Sports Media | iOS
Yahoo! Sports & Fantasy iOS Live Activities
iOS Live Activities gives fans real-time access to key game insights, making it easy to stay connected to the games they care about most.
Problems
Core Sports: Sports fans wanted instant, real-time updates on key game moments like touchdowns, interceptions, and fumbles without needing to open the Yahoo Sports app. The goal was to extend the app’s reach and drive engagement by delivering these updates directly to the iOS lock screen and Dynamic Island.
Fantasy Sports: Fantasy users needed a more immersive way to stay connected with their matchups and track key player moments. Yahoo Sports aimed to enhance the Fantasy app experience by delivering live updates and personalized insights, increasing engagement, and matchup page visits for the phase two designs.
Challenges
1. Core Sports App: Quickly learning and applying Apple’s iOS 18 Live Activities functionality within one week while establishing a consistent design language for dynamic island states.
2. Fantasy Sports App: Introducing new Live Activities features like win probability graphs and gamified animations while managing tight two-week sprint cycles for two engineering teams.
3. Balancing Needs: Prioritizing the distinct requirements of Core Sports fans and Fantasy users to ensure both audiences received meaningful and engaging features.
Solutions
Core Sports App:
- Designed pre-game Live Activities to notify fans 30 minutes before kickoff and post-game updates to keep them informed after the action ended.
- Created an opt-in notification modal to introduce the feature and drive adoption among sports fans.
Fantasy Sports App:
- Live Activities with win probability graphs, a red zone indicator for players in scoring positions, and a Fantasy trophy icon to visually connect updates to the app.
- Improved visual clarity with a 100% opacity lock screen background.
- Collaborated with the PM to gamify the experience by adding emoji animations for compact dynamic island states during key plays like touchdowns.
Impact
Core Sports App: Successfully designed the Core Sports Live Activities feature, ready for launch this year, ensuring seamless integration with Apple’s iOS 18 guidelines.
Fantasy Sports App: Increased Live Activities CTR from 4% to 10% and boosted game page visits by 15%, achieving key engagement goals.
Role
Lead designer
Platform
iOS
Timeline
2 Weeks
Skills
Strategy, Product design, Animation
Team
2 Product managers
10 iOS engineers
Tools
Figma, Jitter
Core Sports: Design Explorations
I explored innovative blue-sky concepts to shape iOS Live Activities, delivering real-time updates that keep users effortlessly connected to key moments.
Core Sports: Dynamic Live Activities System
Building on blue-sky explorations, I developed a dynamic, user-friendly iOS Live Activities experience that seamlessly supports football, basketball, baseball, and hockey.
Core Sports: Pre Game
Incorporating key feedback, I collaborated with engineers and PMs to design pre-game NFL alerts via iOS Live Activities, providing fans with timely notifications 30 minutes before kickoff to enhance excitement and engagement.
Core Sports: Live Game
Live game activity begins at kickoff, with dynamic score animations triggered by teams scoring, keeping sports fans engaged and up-to-date every step of the way.
Core Sports: Post Game
Based on our research, I created post-game activities, allowing fans to conveniently catch up on missed NFL games for 30 minutes after the final whistle.
Fantasy Sports: Phase 2 Redesign
In the second phase of iOS Live Activities, I led the Fantasy team’s design efforts, implementing key enhancements to better align with both user feedback and business objectives.
1. Added win probability functionality
2. Included a red zone indicator when a team has at least one player in the red zone
3. Replaced the Y! logo mark with a trophy icon to visually tie the experience back to Fantasy (Lock screen only)
4. Improved legibility by setting the lock screen background to 100% opacity
Before
After
Before
After
Fantasy Sports: Last Play Notification
Collaborating with the PM, I introduced notification animations for big plays like touchdowns and field goals, keeping sports fans engaged with key moments while driving increased matchup page visits.
Last Play Notifications Contain:
- Player’s first initial and last name (e.g., J. Hurts)
- Yards gained and the type of play (e.g., +28 Pass Yds)
- The amount of points gained for the play (e.g., +5pts)
Fantasy Sports: Gamified Dynamic Island
I created a gamified Dynamic Island that engages users by displaying their avatars and animating emojis at key moments.
Before
After
Post-launch, phase 2 iOS Live Activities designs boosted user engagement within the Fantasy app.
6%
Increase in click through rates.
15%
Increase in game page visits.
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