Keno
About the project
Date:
Jul 1, 2019
Client:
Tabcorp
This work was completed in 2016, so it's pretty old now. I'm still really proud of it - we did some great work that pushed the Keno business forward - but it's certainly no longer my best work. Just a heads up!
UI Refresh
The Keno app had been built quickly and efficiently, but the UI wasn't providing an experience that users were excited about, or that they found particularly easy to use. One of my first projects at Keno was to redesign the main touchpoints of the UI to enhance the look, feel, and engagement of the app.
Gamifying the Lottery
Keno is a lottery product, so naturally an enormously important part of the experience is when you win. Many users had told us that the winning experience was often underwhelming - so much so that they often missed the fact that they'd even won.
We embarked on a project to overhaul the entire winning experience, and to make sure we make it a big deal every time the player wins.
The original experience
Our first iteration of the app was an MVP, and as such, the experience for a winner was relatively minimalist. While you did receive a modal popup if you happened to be watching the game when you won, players who returned to check on resolved tickets didn't see anything particularly interesting other than a simple 'You won' dialogue.
The real demonstration of this issue came when our first issue won the jackpot, winning well over $100,000, without realizing it.
Relive the moment
We first approached the experience for players returning to view previously resolved tickets, as this was the majority use case for most customers.
To give these players a sense of the same tension and excitement of watching the game live, I created procedural animations that would become more and more intricate and exciting as the winning amount raised.
We executed these animations using AirBNB's Lottie system, which allowed us to generate and display the animations at runtime, instead of prerendered animations.
Live experience
For players watching the live draw, we replicated a similar experience.
Since we couldn't calculate ticket winnings until after the game was over, we instead indicated to the player the size of the win by escalating the state of their ticket.
Again, these were done at runtime, giving us the ability to generate dynamic, compelling animations.
Achievements and Awards
In interviews and surveys, players often explained that playing the game was the rewarding part, not just winning money. However, they also explained that the app rarely acknowledged them unless they won money, making the experience repetitive once you've played for a significant amount of time.
From speaking to customers, we discovered there was an appetite for more gamified rewards within Keno - giving customers goals to achieve and strive for beyond monetary rewards was something that they expressed was an exciting idea.
Keno Awards
This concept of awarding regular activity wasn't a particularly new idea for mobile apps, but it was a foreign concept for those customers who only really played gambling products.
For that reason, we focused heavily on onboarding customers to the concept and the feature, so that it didn't cause confusion for our customers. We approached this educational element procedurally - as you progress through the feature, you are given piecemeal tips and notes on how it works.
Browsing Awards
We wanted the act of gathering awards to be an aspirational element of the app, so we built a library feature that allowed customers to see what awards they had already earned, as well as what awards they could work towards, and their relevant progress.
This allowed our customers to plan their play, and gave them objectives to work towards as they played.
Achievement Experience
Once you've passed the tutorial phase, we wanted to make sure the app celebrated your success in a way that's exciting and glamorous, but doesn't interfere with the experience.
We designed some basic modal popups that showed your award and explained how you'd won it. The behavior of these modals was critical, and we made sure they would only trigger during moments where the customer is experiencing downtime, rather than in the middle of a game or during a win celebration.
Levelling Up
We also experimented with adding additional gamification elements, such as earning experience and gaining levels. We found that this didn't test particularly well with customers - they expressed confusion at the concept, as it was foreign to gambling. Furthermore, the feature was relatively arbitrary, as your experience didn't change when you levelled up - it was simply a number.
We eventually decided to shelf this feature until we were able to attach it to relevant rewards.
I spent over 3 years at Tabcorp, initially as part of the founding UX team, and later as a senior member. Through that time, I designed countless experiences for our customers across Keno, as well as work in other brands such as Sun Casino, Raceday Control, and the core TAB brand. It's too much work to include on this website, but I'm always keen to chat about it - feel free to get in touch if you'd like to know more!
