UI / UX Design
Promotions
Promotions are systems, not one-off moments.
Role:
Lead Product Designer
Industry:
Sports Fintech
Team:
Product, Engineering, Marketing, C-Suite
Project Duration:
8 weeks
Overview:
PredictionStrike is a fantasy sports trading platform where users buy and sell player shares. Promotions were already part of the product when I took over as design lead — but they were underperforming. Users encountered offers without context, opted in without confirmation, and received rewards with no signal that anything had happened. The value was there. The experience wasn't delivering it.
My scope covered the full promotions lifecycle: how they were discovered, understood, opted into, and confirmed — all without rebuilding the backend engine that powered them.
The Problem:
Promotions existed mostly in the background. Only a handful appeared in-app; most users learned about deals through Discord and marketing emails, meaning only the most engaged users understood when or how promotions applied to them. Those who did encounter offers often couldn't tell whether they were eligible, what action to take, or whether anything had happened after they opted in.
The experience felt accidental rather than intentional — and whatever excitement should come with earning a reward was completely absent.
Process:
Conversations with active users revealed three consistent breakdowns: no mental model for how promotions worked, no confirmation after opting in, and no emotional payoff when rewards were issued. Users were receiving real value and not registering it.
Competitive analysis showed what a complete promotions loop looked like. Platforms like DraftKings and FanDuel had built a clear cycle — awareness, deliberate opt-in, incentivized action, reward collection — and users had been conditioned to check for deals as a reason to open the app. PredictionStrike's experience started mid-loop and never closed it.
One constraint shaped everything: the existing engine could issue rewards, but couldn't tie them to specific bets or trades in the short term. This ruled out the most satisfying form of reward feedback — a direct "that trade earned you this" moment. Every design decision was made with engineering to stay buildable now while laying the groundwork for better attribution later.
Design:
The goal was to surface promotions within flows users already moved through, not introduce new entry points. The app's block-based structure made it possible to introduce modular promotion components that could adapt across surfaces.
Each screen was approached the same way: ideal interaction → what testing actually revealed → what was feasible within current constraints.
A consistent finding across surfaces: users wanted one place to see everything they had active. The scattered, per-surface approach in early testing pushed us toward a centralized "My Rewards" module that surfaced across the app with expiration times and eligibility details.
The Solution:
Promotion banners were introduced across five surfaces — Feed, Sparks, Pick Em, Shares, and Account > Promotions — using a shared component with clear opt-in CTAs. This replaced passive, auto-applied behavior with deliberate participation: users could see what was available, understand the terms, and consciously choose to opt in.
Where the engine couldn't yet attribute rewards to specific trades, a "Rewards Collected" indicator in transaction flows and push notification updates provided closure. It wasn't the full loop — but it gave users enough signal to trust that the system was working.
Impact & Reflection:
This project required alignment across design, engineering, marketing, and legal — promo descriptions were refined with brand partners for compliance, reward logic required close coordination to stay within what the engine could support, and opt-in flows needed sign-off from leadership. The most interesting design challenges weren't in the UI — they were in navigating what was buildable and what would actually reach users.
The modular system was built to support deeper attribution as the promotions engine evolves. That work is the obvious next chapter.
More Projects
UI / UX Design
Promotions
Promotions are systems, not one-off moments.
Role:
Lead Product Designer
Industry:
Sports Fintech
Team:
Product, Engineering, Marketing, C-Suite
Project Duration:
8 weeks
Overview:
PredictionStrike is a fantasy sports trading platform where users buy and sell player shares. Promotions were already part of the product when I took over as design lead — but they were underperforming. Users encountered offers without context, opted in without confirmation, and received rewards with no signal that anything had happened. The value was there. The experience wasn't delivering it.
My scope covered the full promotions lifecycle: how they were discovered, understood, opted into, and confirmed — all without rebuilding the backend engine that powered them.
The Problem:
Promotions existed mostly in the background. Only a handful appeared in-app; most users learned about deals through Discord and marketing emails, meaning only the most engaged users understood when or how promotions applied to them. Those who did encounter offers often couldn't tell whether they were eligible, what action to take, or whether anything had happened after they opted in.
The experience felt accidental rather than intentional — and whatever excitement should come with earning a reward was completely absent.
Process:
Conversations with active users revealed three consistent breakdowns: no mental model for how promotions worked, no confirmation after opting in, and no emotional payoff when rewards were issued. Users were receiving real value and not registering it.
Competitive analysis showed what a complete promotions loop looked like. Platforms like DraftKings and FanDuel had built a clear cycle — awareness, deliberate opt-in, incentivized action, reward collection — and users had been conditioned to check for deals as a reason to open the app. PredictionStrike's experience started mid-loop and never closed it.
