The problem: Daily fantasy for an audience FanDuel could not reach
AlphaDraft was one of the first two daily fantasy esports platforms and, within nine months of launch, one of the most talked-about startups in the category. FanDuel acquired it in September 2015 to reach an esports audience of 200 million viewers with almost no overlap with traditional sports fans. Players drafted pro gamers instead of athletes and scored fantasy points on their in-match performance, using the same contest formats FanDuel fans already knew: guaranteed prize pools, 50/50s, heads-up.
I worked on AlphaDraft as a product designer and front-end developer during its time under FanDuel, building and maintaining the web experience players used to browse contests, draft lineups, and follow live scoring.
Esports contests run on tournament schedules that don't follow a weekly sports calendar, so the front end had to handle irregular contest windows and live updates during multi-day events like the LoL World Championship.
The data itself was the other half of the problem: players, teams, matches, and tournament schedules had to read clearly for fans arriving from FanDuel's traditional sports product.
The constraints: Three months, irregular schedules, regulatory pressure
How it evolved
What I did: Connected design collaboration with front-end delivery
I joined AlphaDraft during a time-critical website redesign. Over three months, I collaborated with another product designer to help complete screen designs and explore ideas, while implementing and maintaining the player-facing web UI alongside three engineers spanning front-end and back-end development.
The work covered the contest lobby, lineup drafting, live scoring, and account flows. My contribution combined participation in design with hands-on implementation, helping move the redesign from evolving concepts into a functional website.
- 1 of 4Built the player-facing front end in three months, covering the contest lobby, lineup drafting, live scoring, and account flows, and prioritized a stable launch over extra polish
- 2 of 4Helped make esports data readable for fans coming from FanDuel's sports product, putting players, teams, matches, and schedules in terms they already knew, at the cost of some depth hardcore esports fans expected
- 3 of 4Built the lobby around tournament schedules instead of a weekly sports calendar, so contests followed the bracket and players always knew what was live next
- 4 of 4Worked where design met front end, turning the lead designer's direction into production UI and shaping interactions and layout along the way, trading some build speed for fewer surprises at launch
The outcome: Helped deliver the redesign and earned the team's confidence
Over the three-month project, we delivered a functional redesigned website. My manager credited my contribution as essential to delivery, highlighting my ability to help complete screen designs and implement them quickly.
Peer feedback recognized the quality and consistency of my work under an aggressive schedule and significant technical challenges. Colleagues also highlighted my creative thinking and day-to-day judgment as priorities shifted. A design collaborator reported that our brainstorming conversations left them more confident in the product.
FanDuel later closed AlphaDraft. This is part of the product's history, separate from the outcome of the redesign and my contribution to it.
In the face of ambiguity, he was able to conceptualize ideas and run with them.
Colleague
What it taught me: Fantasy could be designed for gamers
- 01Production is the best design education. Building and maintaining the front end at FanDuel, at scale and under regulatory scrutiny, is why I work in the code instead of handing designs over a wall.
- 02Fantasy sports could be designed for gamers. That idea started here and carried straight into HypSports.