Ladbrokes — Betting & Gaming
A dial for every live bet.
Ladbrokes needed one navigation system that could hold football, horseracing, greyhounds, tennis, casino and more without overwhelming the in-play moment. Grounded in real customer research, we took three concepts — L, Dial and Blades — from sketch through to fully designed, stakeholder-ready screens.
/ 01 — The Challenge
Too many sports, not enough seconds.
Ladbrokes' catalogue spans football, horseracing, greyhounds, tennis, casino, bingo, vegas, financials and more — and in-play odds move in real time. Market research reinforced the stakes: over 9 million people bet online, 75% of them primarily on mobile, and 56% are under 35 — a digital-native audience with little patience for a wall of menus. A conventional sidebar or grid of sports either buried the market a customer wanted, or overwhelmed the in-play moment when speed mattered most.
Persona research surfaced the same pain points again and again: too many platforms to compare, odds that change too fast, and a lack of transparency customers could trust.
Figure 1 — the persona mapping research: betting journey, pain points, needs, and the core persona, Mike
/ 02 — The Approach
One persona, three navigation concepts.
Every direction traced back to one persona — Mike, 28, a digital-native sports enthusiast who wants smart, real-time insight and control, not more noise. Mapping his betting journey — Discover, Research, Place Bet, In-Play, Cash Out, Review & Repeat — against his stated pain points and needs shaped how far each navigation concept had to go.
- Explored three distinct navigation metaphors — an angular "L" panel, a circular "Dial," and a dynamic "Blades" layout — at wireframe level first, to compare structure before investing in visual design.
- Took the Dial and Blades concepts through to full, stakeholder-ready visual design — real content, real odds, a documented color system — so leadership could compare working screens, not static comps.
- Built fully annotated wireframes for betslip interactions, in-play match centres and sports homepages, ready for engineering handoff.
Figure 2 — the three concepts explored: L, Dial, and Blades, each wireframed before visual design began
/ 03 — The Solution
Two directions, both built to full fidelity.
The Dial concept centers on a circular in-play widget — a compact badge showing live market count that expands into a full sport-by-sport dial for football, horseracing, greyhounds, tennis and more. The Blades concept takes a bolder, content-forward approach — dynamic promo cards, a live in-play match centre, and a documented visual system (Ladbrokes Red, Jet Black, Graphite, Steel, White) built to move fast between sports, casino and live betting. Both share the same underlying structure, so either could move into build on a consistent foundation.
Figure 3 — the Blades concept, fully designed: homepage, in-play match centre, and mobile
/ 04 — The Results
The numbers that moved.
- Persona-led research grounded every navigation decision in real customer behavior — 75% mobile-first, 57% betting in-play.
- Three concepts — L, Dial and Blades — explored, with two taken all the way to full, stakeholder-ready visual design.
- A documented brand system for color, layout and navigation, so either direction could move into build on a consistent foundation.
- Designed for a market of 9M+ active online bettors and a $100B+ global sports betting industry by 2025.
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