What's this about?

When I joined, the Austrian lotteries were the national operator for both casino and lotteries and were undergoing a digital transformation.

  • I led all design focused agencies throughout the platform redesign
  • I established core UX infrastructure, including processes, tooling, and strategy
  • I designed a next generation app that closed key platform gaps and set the blueprint for future development

Challenges

Who's the boss?

Decision making was split across several voices, creating unclear ownership and leaving accountability difficult to anchor.

Outsource that!

We relied on agencies to cover resource gaps, which enabled sustained delivery but made a coherent vision harder to maintain.

The holy backlog

Our development resources were spread across many areas, requiring us to book them appropriately ahead.

A fresh start?

A long running redesign neared completion, but had limited in house UX direction, leaving key potential untapped and rework hard to justify.

Regulated or not

Most verticals were heavily regulated under our license, while sports betting faced strong competition.

Next day delivery

Each of the teams were pressed to deliver good numbers to justify their existence, making strategic projects a risky choice

Strategy

Breathe with me!

To reshape the product with intent, we would first need some breathing room, especially in the sports vertical. Low hanging fruits would create that space.

🕵️ explore further

Lay the tracks

Before touching the product, we needed our resources to run like clockwork. You can't win a war if you still have a battle open with yourself.

👩‍🚀 explore further

Under cover

With everything in place, we could think ahead. We didn't have the resources to build it yet, but we could define the blueprint and start slipping it into features.

🧑‍🔬 explore further

Breathe with me!

Funnel the energy

You can optimise any part of the user journey, but it won't win back users you've never convinced in the first place. We made sure to optimise the very beginning of the conversion funnel, starting with the registration.

currently under NDA

Squeeze it

In sports betting, a core KPI is the number of bets visible in the initial viewport. We refined every screen to maximise screen estate without losing structure, ending up ahead of the competition on average.

Expanding services

We supported product management in expanding our services, from authentication to payment options like PayPal. We made the UX work harder, in this case by eliminating friction throughout the journey.

Lay the tracks

Set the rules

I ran workshops with my team and our primary stakeholders, to understand their preferred work mode and painpoints. This shaped a formalised process everyone signed off on, which I turned into an interactive graphic.

Shopping spree

Next, we focused on improving efficiency within that ruleset, utilising better tools. We invested the time and budget to find the right fit and integrate it into our workflow. Jira Product Discovery helped us tackle shared ownership.

Compliance anyone?

Those tools also helped us tackle critical compliance issues. As a license holder, we had to comply with WCAG standards, so we set up accessibility rules in the definition of done and AI assisted tools to track implementation issues.

Lego Blocks

Another piece of the puzzle was our design system, giving us coherence and clear usage rules. Our agency built a flexible multi tier system, extendable at every level, which was invaluable when I adapted it for the new app.

Working with Misha has been very enjoyable. He is a passionate collaborator, challenging perceived limitations while instilling confidence in the team. His game design experience and personality make him a great asset to any business.

Esa Hiltunen

Under cover

Paint the target

Given a full backlog, we turned to long term strategy and research. Over months, I ran workshops on a shared vision for notifications with my team, creating a blueprint that gave affiliated backlog items a holistic context.

currently under NDA

Bring me to life

Given the nature of our product, motion design was an important missing piece for the team, but the redesign never had the resources for it. The app became our testing ground to introduce it and ease stakeholders into a more modern UI.

currently under NDA

Cooking souse vide

We used this testing ground to realign the information architecture around users mental models, making verticals clear to read and easier to switch between. We freed up screen estate while keeping the visual language aligned with the platform for gradual rollout. We also introduced proper landscape support.

The result

currently under NDA

A new toy

With the redesigned app, we introduced a new widget as a proof of concept. Contextual and always visible, it supported multiple goals, including onboarding. We made sure it could be retrofitted into the platform.

I'm a native!

We also used this new widget to transform the profile settings into a native section, in line with the app store guidelines. Its new home was clearly accessible and better aligned with the users mental model.

[ Redacted ]

Beyond that, the widget would also serve another exciting opportunity, which it was designed for in the first place. Unfortunately I can't talk about it right now, so I'll have to ask you for a bit of patience 😞

You spin me round

We also used the widget in the slots section. I can't talk about details yet, but it let us hit three orthogonal goals at once: an immersive experience, longer sessions, all while offering better safeguards!

Hey, I'm Vera, and I'm the head of digital channels at the lotteries. Misha brings an exceptional level of energy and commitment to everything he does, paired with a mindset that consistently looks beyond obvious solutions.

Vera Mayr
Jealous? 😐

No need to be! I got all the resources to make your project just as awesome and beyond! How about we have a short talk and exchange about your requirements?

Let's talk!

NEEEXT!!!