Our Projects
DisneyNOW
Tokens Rewards Program
Overview
Launched in fall 2017, the DisneyNOW app unified content from Disney Channel, Disney XD, and Disney Junior, catering to children of all ages and their parents. To enhance engagement and daily app use, genioLAB partnered with Disney to design the Tokens feature—a gamified reward system allowing users to earn tokens through gameplay and activity. Tokens could be exchanged for custom emojis via the “Emoji Machine,” which were then collected and used throughout the app in the personalized My Emoji section.
Project Duration
July 2018–January 2020
Product Statement
The Tokens feature was designed to drive user engagement and session frequency by introducing a reward system that gave kids a playful reason to return. By earning tokens through game interaction and daily logins, users could unlock collectible emojis, making the experience more personal and rewarding—all while staying true to Disney’s playful, creative spirit.
Goal
The primary goal was to increase engagement and retention through gamification. By encouraging regular use through a token-based reward structure, the feature aimed to boost time spent in-app and repeat visits, while reinforcing Disney’s brand values of fun, imagination, and meaningful connection.
Our Role
As the lead design partner, genioLAB was responsible for the end-to-end design and delivery of the Tokens feature—from initial concept to launch. This included defining design principles, conducting user research, developing user flows, wireframes, and visual UI, and collaborating across product, engineering, and motion teams. Our focus was on making the feature intuitive, visually dynamic, and engaging for children, while remaining accessible to parents. Prototypes and usability testing informed refinements, ensuring the final experience was joyful, frictionless, and aligned with user needs.
Design Process
Research and Discovery
The design process began with research aimed at understanding the behaviors and expectations of both young users and their caregivers. genioLAB developed personas to map out key motivations and interaction preferences across different age groups.
To guide initial ideation sessions, we established core design principles:
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Enable users to earn emojis through gameplay
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Create a dedicated hub for all token activity
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Track progress and emoji collections
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Ensure the experience is playful, simple, and satisfying
With early usage data and insights from ongoing research—including feedback from children’s focus groups—we identified several key questions:
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How should the app notify users when they earn tokens?
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What are engaging ways to encourage collecting more emojis?
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How can we make the experience seamless and intuitive for both kids and parents?
We also conducted a competitive scan and found no direct equivalents in the market, giving DisneyNOW an opportunity to create a truly unique reward experience.
Challenges
1
Designing a child-friendly interface that balances simplicity with functionality
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Ensuring visual consistency with Disney's iconic branding while keeping the design fresh and engaging.
3
Incorporating sound and motion to enhance the user experience without overwhelming younger users.
Ideation
Wireframes and Flows
genioLAB began the ideation phase by mapping out intuitive user flows that guided children through earning tokens, browsing available emojis, and redeeming their rewards. These flows prioritized simplicity, accessibility, and joy—ensuring the process was engaging without being overwhelming for younger users.
Once the structure was approved, low-fidelity wireframes helped visualize how users would move through the system, while emphasizing the core user journey: discover, earn, redeem, and collect. These layouts set the foundation for seamless integration across the DisneyNOW app’s video and gaming ecosystems.
User Flow
The Tokens feature was designed with both children and parents in mind. Most users arrived at the DisneyNOW app to watch videos or play games. The reward system was strategically integrated into those core behaviors, offering token-based incentives for completing actions, returning daily, and exploring more content.
Paper Wires
Low-Fidelity Wireframes
Visual Design
Because visual language, patterns, and text styles were already established during the app’s initial phase, genioLAB focused on how the Tokens feature could stand out while remaining cohesive with the overall brand system. Questions that guided early explorations included:
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Should the feature have its own background color or texture?
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What illustration style would best complement existing app visuals?
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Is new iconography needed, or can we extend existing assets?
Explorations
Color Palette & Background Texture
After many iterations, the team agreed to use DisneyNOW’s established blue (#0048BB) as the base color for the Tokens feature. This decision aligned Tokens with related screens like Onboarding and Settings while offering a consistent foundation for the upcoming illustrations, which used contrasting reds and yellows. A custom texture featuring golden tokens was explored as a background element for added personality.
Illustrations Style
To maintain visual continuity, genioLAB recommended re-engaging the original emoji vendor to design custom assets for the Tokens program. The resulting illustrations matched the existing emoji style and featured a newly created golden token, which became the core icon across the feature. This golden token was also repurposed as a repeating texture in select UI backgrounds to reinforce branding.
Design Process
Research and Discovery
The design journey began with in-depth research to understand the needs of young users and their parents. Personas were developed to capture user motivations and ensure the feature resonated with its diverse audience.
