Odds Bods
Better bets for bettors via comparison
Odds Bods, a betting startup, enlisted me to lead their UX/UI and Creative Design efforts to develop their Comparison Service from concept to launch. Over several years, this greenfield project evolved into a fully realised and user-friendly product. The service was successfully launched on the Apple App Store, featuring most major UK bookmakers along with several international operators.
The challenge was clear: simplify and improve the odds comparison process for bettors while outperforming existing solutions in the market. The betting industry is highly competitive, and providing a superior user experience was critical to ensuring strong adoption and retention.
Challenges & Considerations
Complex Odds Data on Mobile
• How to present a wealth of betting information without overwhelming users?
• Many existing solutions struggled with cluttered interfaces, making it difficult for users to quickly assess the best odds.
Odds Movement Representation
• Ensuring users could easily track and interpret fluctuations in odds.
• A simple yet effective visual system was needed to show price changes in real-time.
Efficient Betting Experience
• Streamlining the betting journey to minimize unnecessary steps.
• Users needed a way to quickly compare odds and place bets with minimal friction.
The team included an algorithmic betting expert, a seasoned trackside tipster, a managing director with decades of experience in the betting industry, and a CTO with a background in major bookmakers. Through a series of stakeholder interviews, brainstorming sessions and whiteboard ideation, we refined our approach before moving into the design phase. These diverse perspectives helped shape a well-rounded, data-driven approach to user experience design.
Process & Execution
1. UX Research & Ideation
• Conducted stakeholder interviews to define key pain points and opportunities.
• Analysed existing market solutions to identify gaps and areas for improvement.
• Explored various data visualisation techniques to enhance usability.
• Developed a clean and effective interface that would balance simplicity with depth.
By understanding the needs of both casual bettors and experienced gamblers, we tailored the user experience to be accessible while still providing powerful features for those who needed them. Competitive analysis revealed that most existing odds comparison tools were cluttered, requiring users to sift through excessive data. Our goal was to create a streamlined approach that presented key information at a glance while offering deeper insights when needed.
2. UX Design & Innovation
• Iteratively developed design solutions, validating them with key stakeholders.
• Introduced the Odds Results Block, a breakthrough alternative to traditional odds tables:
Solution - Instead of listing all bookmakers’ prices in a dense table, odds were grouped into interactive blocks.
Outcome - A cleaner, more intuitive interface that still allowed users to access detailed information when needed.
• Prioritised usability and efficiency to reduce friction in the betting process.
The Odds Results Block became a defining feature of the product, transforming how users interacted with odds comparison. This innovation reduced clutter while still allowing users to quickly access the best odds available from different bookmakers.
Above: Early version of the Organism diagram for the Results Block, showing the Atoms and Components that make it up.
3. UI Design & Visual Identity
Visual Hierarchy & Call-to-Actions (CTAs)
• CTAs placed at thumb level in brand orange for easy accessibility.
• Supporting information presented in blue and grey to maintain focus.
Interface Inventory & Pattern Library
• Documented design components using Atomic Design principles.
• Ensured consistency and scalability across the app.
Micro Interactions & Animations
• Introduced animated interactions to enhance user feedback and engagement.
• Example: Selection Strip animation flips over and turns orange to indicate selection.
• A bet counter icon dynamically updates when a bet is added, reinforcing user actions.
A well-thought-out UI design was critical in ensuring ease of use. We paid close attention to micro-interactions, ensuring that every action provided clear feedback to the user. The Selection Strip animation and bet counter updates improved engagement and trust, ensuring users always knew the status of their selections.
4. Build & Release
• Launched the iOS app in October 2018, just ten months after project initiation.
• Continued refining and iterating post-launch, incorporating new features and optimisations based on user feedback.
• Expanded coverage to include odds from major UK bookmakers such as Ladbrokes, Coral, Bet365, Betfair, and PaddyPower.
• Successfully scaled the system to handle over a million price changes daily.
The launch marked a major milestone for the team, but development did not stop there. Continuous iteration ensured that we responded to user needs and market trends, leading to significant feature expansions over time. The scalability of the platform allowed for seamless handling of massive amounts of real-time betting data without compromising performance.
Key Takeaways
• Innovative UX solutions, such as the Odds Price Block, differentiated the product from competitors.
• A structured, iterative approach to design ensured continuous improvement and scalability.
• A balance of simplicity and depth was crucial in making complex betting data accessible.
Odds Bods successfully delivered a seamless, efficient, and visually engaging betting comparison service, setting a new standard in the industry. The project’s success reinforced the impact of well-executed UX and UI design in simplifying complex user experiences.
“Alex worked with Odds Bods Ltd over the course of a couple of years. The company provides a number of customer facing Apps and User Interfaces for which Alex has been responsible - overseeing the creative process from the early concept, interpretation of business requirements through to the implementation.
Our mobile app being a comparison site had a high degree of complexity, presenting a considerable challenge to produce a simple intuitive customer journey. Alex showed himself to be a talented and methodical designer, able to work closely with technology developers through iteration processes and providing timely, high quality output.
Insightful and original, Alex’s work is immediately recognised for its high standard.
I would have no hesitation in recommending Alex for the quality of his creative design work and professional demeanour.”
— Robert Urwin, Managing Director, Odds Bods