Coin Shop Redesign
A redesigned mobile-first shop, so every option is easy to see and faster to buy.
✦ UX Design / UI Design
✦ In-App Purchases
✦ @Azerion
Project Brief
A New Coin Shop for the Social Game "Smeet"
Smeet's Coin Shop was the gateway to everything players wanted — but it was letting them down: Poorly adapted for mobile, visually outdated and with no clear hierarchy. The challenge was turning this overlooked utility into a smooth, intuitive experience players actually enjoy using.
Details
Platform
Mobile, Desktop
Team Size
Sole Ownership
Focus
Art Direction, User Research, Competitive Analysis, UI/UX Design, Visual Design
TLDR
As part of Smeet's overall UI revamp, I redesigned the Coin Shop end-to-end — from UX research and journey restructuring to final UI execution. The focus was on creating a frictionless, trustworthy purchase experience: clear pricing, personalized bundle offers for different player types, and reusable UI components for long-term scalability. The core challenge was balancing monetization goals with player trust — making spending feel rewarding rather than coercive.
The Final Design
Understanding the Player
Empathize
01
I analyzed user behavior and competitors and accompanied players throughout their experience to understand how they interact with the shop and what drives or blocks purchase decisions. This was supported by a combination of qualitative and quantitative research, with surveys proving particularly insightful.
01 ✦ EMPATHIZE
The Original
The original Coin Shop felt outdated and not optimized for mobile, with small elements and limited information. Multiple payment providers and currencies reduced clarity, while discounts were not transparent and the experience lacked personalization, making it confusing and unengaging.
Coin value is completely opaque
The vast majority of respondents had no idea what a coin unit was actually worth. Nobody could tell if 500 coins was "a lot" or "a little" in context, due to coin inflation and too many in-game currencies to begin with.
Trust deficit at first purchase
First-time buyers were dominated by confustion.
"Will my purchase actually arrive?"
"This looks really untrustworthy?"
"What can I even buy with this amount?"
No sense of urgency or relevance
The shop felt like a static inventory catalogue. No personalized offers, nothing that made the visit feel timely or relevant to the current session.
Social stigma around paying
Several players avoided purchases because they didn't see themselves as "someone who pays." Spending real money had a community stigma — seen as "cheating" progression.
01 ✦ Empathize
The Personas
The Invested Player
Daily active · Occasional spender
Goals
→
Accelerate progress without feeling bought
→
Find the objectively best deal available
→
Status items, exclusivity, visible edge
→
Personalized offers that respect her history
Frustrations
→ Irrelevant offers shown regardless of level
The Casual Visitor
3–4× / week · Never purchased
Goals
→
Enjoys the game as-is without spending
→
Would pay if the value was crystal clear
→
Needs social proof or a trusted nudge
Frustrations
→
Has no idea what coins translate to
→
Shop feels like "not for me"
The New User
First Time · Never purchased
Goals
→
Wants to get to know the game
→
Would pay if the value was crystal clear
→
Needs social proof or a trusted nudge
Frustrations
→
Is confused by the sparse coin shop selection
→
Does not know how to use coins
Framing the problem
Define
02
The research pointed to a clear gap: the shop lacked clarity, felt generic, and offered no real sense of value. I defined the design brief around trust, transparency, and a more personalized experience.
01 ✦ DEFINE
The Main Pain Points
The existing shop suffered from a cluttered layout, unclear pricing, a one-size-fits-all structure, and legacy tech constraints that together hurt user trust, engagement, and conversions.
The Personalization
A one-size-fits-all bundle structure with generic offers failed to address individual player needs.
Outdated Design
The shop’s outdated visuals, poor mobile optimization, and small, inconsistent UI elements created an unengaging experience.
Interrupted Flow
The purchasing experience felt inconsistent due to lots of payment providers and payment methods. Too little system feedback interrupted the user flow.
Low Value Perception
Due to unclear communication of value, players lost trust and motivation at the point of purchase, resulting in a confusing and disengaging experience.
