Product Designer
Sydney, AU
Case Study
Year
2023
Project Type
Product Design
Service Design
Services
UI Design
BetDojo
Project Story
Combatting the pit of dark patterns with UIX and Service Design.
Overview
If this project were part of Nolan’s trilogy, it would be the moment where Batman struggles to climb out of the pit after being thrown in by Bane.
This case study showcases how I explored the challenge of designing for ethics within Australia’s fast-growing online sports gambling space. During a time of heightened regulatory scrutiny and dark patterns, I designed the service and product concept for Bet Dojo, a digital companion aimed at encouraging healthier wagering habits while countering industry dark patterns. Discover how I balanced empathy with usability, applying research, prototyping, and testing to approach this problem space and shape an early service vision for responsible gambling.
USER RESEARCH AT A GLANCE
My 5 course research approach was the go to
INSIGHTS
Current State Customer Journey
Ideation
Hypotheses
Design concepts
Glimpses of a dream
Design enhancement
Usability Testing
Design outcome
Feature Home
Design outcome
Feature Home
Design outcome
Feature Home
Concept Testing
UX Strategy
Design problem statement
The art of ethical interfaces
THE PROBLEM AREA
Australia’s online sports gambling space is exploding for the wrong reasons.
Bookmaker platforms have failed to actively encouraging responsible gambling. Instead, their focus has centred on glorifying wins and the thrill of wagering, downplaying the importance of responsible sports gambling. This issue has recently gained increased regulatory scrutiny as the risks associated with compulsive gambling become more apparent with online sports wagering services in the line of fire.
I combined online ethnography, desktop research, semi-structured interviews and online surveys. Mapping findings into an affinity diagram revealed the tensions between user needs and business priorities
Using the above research methods to learn about gambling responsibly to populate the data in the above affinity diagram, I noticed a significant lack of transparency betting platforms dedicated to raising awareness for healthy gambling habits, which led me to 3 crucial insights:
How might we empower informed decision-making and encourage responsible gambling habits through digital interactions for online sports betting users?
During ideation, I reframed the challenge with a provocative question: “Why isn’t there a health app for gambling?”
This sparked the concept of a responsible gambling companion app. Instead of leaving users to navigate bookmaker apps that hide protective features, Bet Dojo would:
• Aggregate their personal gambling history across platforms
• Provide resources and stories that normalise responsible play
• Proactively nudge users with deposit limits, exclusion options, and reminders
The design principle was simple: embed healthy behaviours into the core of the interface, rather than bolting them on after
To test my service concept, I built a user journey map and a service blueprint
In this sprint we set out to evaluate the BetDojo prototype by guiding users through tasks and measuring their experience against Jakob Nielsen’s usability heuristics. This helped us systematically uncover potential usability issues.
Take control of your gaming experience with Bet Dojo, a tool designed to empower individuals in their journey towards responsible online sports gambling.
Take control of your gaming experience with Bet Dojo, a tool designed to empower individuals in their journey towards responsible online sports gambling.
Take control of your gaming experience with Bet Dojo, a tool designed to empower individuals in their journey towards responsible online sports gambling.
At the same time, we employed the think-aloud method, prompting users to vocalise their thoughts and actions as they navigated the interface. Together, these approaches allowed us to assess clarity of navigation and the accessibility of responsible gambling features. Our aim was to identify navigation challenges and validate the effectiveness of responsible gambling tools, ensuring the product delivered a user-friendly and ethically designed betting experience.
To make these issues tangible, I mapped a current state customer journey of Sportsbet, the leading Australian bookmaker app. It revealed how touchpoints systematically pushed users toward higher engagement, while responsible controls sat several steps deep
There’s zero transparency of rules and procedures
Harmful gambling behaviours are prevalent, beginning with overwhelming traditional and digital marketing
Harmful gambling behaviours are prevalent, beginning with overwhelming traditional and digital marketing
Harmful gambling behaviours are prevalent, beginning with overwhelming traditional and digital marketing
Harmful gambling behaviours are prevalent, beginning with overwhelming traditional and digital marketing
Harmful gambling behaviours are prevalent, beginning with overwhelming traditional and digital marketing
Interface conceals gambling controls and glorifies winning
Research goal 1
Empathise with online wagering platform users
Research
Discover current resources and responses in place
Research goal 2
Become familiar with the current landscape and legal scrutiny
The Baseline Concept
We incorporated the original team's design but made tweaks to improve discoverability and usability. This concept was about speed—getting a solution to market quickly. While it offered a rapid path to launch, it didn't deliver the optimal user experience on mobile devices we aimed for.
The Baseline Concept
We incorporated the original team's design but made tweaks to improve discoverability and usability. This concept was about speed—getting a solution to market quickly. While it offered a rapid path to launch, it didn't deliver the optimal user experience on mobile devices we aimed for.
The Baseline Concept
We incorporated the original team's design but made tweaks to improve discoverability and usability. This concept was about speed—getting a solution to market quickly. While it offered a rapid path to launch, it didn't deliver the optimal user experience on mobile devices we aimed for.
Learnings and Takeaways
What did I learn?
I combined online ethnography, desktop research, semi-structured interviews and online surveys. Mapping findings into an affinity diagram revealed the tensions between user needs and business priorities
My design skills
As it was my second time using Figma for interface design (coming from Adobe Illustrator), I definitely found myself looking towards YouTube for tutorials to master my skills. In the future I would like to gain some one on one feedback of my design process and interface with an expert to see how I may improve my skills.
Service design is pretty cool!
My biggest challenge in designing this digital platform for online sports gamblers was striking a balance between ethics and user experience. This involved gathering unbiased information and ensuring dark patterns were not used to trick and glorify gambling. Taking a proactive approach by imagining the service allowed me to broaden my assumptions and design with more empathy.