One constraint shaped everything: the existing engine could issue rewards, but couldn't tie them to specific bets or trades in the short term. This ruled out the most satisfying form of reward feedback — a direct "that trade earned you this" moment. Every design decision was made with engineering to stay buildable now while laying the groundwork for better attribution later.
Design:
The goal was to surface promotions within flows users already moved through, not introduce new entry points. The app's block-based structure made it possible to introduce modular promotion components that could adapt across surfaces.
Each screen was approached the same way: ideal interaction → what testing actually revealed → what was feasible within current constraints.
A consistent finding across surfaces: users wanted one place to see everything they had active. The scattered, per-surface approach in early testing pushed us toward a centralized "My Rewards" module that surfaced across the app with expiration times and eligibility details.
The Solution:
Promotion banners were introduced across five surfaces — Feed, Sparks, Pick Em, Shares, and Account > Promotions — using a shared component with clear opt-in CTAs. This replaced passive, auto-applied behavior with deliberate participation: users could see what was available, understand the terms, and consciously choose to opt in.
Where the engine couldn't yet attribute rewards to specific trades, a "Rewards Collected" indicator in transaction flows and push notification updates provided closure. It wasn't the full loop — but it gave users enough signal to trust that the system was working.
Impact & Reflection:
This project required alignment across design, engineering, marketing, and legal — promo descriptions were refined with brand partners for compliance, reward logic required close coordination to stay within what the engine could support, and opt-in flows needed sign-off from leadership. The most interesting design challenges weren't in the UI — they were in navigating what was buildable and what would actually reach users.
The modular system was built to support deeper attribution as the promotions engine evolves. That work is the obvious next chapter.
More Projects
UI / UX Design
Promotions
Promotions are systems, not one-off moments.
Role:
Lead Product Designer
Industry:
Sports Fintech
Team:
Product, Engineering, Marketing, C-Suite
Project Duration:
8 weeks
Overview:
PredictionStrike is a fantasy sports trading platform where users buy and sell player shares. Promotions were already part of the product when I took over as design lead — but they were underperforming. Users encountered offers without context, opted in without confirmation, and received rewards with no signal that anything had happened. The value was there. The experience wasn't delivering it.
My scope covered the full promotions lifecycle: how they were discovered, understood, opted into, and confirmed — all without rebuilding the backend engine that powered them.
The Problem:
Promotions existed mostly in the background. Only a handful appeared in-app; most users learned about deals through Discord and marketing emails, meaning only the most engaged users understood when or how promotions applied to them. Those who did encounter offers often couldn't tell whether they were eligible, what action to take, or whether anything had happened after they opted in.
The experience felt accidental rather than intentional — and whatever excitement should come with earning a reward was completely absent.
Process:
Conversations with active users revealed three consistent breakdowns: no mental model for how promotions worked, no confirmation after opting in, and no emotional payoff when rewards were issued. Users were receiving real value and not registering it.
Competitive analysis showed what a complete promotions loop looked like. Platforms like DraftKings and FanDuel had built a clear cycle — awareness, deliberate opt-in, incentivized action, reward collection — and users had been conditioned to check for deals as a reason to open the app. PredictionStrike's experience started mid-loop and never closed it.
One constraint shaped everything: the existing engine could issue rewards, but couldn't tie them to specific bets or trades in the short term. This ruled out the most satisfying form of reward feedback — a direct "that trade earned you this" moment. Every design decision was made with engineering to stay buildable now while laying the groundwork for better attribution later.
Design:
The goal was to surface promotions within flows users already moved through, not introduce new entry points. The app's block-based structure made it possible to introduce modular promotion components that could adapt across surfaces.
Each screen was approached the same way: ideal interaction → what testing actually revealed → what was feasible within current constraints.
A consistent finding across surfaces: users wanted one place to see everything they had active. The scattered, per-surface approach in early testing pushed us toward a centralized "My Rewards" module that surfaced across the app with expiration times and eligibility details.
The Solution:
Promotion banners were introduced across five surfaces — Feed, Sparks, Pick Em, Shares, and Account > Promotions — using a shared component with clear opt-in CTAs. This replaced passive, auto-applied behavior with deliberate participation: users could see what was available, understand the terms, and consciously choose to opt in.
Where the engine couldn't yet attribute rewards to specific trades, a "Rewards Collected" indicator in transaction flows and push notification updates provided closure. It wasn't the full loop — but it gave users enough signal to trust that the system was working.
Impact & Reflection:
This project required alignment across design, engineering, marketing, and legal — promo descriptions were refined with brand partners for compliance, reward logic required close coordination to stay within what the engine could support, and opt-in flows needed sign-off from leadership. The most interesting design challenges weren't in the UI — they were in navigating what was buildable and what would actually reach users.
The modular system was built to support deeper attribution as the promotions engine evolves. That work is the obvious next chapter.