SportSkins App

From 2023–2024, I designed and delivered the first official SportSkins app — a full rebuild of a “Last Man Standing” football game that had grown too large for the organiser’s 10,000-row spreadsheet. This wasn’t a typical UI project; it required untangling years of informal rules, translating them into a functional product system, and designing a mobile experience players could trust with real money.

MY ROLE

Product Designer (end-to-end) + PM partner

METHODS USED

Discovery, Rule Mapping, Systems Thinking, User Flows, Prototyping, UI Design, Interaction Design, MVP Prioritisation, QA, Release Prep

The Core Challenge

SportSkins didn’t begin as a product — it began as a messy spreadsheet that had grown far beyond what a single person could manage. The organiser tracked thousands of players manually, updated results by hand, answered constant questions, and handled late picks and mistakes every week. The rules lived partly in the organiser’s head and partly inside a long, unstructured Word document. My challenge was to replace this entire manual process with a self-serve mobile experience that was clear, reliable and automated.

System Architecture & Rule Mapping

Before I designed any screens, I had to design how the game actually worked. I broke down every part of the mechanic — onboarding, KYC, entries, pick submission, duplicate prevention, lock behaviour, round resets, eliminations, prize payout and edge cases — and converted years of inconsistent, informal rules into a single coherent system. This became the backbone of development. Daily sessions with the CEO helped us refine decisions, resolve contradictions, and ensure the final rules could be implemented consistently by engineering.

Content, Competitor & UX Analysis

To guide the early direction, I evaluated existing “Last Man Standing” style products and football prediction apps. The analysis focused on how other platforms handled pick submissions, timers, state changes, eliminations, and onboarding. Many of these apps suffered from overloaded screens, inconsistent states, and vague rule explanations. This informed our decision to keep the initial release extremely focused: clean pick flows, unmistakable lock states, transparent rules, and a simple leaderboard. The purpose of v1 was to replace the chaotic spreadsheet with a controlled, trustworthy system.

UX Strategy — Designing for Clarity & Trust.jpg

Information Architecture & Flow Design

I created the full IA for the entire experience, covering the home screen, games list, pick flow, round transitions, results, rules, leaderboards and account. The wireframes were intentionally simple and direct. They prioritised the order of information, how users understood game states, and how to guide them through the weekly rhythm without friction or confusion. With money involved, it was essential that players always knew what had happened, what was happening now, and what would happen next.

Brand Foundations + Visual Identity

SportSkins needed a strong identity that could differentiate PremSkins and ChampSkins while still feeling part of the same ecosystem. I developed the full brand foundation: the logo system, primary and secondary colour palettes, typography, and overall visual direction. The identity was designed to feel modern, competitive, and trustworthy — a deliberate contrast to the messy spreadsheet-based origins of the game. I also produced all App Store and Google Play promotional graphics, ensuring the product felt polished, professional, and ready for scale.

Design System

SportSkins didn’t require a large design system, but it did needed a clear, consistent visual language. I created a compact set of reusable UI patterns — pick cards, result colours, spacing rules and state indicators — that made the game feel structured and predictable. The goal wasn’t scale; it was clarity. The screens shown here formed the visual foundations the entire app was built from.

Final Product

The final app replaced the spreadsheet entirely. SportSkins automated picks, lock times, eliminations and round progression without any manual involvement. Players could join games, submit picks, track results and follow the leaderboard directly in the app, and the organiser could run new games using a simple CMS. The system was designed to be reusable for future competitions including the Championship, European leagues and cup tournaments.

Impact & Outcomes

10k+ entries in the first game, generating a £100k+ prize pot
Zero spreadsheet admin needed
Fully automated picks, lock times, eliminations, and rounds
CMS for Sean to manage new games and fixtures
Clear rules → far fewer user questions or mistakes
Reusable flows for future leagues (Championship, UCL, etc.)

What I Learned

This project taught me that successful MVPs depend on clarity, not volume of features. A prediction game appears simple on the surface, but the real complexity lives in its rules and edge cases. Mapping these early prevented major issues later on. Working closely with the CEO kept scope under control and revealed how important trust and transparency are in any money-based experience. For a future version, I’d add a guided onboarding flow to help first-time users understand the mechanic even faster.