Diesel Laws,
Senior Designer

Kickoff Workshop

Our kickoff workshop with Racing Victoria was about figuring out the key drivers for their All-Star Mile website. We focused on getting an overview on the core features during the session, including briefly covering the flow of how users would arrive at the voting page:

• Feature Prioritisation:

  We ran a quick "weighting" exercise where stakeholders voted on the most important elements for the platform. This helped us prioritise features that would have the biggest impact on the user experience, and allowed us to streamline the interface to only focus on core elements.

• Page Flow Mapping:

  After various dicussions, we moved to a quick "flow mapping". The main goal here was to confirm how users would move through the platform, from the voting pages to information and advertising sections. We referred to previous page flows and used the whiteboarding session to confirm subtle changes.

Design Process

Given that the platform’s overall structure was largely based on previous years and the page count was minimal, I opted to create and work from high-fidelity UI designs from the start. This approach also allowed us to incorporate Racing Victoria’s brand colors and styles right away, which made it easier for the marketing team to review and provide feedback early on.

Working in high fidelity helped in a few key ways:

• Quicker Feedback Cycles

  The business team could see a nearly finished version from the beginning, making it easier to visualise the end product and provide relevant feedback.

• Brand Alignment

  With colors, fonts, and design elements already in place, the marketing team could see how the platform would represent the brand, often minimising back-and-forth revisions.

• Efficiency in Iterations

  While high-fidelity designs can sometimes slow down early creative changes, in this case, it streamlined the process. By building a lot of the core components earlier on, I was able to make adjustments to the design files rapidly, and start handover with engineers sooner.

The final design maintained a user-friendly flow, similar to past years, but with one key change. Previously, users would click on a horse from the list to view detailed information on a separate page. We streamlined this process by creating a more integrated, single-page experience. Now, the voting list appears on the left with basic details, while the right-hand side displays the full horse profiles. This layout allowed users to quickly browse, review, and vote without unnecessary navigation. This adjustment made the process far more efficient and engaging, contributing to the platform’s overall success.

Core Screens

Each of the platform’s core screens was carefully designed to support a seamless user experience and keep the voting process quick and efficient. By focusing on clarity and functionality, we ensured that each page guided the user smoothly through the necessary steps without unnecessary complexity.

1. Horse Listing and Voting

This page was the starting point for users, showcasing a streamlined list of horses on the left side. Key information such as horse names, rank, and votes was displayed, while detailed profiles for each horse were shown on the right side. This combined design allowed users to make quick comparisons and vote without ever leaving the page, significantly reducing friction in the process.

2. Voting Details

After selecting a horse, users were taken to a simple screen to confirm their choice and enter the required voting details.

3. Mobile Verification

To ensure the integrity of the voting system, this screen asked users to verify their mobile number. We kept this step straightforward and secure, with clear instructions and minimal input fields to make verification as quick and painless as possible.

4. Thank You and Next Steps

The final page thanked users for their vote and outlined the next steps, including what to expect after voting. The design was kept minimal, focusing on clarity while reinforcing Racing Victoria’s branding. This final touch helped drive further engagement including sharing their vote, buying tickets to the track and siging up with Racing+ to watch the event.

Mobile Focus

Every page was designed with a mobile layout built-in, knowing that a fair majority of votes would come from mobile devices. The layout, interactions, and content were optimised for smaller screens, ensuring that users could easily navigate, vote, and verify their information without hassle.

Horse Status and Marketing Guides

On the horse voting details page, there is an interactive status bar located beneath each horse's image, providing real-time updates to the placement of the horse in the race, and the status of the race itself. This feature was essential in communicating each horse's status efficiently while keeping context to the race as a whole.

Additionally, there is a digital clock widget that appeared throughout the site, displaying key countdowns like time until voting opens, leaderboard blackout, voting closes, final field announcement, and All-Star Mile raceday.

To make sure Marketing had a clear guide to work from, we presented the general sizing for all horse images, including the custom star image mask above each horse's picture. These design elements adhered to the marketing team's guidelines, ensuring brand consistency across the platform.

Feedback and Iteration

Racing Victoria gave great feedback on the initial designs, especially the mobile layouts, which resonated well with their expectations. Only minor adjustments were needed, such as tweaking the wording on the mobile confirmation screen for better clarity. We also fine-tuned the flow of information on the voting screen to ensure the best possible user experience.

Overall, working in high fidelity proved to be a smart approach in this case. It allowed us to align much of the content quickly and make necessary refinements with ease, delivering a polished product within the short timeframe.