In order to stay focused on what we needed to accomplish during initial brainstorm sessions, we established a few design principles:
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Allow users to earn emoji while playing with favorite games
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Create a hub to house everything Tokens
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Keep records of earnings (points) and emoji
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Create a delightful experience
With data collected from the original launch, and with ideas from the research group with kids of all ages, we got started by asking ourselves a few questions:
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How should the app let users know when they earn tokens?
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What are fun ways to collect more emoji after the user gather enough tokens?
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How to make a seamless experience for both kids and parents?
We also checked to see what the competition was doing. None had an award feature.
1
Designing a child-friendly interface that balances simplicity with functionality
2
Ensuring visual consistency with Disney's iconic branding while keeping the design fresh and engaging.
3
Incorporating sound and motion to enhance the user experience without overwhelming younger users.
Visual Design
Since the visual language, text styles, and patterns had already been established during the first phase of the app, I could then focus on preliminary explorations and came up with some questions: should the feature stand out from the others by giving it a unique background color and texture? What would the illustration style be? Do we need new iconography?
Explorations
Color Palette & Background Texture
After many… many attempts with colors, the team consensus was that, because the Tokens feature related closely to onboarding and settings screens, we would stick to the already established blue (#0048BB) from those screens. We also thought that the blue would make a good base color background for the illustrations, which most likely would have a color palette of reds and yellows. The background texture was still being considered.
Paper Wires
Challenges
Wireframes mapped out intuitive user flows for earning tokens, browsing emojis, and redeeming rewards. These flows prioritized simplicity while maintaining a sense of fun and discovery.
The visual design phase introduced vibrant, Disney-inspired elements. The design integrated sound and motion to create a dynamic, engaging experience, ensuring accessibility for young users.
User Flow
Users (children of all ages and parents) come to DisneyNow app to watch video and play games:
Low-Fidelity Wireframes
Ideation
Wireframes and Flows
Illustrations Style
For consistency's sake, the team decided it would be necessary to use the app's existing emoji style, so we hired the same vendor to work on Tokens illustrations. Once it was created, the golden token illustration became the main icon, and I used it throughout the feature, including the token burst background texture (above).
Emoji Design
During design exploration, background “plates” were introduced behind emoji tiles in the My Emoji and Onboarding Emoji Picker screens to help isolate visuals from textured backgrounds. genioLAB defined three emoji states:
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Unlocked without backplates: Default emojis used across most screens
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Unlocked with backplates: Used to visually denote earned emojis
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Locked with backplates: Represented unearned emojis
A fallback “blank plate” was also created to manage loading or error states. A conversion template was developed to streamline the production of over 700 emoji assets.
Mortion and Sound
To enhance interactivity for younger users, genioLAB partnered with Disney’s internal motion design team to animate key UI moments based on custom storyboards. Sound and voice-over elements were added to support users who had not yet learned to read, helping guide them through the experience with confidence.
User Testing and Validation
Ongoing usability testing with children and parents was essential to refining the Tokens experience. genioLAB supported monthly testing cycles and sprint-based feedback loops each time a new feature or flow was introduced.
Tests focused on clarity of navigation, understanding of the reward system, emoji collection mechanics, and accessibility across devices. Key feedback was synthesized into design refinements in each sprint—ensuring every element met Disney’s high standards while remaining usable and fun for kids of all ages.
User Testing and Validation
Usability testing with children and parents played a critical role in refining the experience. Tests were conducted monthly or whenever new features were introduced, focusing on navigation, reward mechanisms, and overall usability. Feedback was analyzed and synthesized into actionable insights, which informed iterative improvements in subsequent sprints. Particular attention was paid to ensuring seamless interactions across devices and creating an engaging experience that resonated with the target audience. This iterative approach ensured the Tokens Rewards Program met both user needs and Disney’s high standards for quality.
Refined Designs
The Final Product
Takeaways
Impact
The Tokens Rewards Program successfully launched as an interactive, gamified feature that resonated deeply with DisneyNOW users. The new system delivered measurable improvements in both user engagement and app retention.
Key results included:
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18% overall growth in participation and viewership across VOD and games
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28% increase for users ages 1–5
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45% increase for users ages 5–12
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18% increase for users ages 12+
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9% increase in engagement from users with unknown age groups
The combination of playful design, an intuitive rewards system, and collectible emojis was instrumental in driving this success.
Agency Learnings
Challenges: Designing for a young, multi-age audience meant balancing simplicity with engagement—while upholding Disney’s strict brand standards. Visual consistency, age-appropriate interactions, and inclusive sound design all required careful consideration to ensure the experience was fun without being overstimulating.
Key Takeaways: Metaphors like treasure chests and collection books became powerful tools for helping children understand and navigate the experience independently or with light adult guidance. This project highlighted the value of cross-functional collaboration—working closely with researchers, animators, engineers, and content producers allowed genioLAB to deliver a polished, cohesive, and highly engaging feature that delivered results and delighted users.