce contextual entry points that support the chat experience.

DESIGN PRIORITY #2

INSIGHT #1

Clearer progression

use signals

Make missions, rewards and XP progression easier to understand.

DESIGN PRIORITY #3

INSIGHT #1

Hands-on learning

use signals

Replace passive tutorials with contextual, hands-on exercises.

PERSONAL REFINEMENT #1

Better discoverability

User testing revealed that missions were too hidden within the natural chat flow.

I redesigned their entry points to introduce them contextually without interrupting the conversation.

V1 : initial concept

Missions remained hidden

V3 : personal iteration

Contextual invitation & clear CTA

PERSONAL REFINEMENT #2

Clearer missions

Users struggled to understand what each mission involved before starting.

I redesigned mission cards with clearer descriptions, difficulty indicators and stronger visual hierarchy.

V1: initial concept

Minimal mission context

V2: team iteration

Added mission description and difficulty

V3: personal exploration

Clear mission preview and simplified hierarchy

PERSONAL REFINEMENT #3

A more coherent mission hub

Browsing missions felt fragmented and progression was difficult to understand.

I simplified the mission hub while surfacing product-value rewards earlier to encourage exploration of advanced features.

V2 : team iteration

V3 : personal exploration

PERSONAL REFINEMENT #4

Guided practice

The original prompting mission relied on passive tutorials rather than real practice.

I replaced it with a guided exercise built around one of the user's own prompts, turning a real conversation into a contextual learning experience.

V2 : team iterations

Tutorial

V3 : personal iteration

Guided prompt refinement

automatically reuses the previous prompt

why it works

improved prompt

PERSONAL REFINEMENT #5

Product-value rewards

In V2, product-value rewards existed only as illustrative concepts.

In my V3 exploration, I designed how they unlock, communicate their value and integrate naturally into the user journey.

V2 : team iterations

V3 : personal iteration*

dedicated activation

clear value proposition

immediate confirmation

*Reward values are exploratory and require validation against business and technical constraints.

dedicated activation

clear value proposition

immediate confirmation

V3 : personal iteration*

08 ———— Final experience

Final prototype

The final prototype demonstrates how the different V3 improvements come together into one cohesive experience.

Helping users discover AI features through contextual missions

Helping users discover AI features through contextual missions

A lightweight mission system that transforms everyday conversations into opportunities to discover and adopt advanced AI features.

About the project

Framing the opportunity

Learning from gamification patterns

Native patterns we kept

Added patterns we prioritised

What we learned

Key design constraint

What we learned

Key design constraint

From reminders to contextual missions

Pattern exploration

Personal V3 exploration

A mission-based discovery system

My contribution

Validating the first concept

Our panel

Our panel

Insights & Design priorities

Insights & Design priorities

Personal V3 exploration

From reminders to contextual missions

A mission-based discovery system

My contribution

Validating the first concept

Insights & Design priorities

Final prototype

KPIs

KPIs

Next opportunities

Reflection

Any questions?

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