Hello! My name is Martin.
I design and build complex products.
Fin-tech / Rights management / Business tools
Over 10 years in B2B and client facing Product Design.
Comfortable working solo, managing delivery teams and acting as a Product Owner
Front-end development qualifications on pair with design skills.
FSB Technology is a fin-tech company, main bulk of products is directed at B2B gambling and online entertainment sector. I was hired as a designer in 2014 but straight away my role was expanded to product, UX design and front-end development.Previous to my employment the main focus of the company was to develop core products (algorithms, data handling and load stability), coming on board I noticed several key areas where there was a need for major changes. Being one of the first 25 employees puts me in a position to affect more than one aspect of the company.
I’ve stared by getting to know the daily operation and the types of problems the back-end team was faced with. In the short time FSB hired business development director, we had the beginnings of the core team behind client facing, retail and online solutions. During initial meetings it was easy to insert UX considerations to business goals and development schedules.I was able to steer the company away from relying solely on technical prowess, while having it in mind, I started work on the beginnings of a design system for online sportsbooks and casinos. During initial growth phase the front-end team was rebuilt and new additions to the team made it easier for me to step away from front-end development work, although I retained the control of html/css/ js development on several projects.
I introduced tools like Dropbox, Slack, Clickup, Marvell, InVision, Evernote, Toggl and TickTick. Was fortunate to influence both management and development side of the company, working closely with front-end development team enabled me to push FSB to streamline html and css, introducing timekeeping and knowledge sharing tools made team cohesion easier to achieve.
The company didn't have an “out of the box” solution for new clients. Previous builds were fully custom, there was no easy way of completing projects from start to finish. Tech stack, legal requirements and general UI were, in most cases, similar but there was a need for functionality and “look and feel” customisation to individual client needs.
The company’s Java based back-end was able to handle price changes and updates to the UI, there was no serious need of any major amendments to the core product. We needed to create UI templates for all standard functions (sportsbook apps) and make them responsive.
Each client had a distinctive brand so apart from creating FSB specific visual design system, there needed to be enough room for custom branding, colour schemes, iconography. Both management tools and end-client facing UI needed to be dynamic enough to handle desktop and mobile environments.
Adobe Illustrator, MindManager / Mindjet, Figma, Adobe Photoshop
Sass (scss), service workers, marketing & tracking scripts (social media headers, google & facebook scripts)
Wireframes, prototypes, sketches, personas, user journeys and board presentations
We have noticed that FSB apart from Flex based panels didn’t have any client facing management tools so after several meetings Sencha Ext JS framework and dashboard was picked to build our solution on. It was easy enough to expand with custom workflows and in-house designed UI.
I designed a CMS tailored to gambling industry with sportsbook and casino specific features. Using Ext JS features boosted by in-house development, we managed to, in addition to general white-label management, enable quick updates to static content.
While not having large amounts of data concerning our end-users I managed to gather enough information to create personas and begin building use cases. Biz-dev requirements and interviews with several of FSB investors who run their own sportsbooks enabled me to focus on a set of key actions and outcomes - more user friendly notification systems, detailed user dashboard and account features. One of first changes to the approach I made was to put the mobile experience on par with desktop, putting the same emphasis on quality of execution and functionality.
Listing out the functionality and types of sportsbook apps on offer I managed to redesign everyone to be responsive and yet do not hide any of the data displayed. This allowed white-label sites to be usable on any device without the need of separate app layouts. Using Sass I transferred the base colour scheme as hex variables to html templates, allowing for full theme skinning.
Example of default white-label layout can be found here: Whitelabel
FSB won Sportsbook Supplier of the Year at the SBC Awards 2018
Having successfully implemented over 35 white label projects I embarked on a redesign of the UI and some of the features requested by clients. With over half of the clients running multi-language sportsbooks and casinos the focus was on more control over copy, look and feel features that allow for regional tweaks and automatic location recognition and customisation. Having experienced a shift in mobile usage most of key UI updates were around screen size adaptation and optimisation in data loads. Having clients in emerging markets like Africa pushed FSB to create a bare bones UI to cater for non-touch devices.