Delivery and Results

Throughout the project, I worked closely with our engineering team and Project Manager, ensuring smooth collaboration between the front-end design and the back-end development. This close-knit approach allowed us to build the platform efficiently, with the back-end being developed alongside the front-end UI designs. When it came time to hand off the final designs, I shifted to working directly with the engineering team to assist and guide as requested. Racing Victoria was kept in the loop throughout this process, ensuring they were up to date with every key milestone.

Final Results

A key factor in this whole build was the mobile confirmation step, which greatly reduced the number of unverified votes in the system, leading to a much cleaner and more accurate voting process. This also extended to the blocked voting in other countries, blocking unauthorised votes throughout the process. This improvement, along with the more user-friendly interface, resulted in an increase in total votes compared to the previous year and significantly fewer support tickets and “lost” votes.

The project was delivered on time and delivered on Racing Victoria’s expectations. They were a driven and motivated team to work with and I thoroughly enjoyed the process. As this was our first collaboration, it opened the door for future projects.

Project Kickoff

This project spanned several key areas; uplifting CrownBet’s core website/app experience and integrating William Hill's customer base. The highly regulated nature of betting apps added extra layers of complexity in terms of approvals and discussions, ensuring every feature and UI change was carefully considered.

My role involved deep collaboration across teams, including engineering, compliance, marketing, and product management, to deliver a modernised, user-friendly experience for a rapidly growing customer base.

Improving the BetSlip and Reward Features

One of the core app areas I helped uplift early on was the BetSlip, a crucial part of the user experience. I added features that improved the display of bonus bets and highlighted the rewards store, which drove engagement and usage of these features. A lot of these features needed to be added before the migration to ensure continuity for the William Hill customers.

This enhancement (yellow highlights) directly contributed to better user engagement, offering an intuitive interface where users could easily access their bonuses and rewards.

• Core Markets Tabs:

  The app’s layout was adjusted by adding tabbed sections directly on the home page to allow viewing all the additional markets that were being introduced as part of the acquisition.

• Bet Boost Inline Notifications:

  Various betting features such as Bet Boost were going unnoticed, and with minimal education. We enhanced the Betslip to call out remaining Bet Boosts while also providing a way to read more about the benefits. This led to increased usage of Bet Boosts across the entire platform.

• Rewards Store Highlighting:

  The Rewards Store was previously buried and as such Bonus Bets (free bets for customers) were not being used. By making this section more obvious, and providing more education, it allowed for stronger engagement around this area.

Collaborative Workshops for Feature Ideation

Throughout the project, I led high-energy workshops aimed at generating innovative app features to boost user engagement. By adapting Google’s Design Sprint methodology into 3-hour Feature Sprints (FeDS), we transformed brainstorming into a focused, fast-paced, and fun process. These sessions sparked key ideas that later enhanced the app, such as predictors, betting comparisons, and personalised segments for users based on their experience.

Workshop Highlights:

• Superpowers Icebreaker:

  Kick-started creativity and broke the ice with a fun mini-game where participants shared their unique "superpowers".

• Funky 4’s:

  A playful twist on "Crazy 8’s" where each participant sketched four creative solutions to real-world challenges, ranging from practical to wild.

• Vote and Share:

  Teams voted on the most promising ideas, ensuring decisions weren't swayed by popularity but by value and innovation.

• Team Collaboration:

  Participants split into teams to develop feature solutions, constantly validating against business and customer needs.

Workshop Results:

These workshops not only energised the team but directly led to actionable features that were quickly transformed into wireframes and successfully implemented in the app. This collaborative, fast-paced approach encouraged creativity while ensuring efficiency.

William Hill Acquisition and Customer Migration

During the $300M acquisition of William Hill, our team assisted new customers in transitioning smoothly onto the CrownBet platform, with app and onboarding feaures aligned to their existing experience. This involved the migration of their data, account details, and providing clear communication on how features were renamed or modified within the new app. We also collaborated with our Sydney agency during this transition, to make sure all our wording and branding was aligned.

Homepage Uplift and Rebranding to BetEasy

I was also a key player in the effort to modernise CrownBet’s homepage, providing a fresh, uplifting experience that aligned with the transition to BetEasy. This involved incorporating new branding elements and ensuring consistency across the platform to reflect the rebranded identity.

My work helped ensure a smooth transition during the rebranding phase, maintaining user trust while introducing a new visual identity and experience.

Overall Results

The merger between CrownBet and William Hill was executed smoothly, with nearly all William Hill users successfully transitioning to our platform without major issues. The seamless migration of user data, accounts, and preferences ensured minimal disruption, maintaining trust and satisfaction among the newly acquired user base.

Post-merger, we expanded and enhanced the app's core features, particularly around the BetSlip, personalised betting experiences, and user rewards. These improvements increased engagement and usage across both the app and the website.

