User Research · Round 1 — August 2025
Understanding what fans actually want
We ran moderated usability sessions with five fans per round, testing onboarding, check-in, challenges and the rewards store. Each round shaped the next iteration directly.
Cortex builds fan engagement software for sports organisations. I design their fan experience platform, a gamified product that rewards fans for physical and digital engagement, used by clubs including Arsenal FC, Formula 1 and the MLS.
Context
Cortex is a sports technology company that builds software for the world's biggest sports organisations — including Arsenal FC, Formula 1 and the MLS. Their platform helps clubs build immersive, gamified fan ecosystems on owned channels, turning casual viewers into loyal, data-rich audiences.
The fan experience platform is Cortex's core SaaS product. It lets clubs reward fans for physical and digital engagement — checking in at a match, completing challenges, competing in leaderboards — all while collecting first-party fan data that drives sponsorship and commercial value.
I joined as lead designer to build the platform from zero to one. That meant owning both the fan-facing web experience and the club-side SaaS CMS staff use to create challenges, badges and rewards.
The challenge
"How might we create a rewards platform that provides tasks and achievements that fans actually enjoy completing?"
Design framing, Fandom by CortexFandom has four core components — all of which I designed:
Three outcomes we needed to hit: increase engagement across the full season, open new sponsorship opportunities for clubs, and build a first-party data asset clubs actually own.
User Research · Round 1 — August 2025
We ran moderated usability sessions with five fans per round, testing onboarding, check-in, challenges and the rewards store. Each round shaped the next iteration directly.
What we learned
Clear patterns emerged that shaped every design decision.
Research rounds 2 to 7
Design Process
Research findings fed directly into design sprints. I worked with the PM and engineers to prioritise what to build, in what order, and at what fidelity.
Design documentation
The club-side CMS lets staff create challenges, set completion criteria (check-in, match attendance, predictions, article reads), assign badges and configure rewards. It needed to work for non-technical club staff.
CMS — Challenge Builder
The builder supports multiple event types (check-in, poll, form, video, match, predictions) with configurable rules and reward logic — all in one coherent flow.
My contribution
Outcomes
We were right that personalisation and challenges drive engagement. We were wrong that users would engage with digital unlocks immediately — most needed tangible, low-cost rewards first. The check-in flow, reframed as a football diary, became one of the most-loved features.
"Challenges and rewards encourage users to spend more time on the app and watching matches. Personalisation made users enjoy the experience more."
Research synthesis, Round 1 — August 2025The biggest design lesson: users don't want to feel like they're working for rewards. The most successful challenges were built around things fans already do — watch matches, check the app before kick-off, pick a favourite player. Design that aligns with existing behaviour beats design that asks for new behaviour every time.