Having bought the GoWager brand from The Guardian (FSB’s former client) it was chosen as a platform for tests and end-client deployment.
Last client deployed GoWager can be seen here: GoWager
After refreshing the brand, creating separate design system and social media assets and launch campaigns I applied most of new findings to the structure of the website. We managed to reduce the initial load times, tighten the integration with CMS and add new functionality.
Changing regulations pushed most gambling companies to search for other opportunities than fixed-odds betting terminals, this allowed FSB to build a business case around creation and deployment of self service betting terminals. Having successfully deployed multiple sportsbooks and casinos there was a solid basis for developing a completely new product.
Having several detailed requests from clients' project was kickstarted with hiring a C# developer. Several trips to betting shops allowed me to get to know the environment where our product is going to be deployed and get to know how similar products are used. Technical considerations (speed of data transfers, screen responsiveness, potential security issues) made choosing hardware and operating system easier. Working on large screen tablets running Windows OS meant that I will be allowed to control UI without the need of adhering to Googles Material Design or Apples UI Guidelines.
Having no restrictions in terms of UI allowed me to continue with an FSB Design system - similar layout of sportsbook apps, usage of FSB Icons font, similar click-through patterns to those deployed in white label solutions. While having to cater to similar restrictions to those around online betting websites I managed to redesign the bet slip to fit within Gambling Commission guidelines and add an extra layer of notifications catering to large touch screen devices, issues with user authentication and payouts.
Figma, Mindjet, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe After Effects, Adobe Illustrator
Wireframes, prototypes, presentations
Full article on how to design self service terminal can be found on Medium
Visuals can be found on Dribble
In several jurisdictions casinos are allowed to take bets over the counter using EPOS Terminals. Solutions available on the market were not extensive enough and didn’t allow for customisation of the experience or types of bets. FSB with Asian partners build a business case and secured large scale casino for live testing and deployment.
As this is not end-client facing product we had to strip most of general UI used in SSBT and rework it to be used by trained casino staff. This use case puts an operator between the terminal and end-user. The device needed to be portable and easy to deploy. Extra complexity was added by NFC authorisation and several methods of payment.
I was able to continue with the FSB Design system and implement General UI, look and feel customisation techniques. EPOS terminals have a clear function, our goal was to enable quick and uninterrupted operation and ease of use. Having gone through the functionality of commercially available EPOS terminals for restaurants and small to medium shops I was able to understand what were the basics of a usable interface. This meant I needed to remove a lot of features available in SSBT and rework the user path from placing a bet to receiving the bet slip. The device had two screens - operator facing for bet placement ad client facing for general information and bet confirmation purposes. This added a bit more work I needed to do on notifications.
Board presentation is available on Youtube
Figma, Mindjet, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe After Effects, Adobe Illustrator, Marvell
Wireframes, prototypes, sketches, personas, user journeys, and research
NetResult had an issue with fragmentation of their rights management tools. With potential investment, there was a need for a complete rebuild of data entry and management tools while bringing administration under one product.
Having increasing numbers of employees (mainly in China) the tools were not aligned with either the skill set or the number of people accessing them. Multiplication of the same features in data entry tools and administration meant that actions were cancelled, rights infringement cases went unresolved while training was less effective.
After getting to know the functionality of each of the tools the team decided on routes of integration. I started by flagging functionality duplication while streamlining the rights violation resolution. Old tools had a lot of dead ends, whether resolution actions were concerned, so after joining asset collection, tagging, violation scoring and resolution methods I managed to smooth out administrator actions to a point there were only 3 states possible - resolved, under investigation and cleared. Updates to the fingerprinting algorithm made case handling easier, my suggestion to the general UI resolved the repetitiveness of some tasks by bulk actions and easier management of case sources.
Visuals and report is available on Dropbox
Omnigraffle, Evernote.
wireframes, prototypes, research
Afer implementation NetResult was purchased by Thomson Reuters Corporation, later resold to Clarivate Analytics