Our focus then shifted to facilitating the complete rebrand from CrownBet to BetEasy. This transformation involved updating the platform’s design, refining the user interface, and ensuring a consistent brand experience across all touchpoints. The rebrand was highly successful, maintaining user retention while introducing a fresh, modern identity to the market.

Project Kickoff

The LIFX project involved three core areas: redesigning the app, updating the packaging for their lightbulbs, and creating marketing materials to educate and inspire customers. I collaborated closely with the product, marketing, and engineering teams to ensure consistency and quality across these touchpoints.

Each part of the project had its own unique challenges. The app redesign required modernising an interface that hadn’t changed in years, while keeping existing features familiar to users. The packaging needed to stand out in a crowded market of traditional and smart lighting solutions. Lastly, the marketing materials had to effectively communicate the advantages of LIFX’s smart bulbs, both to customers and sales staff.

App Redesign Process

As the app had remained largely unchanged for over two years, with several features buried deep within the interface, the goal was to bring these features (namely Scenes and Schedules) to the forefront while keeping the app intuitive and easy to use for existing customers.

By opting to work directly with high-fidelity designs, I was able to bring LIFX’s brand colors and style into the process from the very beginning. This approach helped the marketing and product teams visualise the final experience early on, accelerating feedback and ensuring strong alignment from the outset.

• Collapsible Modules:

  The app’s layout was adjusted by adding expandable areas to the main feed, highlighting Scenes, Schedules, and Integrations. This kept the interface clean and straightforward while giving users quick access to advanced features like automation without digging through menus.

• Unified Control Screen:

  To simplify user interactions, controls were consolidated into a single-page interface. Users could turn lights on or off, adjust color settings, and manage schedules all from one screen, reducing unnecessary navigation.

• Connected Widgets:

  The widgets were a very common use case for quick adjustments and settings across a customers home. I brought across the same design elements and styles to align the experience - as in various cases the widgets would be the sole view of LIFX, with some users never needing to open the app again post install.

• Dark Mode:

  The whole app was reimagined with dark mode in mind - based on some great feedback from users finding the screens too bright when modifying their lights at night. This allowed us to stand out from the pack with an interface that was different from the outset.

With these improvements, the app maintained its core functionality but was significantly more user-friendly and visually appealing, reflecting the modern capabilities of LIFX smart bulbs.

Packaging Redesign

When it came to the packaging, we wanted to break away from the standard approach of product photography on a flat color background. The challenge was to create a design that reflected the innovation behind LIFX’s smart bulbs while also standing out on store shelves.

Design Iterations

I led the process for the packaging of the the White 800 and the Color 1000 smart bulbs - The Color 1000 being the successor to the LIFX Original. I experimented with various design concepts, aiming for clean, modern aesthetics that aligned with the LIFX brand.

The White 800 packaging, for example, focused on simplicity and functionality, using a predominantly white and cream backgrounds with minimal text. For the Color 900 and 1000, the packaging emphasised vibrant colors and bold typography to highlight the bulb’s versatility.

After the development on the White 800 and the Color 1000, I expanded to the BR30 range of White 900 and Color 1000.

Feedback and Refinement

I gathered feedback from both customers, various stores and internal teams throughout the process, leading to several iterations. The final packaging was designed not only to catch the eye but also to clearly communicate the key features of each product.

Sales Marketing Booklet

To support sales staff and enhance customer education, I developed a series of 12+ page marketing booklets that highlighted the key features and benefits of LIFX bulbs. These booklets were designed to be simple, clear, and visually engaging, making them easy to reference during customer interactions.

For the White 800, the booklet focused on the bulb’s Wi-Fi connectivity, energy efficiency, and ease of use. It was important that the content communicated these technical details in a way that was approachable, helping both sales teams and customers understand the value of the product quickly. For most customers, LIFX would be their first experience with interactive LED bulbs, and so the experience had to fresh but familiar.

Feedback and Iteration

Throughout the year, we gathered feedback from various stakeholders, internal teams, customers, and sales partners. The redesigned app was praised for its clean layout and ease of use, particularly the new collapsible sections for advanced features. The packaging, too, was well received for its simplicity and bold, modern look.

Minor tweaks were made to the marketing booklets based on feedback, such as clarifying technical specifications and adjusting design elements for better readability. These refinements ensured that the materials were as effective as possible in communicating the product’s strengths.

Delivery and Results

The app redesign, packaging, and marketing materials were successfully delivered throughout the year, and subsequent year for the rollout of the new packaging. The app saw increased user engagement, particularly in the usage of scenes and automation features, while the new packaging helped differentiate LIFX products in a competitive market.

The marketing booklets provided a helpful tool for sales teams, increasing their confidence in explaining LIFX’s smart lighting capabilities to customers. The project was a success, improving the overall customer experience and boosting brand visibility both in-app and on the shelves.