The huge range of learning opportunities makes educational offers for learners quickly (ex)changeable. An adequate Learning Experience Design (LXD) is the key to keep learners in an offer. LXD has strong intersections with concepts
such as gamification and game-based learning (GBL). Within the two GBL projects presented in this paper, methods of the design thinking approach have been applied in the context of LXD. Both concepts share the idea of involving the user group in the design process in order to create a user-oriented solution to a specific problem. The first GBL project focussed on the development and testing of a serious game called "Stress-Rekord" 1 (Engl. stress record) which aims at contributing to maintain the employability of nurses through effective prevention and health-promoting leadership behaviour. During the project, paper prototyping was used to test game mechanics and game aesthetics as well as usability. By using this method, concrete game scenarios and player behaviours could be explored before the digital integration. The second GBL project “gOPAL”, aimed at the development of a study assistance course for first year students based on a gamified motivation design which is integrated into the learning management system (LMS) OPAL. During the development of the study assistance course, an idea factory was carried out in order to receive immediate feedback from the target group. The evaluation of both educational offers shows that the design methods had been successfully implemented, as users were satisfied and the drop-out rate was low. The paper describes the two methods paper prototyping and idea factory and shows how the balance between learning objectives and learning experiences had been mastered in two GBL projects.