Beyond the Bike Lock A Gamified Application to Enhance User Motivation and Benefits of Retailers

Abstract

Existing bicycle locks do not meet current security requirements. A bicycle is for many people a big investment that very often ends up like an inventory in the entrance, storage room, bedroom or living room. However, the majority of solutions are focused on protecting the bicycle itself and none of them addressed the developing of a community to increase theft awareness to prevent bicycle robbery. The premise of this study is to research how to develop and design a product that protects the bicycles from theft and accordingly encourage the people to use the bicycle more. Additionally, how the business owners can benefit from the developed product in terms of marketing and revenue. To explore how the bicycle lock should be designed to protect the bicycle from theft, I have conducted research through design of bicycle lock that supports protection. Then I applied gamification to the application to provide both theft awareness and increase user engagement. Firstly, I have explored theories of design thinking, gamification, and motivation. Then, I collect context-grounded data to act as the foundation for my design specifications, I have utilized such methods as interviews, survey, document analysis, prototyping and evaluation of prototypes. This project illustrates the practical and theoretical insights into the act of designing a specific solution to protect the bike and develop theft awareness in biking context and increasing engagement of bikers on the platform. The findings suggest that gamified solutions are playing vital role in increasing engagement and are a useful tool for business. Finally, the results indicate that combination gamification and a good protection solution can motivate people to bike and can provide benefits for businesses.