Overview
Redesigned Hack Pack for Engagement & Retention
Approaching its one-year mark with 60,000 subscribers, Hack Pack faced a critical engagement gap: users loved building the physical robots but struggled with the digital coding experience. Over six months, I worked within a cross-functional team of five to redesign the coding console and led the end-to-end design of a new Community Hacks Hub to drive engagement and retention ahead of the first annual renewal cycle.
Time
Mar 2025 - Sep 2025
Role
Researcher & Designer
Client
CrunchLabs
Web
Product Strategy
Interaction Design
Prototyping
User Interviews
Usability Testing
0 → 1
Impact
Improved Understanding
+13.5%
|
3.7 → 4.2
Mean perceived IDE understanding (5-point Likert)
Increased Desirability
+35 pp
|
36% → 71%
Users reporting "Very interested" in using the IDE
0 to 1 Feature Demand
92%
launch-ready demand
Strong pre-launch demand for the Community Hacks feature
The Hard Truth
Learning to code sucks.
Yes, coding skills are incredibly valuable. They boost problem solving, logic reasoning, and open doors to high paying careers.
But let's face it, learning to code is NOT EASY, and definitely not the most fun thing to do.
The Vision
A product with high expectations
Founded by former Apple & NASA engineer Mark Rober, CrunchLabs launched Hack Pack, a product that combines hands-on robot building and digital coding, to make engineering education fun and engaging.
The Problem
Digital part of Hack Pack is falling short
With 60K+ Hack Pack subscribers, users still found the coding console intimidating, especially for first time coders.
Click to see the Hack Pack journey
The build alone, I would give it a 4.5 out of 5. The coding part, I would only give it a 0.5…
I don’t feel like my kids are getting the value out of it and I’m tempted to stop the subscription.
- Hack Pack subscriber, mother of 2
"
That's where my team comes in.
The robots were cool, the mission was inspiring, but the hacking part and the coding console was falling short. And that's the part of the experience we set out to improve.
Co-Creating Workshop with the Stakeholders
Our team facilitated a co-creation workshop with CrunchLabs' Head of Design and toy designers to clarify priorities and define success. Using a 2x2 Prioritization Framework & Success Criteria Framework, we revealed a clear direction:
Coding Console
Position the coding console as a tool to increase user retention
Short Term
Community Hub
Create a community to strength user engagement
Short Term
Coding Education
Teach users how to code through fun and engaging experiences
Long Term
User Research Findings
Why are Hack Pack Users Struggling?
6 interviews, 1 usability testing, 38 participants. From coding newbies to advanced coders, we talked to current Hack Pack subscribers to understand what excites them and what left them stuck. The top 3 challenges users are facing includes:
Levels That Don't Make Sense
Challenge 1
Many users didn’t understand what each level meant, so they kept switching back and forth to see what changed. The “Level 1–3” labels also implied linear difficulty, but the experience didn’t actually progress that way.
Interview participant 05 - Advanced coder
The jump from level one to level two is really minor. The jump from two to three is an ocean. Calling them levels isn’t ideal.
Interview participant 03 - Intermediate coder
Level one and level two always seem to be the exact same.
Repeated clicks between levels show user confusion
Lack of Feedback on Code Errors
Challenge 2
92% of participants said when using a coding console, their top priority was getting clear feedback when something goes wrong and how to fix it, which is currently lacking.
Interview participant 01 - Advanced coder
In general, I've never had a coherent explanation of what goes wrong sometimes.
Interview participant 06 - No coding experience
I would like some explanation of errors to save my kids some of that frustration.
Top 3 Priorities Users Want From the Coding Console
Error feedback & debug guidance
92%
Progress savings & file management
88%
Learning through projects
84%
A Discord Server Can't Do It All
Challenge 3
That's 55+ channels to dig through!
Right now, everything from community hacks to troubleshooting lives on CrunchLabs' Discord server.
With 55+ channels to dig through, information often gets buried, making it hard for users to discover useful resources and explore community hacks.
Interview participant 06 - No coding experience
I’m not comfortable with my kids engaging with people that they don’t know [on Discord] in a way I can’t monitor. There’s an internet safety concern.
Interview participant 03 - Intermediate coder
You will not believe how long it took me to find a freaking Discord for the Hack Pack... and scroll through the 50,000 different channels for hacks.
Design Solution
3 key features backed by user insights.
Guided Mode & Advanced Mode
Problem : Levels that don't make sense
Users are confused with what the original level 1, 2, 3 are.
Solution
Removed the original 3 levels, and created a dual mode toggle: GUIDED mode and ADVANCED mode.
Drag the bar to compare before vs after
Bug Squasher
Problem: Lack of feedback on code errors
Debugging was frustrating. A lot of time users couldn't tell what went wrong with their code or how to fix it.
Solution
Added Bug Squasher to help users understand what went wrong and guides them while fixing it.
Phase 1
Auto Fix Feature
The Idea
One click "Auto Fix" feature that uses AI to automatically fix coding errors for users to move forward faster.
What We Learned
Users didn't want the code fixed for them. They wanted guidance to fixed it themselves.
Phase 2
Bug Squsher
The Pivot
Instead of fixing errors automatically, the iterated Bug Squasher feature provides hands-on learning experience by guiding users step by step to fix their code.
How Users React
"I like that it isn't fixing things for me, but it's making me fix them."
Community Hacks
Problem: A Discord server can't do it all
Users have a hard time finding community hacks because they get buried across dozens of channels in Discord.
Solution
A designated space for people to share their own hacks as well as explore and learn from other's.
Videos & images
Filtered search
Tools & hardwares
How Users React
"
Outcome
Happy clients & validated outcomes.
The testing results of our final design showed immediate impact. It improved users' understanding of how to navigate a complex coding console, generated excitement around the new 0 → 1 Community Hacks Hub, and significantly increased product desirability. Together, these signals point to stronger engagement intent, which is our client's primary goal.
"
You guys nailed the scope.
- Jim Lee, CrunchLabs President
"
We are going to implement this. You will see these changes in the next couple of months.
- Trey Reasonover, Head of E-commerce & Project Partner
I couldn't be happier with the work you guys did. You designed everything we wanted to explore, now we have a lot to implement and new areas to build on top of.
- Dan Tompkins, Hack Pack Product Owner & Head of Design
"
IDE Understanding
+13.5%
Product Desirability
+35pp
Community Hacks Demand
92%
Next Steps
How to reach as many brains as possible?
Ready-to-go code?
Step by step DIY?
Deep dive learning?
To support CrunchLabs’ long term vision of teaching users to Think Like Engineers, my proposed next steps will focus on designing a flexible learning ecosystem that adapts to different user motivations, learning styles, and skill levels.
From the testing results, 2 main user journey cases were identified:
Time Cruncher
Users who wants immediate results for their robots & don't have the time to learn
Deep Dive Learner
Users who want to deeply engage in learning and build coding skills
My proposed ideas to explore in future phases
for deep dive learners
ready-to-go code for quick copy & paste
Personalized learning journeys
Create different formats of learning opportunities for users to choose from and leverage Hack Pack’s integrated AI, Mark Rober, to recommend projects based on users’ skill level, pace, and learning style.