Information Clarity
Unclear pricing, multiple payment providers, and non-transparent discounts made it difficult to understand costs and value, while limited and inconsistent information made offers harder to evaluate.
The Personalization
A one-size-fits-all bundle structure with generic offers failed to address individual player needs.
Outdated Design
The shop’s outdated visuals, poor mobile optimization, and small, inconsistent UI elements created an unengaging experience.
Interrupted Flow
The purchasing experience felt inconsistent due to lots of payment providers and payment methods. Too little system feedback interrupted the user flow.
Low Value Perception
Due to unclear communication of value, players lost trust and motivation at the point of purchase, resulting in a confusing and disengaging experience.
Information Clarity
Unclear pricing, limited feedback, and an outdated design make it hard to evaluate offers and understand value.
The existing shop went beyond a visual issue. Inconsistent, tiny visuals, unclear information and a one-size-fits-all layout already left players confused.
01 Deeper Than Visuals
The existing shop went beyond a visual issue. Inconsistent, tiny visuals, unclear information and a one-size-fits-all layout already left players confused. But on top of that, technical constraints imposed by the game engine and payment providers disrupted the flow added an extra layer of complexity.
Exploring Possibilities
Ideate
03
I explored different information architectures, bundle structures, and segmentation approaches to find a flow that worked for different player types — balancing UX goals with monetization requirements.
03 ✦ Ideate
The Most Promising Ideas
01 Discovery & Clarity
02 Personalization
03 Trust & Motivation
04 Earning & Engagement
Visual Freshness
A modern visual identity transforms the entire feel of the shop. Finally, the style will convey a sense of a professional product.
Personalized Bundles
New bundle concepts were developed with pricing strategies informed by earlier research, aiming to deliver clear value while supporting monetization goals.
Reworked Flow
With the problem framed, I explored different approaches to restructuring the purchase flow and bundle architecture — rethinking how offers are presented across different player segments.
Making It Tangible
Prototype
04
UX concepts were translated into wireframes and interactive prototypes, covering the full purchase flow and tested against technical constraints from the game engine and payment providers.
04 ✦ Prototype
The Mid-Fi Prototype
Coin Shop Before and After
01 Journey Mapping
02 Killing Darlings
Testing with Users
Test
05
Prototypes were tested for usability, pricing clarity, and perceived value. The feedback fed directly into design iterations until the interface was intuitive, and the component system was ready to scale.
01 Baby Steps
01 Baby Steps
04 ✦ Test
Recommended Future Steps
Next Iterations
Deepened A/B Testing of Bundles
The new bundles and pricing strategies were developed based on research — a logical next step would be to test different bundle sizes, discount displays, or "Best Value" highlights against each other to optimize based on real data.
Non-Monetary Earning Mechanics
One of the most interesting takeaways is that the shop needs more direct ways to earn coins. A next iteration could fully integrate these already existing in-game systems into the shop flow, so the shop is perceived as a hub rather than just a purchase point.
Seasonal & Event-Based Shop States
Tying limited bundles and visual shop themes to in-game events or seasons (holidays, challenge seasons) could create urgency and a reason to return, while also making the shop feel alive and dynamic over time.
What We Achieved
Impact & Learnings
06
Progress is rarely linear and often shaped by small adjustments along the way. Different perspectives can lead to more balanced and thoughtful decisions. The new coin shop design improved perceived value, clarity, and user satisfaction through tailored offers and enhanced presentation, resulting in more positive player feedback.
✦ Impact & Learnings
Final Notes
Key Takeaways
Monetization Balance
Ensuring a balance between monetization goals and the user experience can be tricky. In-game purchases are supposed to be enticing, but not coercive. The project started out as a UI adjustment, but soon raised questions about the current flow/user journey concerning acquiring coins. We needed to provide players with more direct non-monetary ways to earn rewards, making the shop feel optional but rewarding.
✦ Impact & Learnings
Final Notes
The Impact
Creating Variety
✦ Contact Me
Have a project in mind?
Looking for collaboration? Send an email to helloooo@vhoffmann.design for inquiries and projects or fill out the form.