Realismo Mágico: Gamifying the Latin American Literary Experience

Strategy: The “Magical Realism” Funnel

Our approach was to build a “Unicorn” startup for the Caribbean region by leveraging the cultural weight of Barranquilla.

• Gamification as the Hook: Using interactive stories (puzzles, multiple endings, “Disney Princess” style path-finding) to increase time-spent-on-site.
• Hyper-Local Advantage: Positioning the HQ in Barranquilla—the home of Gabriel García Márquez—to tap into a passionate, creative talent pool at a lower cost than Bogotá or the USA.
• Economic Disruption: Offering a 10% transaction fee, drastically undercutting the 40% industry standard, ensuring more money stays in the creator’s pocket.

The Design Process

I architected a design-to-commerce ecosystem that transforms passive ‘players’ into invested ‘collectors.’ By blurring the lines between digital engagement and physical ownership, I established a competitive edge that redefines the traditional retail journey.

1. Competitor’s Map

Here lies a vast market potential in offering design-driven products that focus on selling unique experiences, not merely the product itself. This encompasses the entire customer journey, from the initial purchase experience to post-sale functionality. By carefully crafting product packaging, brand communication, and value-added transmedia experiences, businesses can elevate the value of physical purchases into the digital realm. This can be achieved through animations, videos, applications, music, and other interactive elements that seamlessly complement the physical product.

2. User Personas

These three personas represent a diverse cross-section of consumers, but they share a powerful common thread: a desire for identity-driven escapism. Whether they are looking for professional fulfillment, familial security, or digital fame, they all view “content” and “design” as the primary tools to navigate their reality.

3. Sitemaps & Information Architecture

3 Key Pillars of our Strategy

• The “Blue Ocean” Advantage: While competitors stay crowded in the “Design Products” sector, we move into the unoccupied “Experiences/Stories” quadrant. This makes our brand a “portal” rather than just a shop.
• The Content-to-Commerce Loop: Our platform uses Individual Posts (videos, stories, and art) as an SEO “hook.” These posts attract users like Karina (The Artist) and Miguel (The Gamer) through organic search, turning a casual browser into a loyal customer by offering value before the sale.
• The Creator Ecosystem: By allowing users to transition from “Collectors” to “Authors,” we create a self-sustaining engine of user-generated content. This satisfies the “alternative” identity of users like Gustavo (The Manager/Rocker), who want to engage with a subculture, not just a storefront.

4. User Journey Mapping

Opportunity
Website with elaborate filters to find relevant content easily; optimize content with innovative media focused on smart devices, create interactive stories or page scrolling with dynamic elements to make each reading unique and experience the story being told in a more engaging way.

Opportunity
Website with elaborate filters to find the desired book; be able to show interactive stories of each book, to give a more faithful idea of what it is about, offer digital experiences on the same website both to facilitate the purchase, and so that those who made it can see and interact with the story digitally while They wait for the physical product.

5. Wireframes & User Flow

Focused on the Store-within-a-Story concept—ensuring the “Buy Book” call-to-action felt like a natural climax to the digital reading experience rather than an intrusive ad.

6. High-Fidelity Design & Prototyping

Created a responsive web app in Figma that simulated the “Scrape to Reveal” and “Drag-and-Drop” story mechanics, ensuring the mobile experience felt like a game, not just an e-reader.

Execution: From Barranquilla to the World

As Product Designer, I acted as the bridge between vision and functionality:

• Platform Build: Developed the responsive marketplace using WordPress, Elementor, and WooCommerce.
• Social Integration: Built custom public profiles where “Algorithm Badges” suggest stories based on user “path” history.
• Regional Launch: Focused on Barranquilla as the epicenter, leveraging its status as a cultural “Main Stage” to attract the first wave of award-winning authors.

Results: Scaling the Narrative (Goals)

The launch of the MVP replaced a fragmented, manual process with a streamlined digital environment, delivering significant efficiency gains.

Interactive Prototype (Web App)

Learnings & Insights