Next Generation Casino App
Overview
The Unibet Casino app is a platform for online gambling where customers can search and play hundreds of casino and live casino games such as slots, black Jack and roulette.
The app is used all over Europe, the United States and Australia. The app is one of the main income streams for Kindred Group.
I led the UX work for the redesign of the app. Together with my team we delivered a new design of the app, the app also support both dark and light mode.
My Role
Lead Designer (Research, Interaction Design, Visual Design, Prototyping, User testing)
Team
Designers
Product Owners
Product Manager
Developers (iOS & Android)
Timeline
2022- 2023
Platform
iOS & Android app
Highlights.
The future of online casino. Giving the players what they need, want and deserve.
+74%
Increased App Store rating
4.7
New app store rating
Design Process.
Our guide throughout the project.
A non-linear process
The process is non-linear; that means that we just don't go forward. We do several rounds of design iterations. When we in testing learn new things, we go back and ideate new solutions that we prototype.
Empathize.
Researching our users' needs.
How it all started
In order to make sure we cater for the user needs and build the right thing, we needed to understand our users, how they interact with our current app and what features are they using.
Analytics data
By looking at the data analytics data from our current app we could draw some valuable conclusions.
88.8%
Playing for real money
64.9%
Playing the same games as last time
5.2%
Searching for games
What does the analytics data tell us?
Finding 1
We need to make it very easy for the customer to be able to deposit and withdraw their money since over 88% are playing for real money.
Finding 2
It is very important that the customers can find their games they played last time quickly since almost 65% play the same games.
Finding 3
We don´t have to have the search feature very prominent since it is not that frequently used.
Competitor analysis
Me and my team then did a competitor analysis in order to get an understanding of the competitive landscape. We looked into both direct competitors and indirect competitors that are providing a similar concepts to our product. By doing this, we were able to gather ideas and solutions of how we could improve our user experience and also new features to add.
Game tiles has different size
Using card layout
Deposit missing from header
Dull header
No detailed game information
Deposit button stands out
Game studio name is visible
Different size and shape of game tiles
Does not have bottom navigation bar
Unconventional product navigation
No detailed game information
Bold headlines
Good information architecture
Personalised home tab
Simplified navigation bar
Different corner radius on cards
Carousel with promoted content at the top
Content specific quick filters
All content have same size
Tab bar is missing labels
What does the competitor analysis tell us?
Finding 1
The apps are using a very similar way of navigating within the app. This make the customers familiar to certain navigation pattern.
Finding 2
Mixing shapes and size of items making them stand out compared to the content around it.
Finding 3
Content often presented in a card layout.
Define.
Stating our users' needs and problems.
Creating personas
In order to help us better understand your users' needs, behaviours, goals and challenges it is essential to define personas for each user segment.
Creating empathy maps
In order to paint a picture of how the users interact with out app we created an empathy map for each persona. This gave us a good indication of what the user segments say, think, do and feel.
The 5 W:s
Who are experiencing the problem?
The user groups represented by our personas.
What is the problem?
Hard to find the games they are looking for and hard to compare games with each other.
When does the problem occur?
When the user are navigating within our app.
When the user is looking for a game to play.
Why does it matter?
User spending lots of time in the app without finding what they are looking for.
Problem statement
Which all of this in mind we formulated a problem statement that we could take with us when started the ideation.
User
+
Need
+
Goal
Ideate.
Generate a range of creative ideas.
Brainstorming solutions
With our findings from the Empathize phase and the problem statement created in the Define phase in mind, me and the team started brainstorming solutions for the information architecture of the casino lobby and the navigation of the app.
In previous phases, we learned that app navigation is important, so using something that the users are familiar with was key. We also learned that users tend to play the same games as in the last session. We therefore experimented with placing the section with the most recently played games in a prominent position.
Prototype.
Build real representations of the ideas to get quick feedback.
Wireframes & Lo-fi Prototype
In order to quickly get feedback on our concept, me and the team created a low-fidelity prototype using wireframes that we could use for user testing. This will give us an indication if we are on the right track.
