Journey Design Services
Drive retention & build habits that stick
OUR PROMISE
Nail retention with Journey Design
Have you ever shipped a working version of your product – only to discover that that customers weren’t sticking around?
We’ve helped create high-retention hits like The Sims, Netflix, Tetris, Bejeweled, Rock Band, Replika and Ebay. Every one of these hits is built around a journey — a journey that engages the customer leveling up over time.
Journey Design is a system for building a high-retention product experience. If you want to validate ideas faster & build an experience that pulls customers back – you’re in the right place.
Like having a world-class product designer in your pocket
Eugenia Kuyda
CEO, Replika.ai
Amy Jo has a refined, effective process for bringing new ideas to life
Blair Ethington
VP @ eBay
Amy Jo’s program & insights gave me practical, tangible design skills.
Gina Bianchini
CEO, Mighty Networks
SUCCESS STORIES
Trusted by startups, studios & leading brands
Journey Design uses techniques from the games industry, where the pace of innovation is relentless, and creating a great user experience is everything.
And guess what? The same methods that make games engaging can make your product irresistible & tip the scales towards success.
Teams at Disney, Netflix, Electronic Arts, Ubisoft, NYTimes & dozens of startups use Journey Design to boost retention & validate early-stage ideas faster.
Want details? Check out our Journey Design success stories.
You’ve got to find your own window of opportunity. This is your instruction manual.
Garry Tan
CEO, Y Combinator
PRODUCTS
Shiseido
We helped Shiseido fix retention, refine customer targeting & boost online sales for a new product
GAMES
Covet Fashion
We helped Crowdstar (now part of EA) design a hit mobile game that’s still going strong after 10+ years.
APPS
Replika
We helped AI chatbot Replika find their core audience, and boost long-term retention.
Want to validate ideas faster & get product breakthroughs?
This program had invaluable impact on my product thinking – AND my product
Chris Swain
Professor @ USC Iovine and Young Academy
Want to use Jobs-To-Be-Done to build the right product? You’re in good hands with Amy Jo
Bob Moesta
Founder, ReWired Group
Game Thinking is WAY better than gamification. The more I learned, the more in love I fell with it
Jared Spool
Founder, Makers of Awesomeness
THE PROCESS
How we deliver results
After working with dozens of startups, we’ve learned that fastest way to boost retention is to design a product journey based on customer needs, then validate your end-to-end Journey with lo-fi storyboards. To do this, you need to:
- identify & recruit your ideal high-need customers
- design a compelling customer journey & habit loop
- prototype your ideas with no-code end-to-end Storyboards
- test your ideas with ideal customers using those storyboards
But let’s face it — most teams don’t have the resources to do this. That’s why we created the Journey Design Sprint — a 4-Phase process for designing & validating an engaging Product Journey.
1. DISCOVERY
Focus on your ICP & what they need
The first step is to find out whether there’s a real market for your product idea, and which customer needs or pain points you should address.
2. DESIGN
Create an experience that fits their lifestyle
The next step is to design a highly engaging product journey, built on existing habits, that helps customers make consistent progress toward their goals.
3. STORYBOARDING
Prototype your end-to-end Product Journey
To prototype & tune retention, prototype your end-to-end journey with storyboards. They complement your prototypes & help you spot broken moments before your users do.
4. VALIDATION
Test your Product Journey alongside your prototypes
Once you’ve prototyped your journey, you can run playtests with your ICP & find out whether you’re on the right path. This allows you to spot the broken moments BEFORE your users do.
This program changed how we design; it delivers powerful insights fast
Kacie Hsu
Research Director @ EA
Finally, I have a method to track innovation projects & help my team build hits
George Ogbonnaya
VP @ First City Monument Bank
Game Thinking gets FAR better results for our clients than Gamification
Jaxton Cheah
Gamification Coach
WORK WITH US
Which level of service is right for you?
Build a high-retention journey for your product.
In the Journey Design Sprint, we’ll design, prototype & test your end-to-end product experience.
TIMELINE: 6-12 weeks
Get feedback & advice on your product journey
Our Journey Design Audit helps you build a high-retention journey with expert advice & feedback.
TIMELINE: 1-2 weeks
Level up your team with AI-powered design techniques
We offer public & private workshops with Amy Jo Kim, Ph.D. – game designer & startup coach.
TIMELINE: 1-2 days
WANT TO work with us?
Get in touch
Interested in our Journey Design services?
Let’s chat & determine how we can help you succeed.
Got a specific question or request?
Send us a quick message with your request and questions.
Who we are
Pleased to meet you 👋🏽
Amy Jo Kim
Game designer & startup coach
I’ve helped hundreds of product leaders bring ideas to life – co-designed Rock Band, The Sims, eBay, Covet Fashion, & Happify – run & sold a venture-funded startup.
Now I help innovative teams & leaders find product/market fit faster & delight customers with high-retention products & games.
Scott Kim
Educational game designer
I’m a game designer specializing in puzzles & education games. I created the puzzle modes on Tetris & Bejeweled as well as helped to create adaptive math game Mastering Math for education giant ABCmouse.com.
I’d love to help you build more entertaining & effective product & games.