Testing.
Collecting feedback from users.
User testing - Iteration 1
In the first round of testing was therefore conducted using wireframes. We did this on purpose in order to get quick user feedback before committing too much time to our concept. We wanted to see if the customers could navigate between sections in the app without friction and also if they had any problems finding the games they played in the last session.
8
Number of participants
22-38
Age
Research questions
How would you do in order to search for a specific game?
How would you do to find the Live Casino games?
Show us where you would find the games that the Casino company is recommending for you.
Show us where you would find the games that you played last time you were on the app.
Voice of the customer
In terms of the prototype, you know, it's really easy to navigate within the prototype.
I think this is a really well designed and laid out app that would be a pleasure to navigate around.
It is at the very top, and I think this is a really good idea to put at the top just because obviously you are most likely to play games you are most interested in.
What does the user testing tell us?
Finding 1
Users had no problem navigating between different sections of the app.
Finding 2
The content was perceived to be structured in a logical way.
Finding 3
It was very easy for the user to find the content they were looking for.
Iterative Process.
As mentioned before, the design process is not linear. We did more than one iteration of prototyping and testing.
Prototype - Iteration 2.
Build real representations of the ideas to get quick feedback.
High-fidelity Prototype
We continued the second iteration of prototyping by build a high-fidelity prototype in order to validate design decisions.
Testing - Iteration 2.
Collecting feedback from users.
User testing - Iteration 2
We did a second round if user testing using a high-fidelity prototype. In earlier research we concluded that it is important for the customers to find the game they are used to playing. We wanted to validate our design decisions in order to see if there were any problems with the way we are presenting this as well as structuring the content.
9
Number of participants
21-46
Age
Research questions
Which games did you play the last time you were in the app?
Can you find out how many new games there are in the app?
Which games are the app recommending for you?
Can you tell us how many of the jackpot games has a daily jackpot?
Voice of the customer
I like the navigation. I don't think there's anything I would really improve.
Everything looks perfect and organized to me, so I wouldn't need a magic to change anything up.
I feel, I don't feel like there is much to change. I feel like this is exactly how I would like it to be laid out.
Test results
88.9%
Finds the games they played last time.
88.9%
Finds the number of new games in the app.
100%
All participants find the games recommended by the app.
37.5%
Finds the number of Daily Jackpots using the filter.
What does the user testing tell us?
Finding 1
It was easy to find the games played in the last time and games recommended from the app.
Finding 2
Easy to find number of new games.
Finding 3
Not clear where to find the jackpot filters.
FInal Designs.
Reflection.
Key takeaways and next steps.
Conclusion
The app was delivered to the development team in iterations. We delivered the content in components, with one component delivered per sprint. We delivered the final picture-perfect design as well as the UI specifications for the entire app in both dark and light mode.
At the end of each sprint, we handed over the component we worked on to the developers, and the sprint after, they started working on it. This way of working allowed the UX team to be one sprint ahead of the developers and constantly deliver components for them to pick up.
The app was built for both iOS and Android, and we collaborated with two different development teams. The app has been released for both iOS and Android all over Europe, Australia, and the US. We decided to not include the jackpot filters in the first release until we have improved the findability.
After launch, the iOS app saw an increase in app rating of +74%, taking the App Store rating from 2.8 to 4.7 across 9 countries.
Next steps
Due to time constraints, the MVP version of the app did not contain the new in-app navigation pattern. The next step will be to implement this. We will also keep integrating on the jackpot filters to make them more obvious.
Learnings
I learned a lot when working on this project. There were lots of things to keep in mind when designing the app. We not only had to work with the requirements from the internal stakeholders, but we also had to keep in mind that the app will be audited by the regulators for the markets we launch the app in.
Another important thing we constantly had to think about for the iOS version of the app was the guidelines from Apple. In the past, some apps have been denied being published in the App Store due to not following Apple's rules. This time we managed to release the app without any issues.
