Modernising Legacy - Redesigning the Bet365 Affiliate Tool

Jan 2025 – Present | Product Designer | Bet365 x BJSS/Sparck

Tools: Sketch, Microsoft Whiteboard, MS Teams

The Problem: A Legacy Tool Full of Friction

Bet365’s Affiliate Administration Tool had been serving critical departments like Finance and Marketing for years — but it hadn’t evolved with them. Built in WinForms, the tool was dated, confusing, and prone to user error. Mistakes were not just inconvenient — they cost the business valuable time and money.

With Bet365’s internal teams at capacity, BJSS (Sparck’s parent company) was brought in to lead a full redesign and migration to the cloud. I was appointed as the first-ever designer BJSS placed on a Bet365 engagement, and the only designer on this project. This ambitious project aimed not only to modernise and improve the user experience but also to deliver new features that would save the business millions of pounds.

My Role: Leading Design in a Complex Environment

As the sole designer embedded in a multidisciplinary team, I was responsible for:

Driving the UX and UI vision
Mapping user needs to business requirements
Ensuring ongoing alignment with internal Bet365 design guidelines
Collaborating closely with developers, the PM, and stakeholders
Navigating a tightly controlled tech environment with legacy processes

This wasn’t just about design — it was about navigating a challenging business environment and managing evolving requirements. Before diving into social media marketing, clearly define your business goals. Whether it’s increasing brand awareness, driving website traffic, or boosting sales, having specific objectives will guide your social media strategy.

Discovery & Foundations

With no direct access to end users, I partnered with a stakeholder who had spent over a decade using the tool. Together with our Business Analyst, I conducted a deep-dive requirement mapping session. We used Microsoft Whiteboard to trace every screen and function from the legacy tool — a full landscape of what existed and what was needed.

I also ran feedback sessions with the Marketing and Finance teams to validate needs and gather qualitative input, bridging the research gap with stakeholder proxies.

Designing a Modern, Role-Based Experience

Initially, Bet365 planned to create a new internal design system, but capacity issues stalled progress. Alongside another designer, I advocated for an early pivot to Material UI, anticipating this gap. Though the decision came late, it validated our instincts and saved weeks of future rework.

Despite a 2-month delay in gaining access to Sketch (Bet365’s mandated design tool — not my usual Figma), I pushed forward:

Created mid-fidelity wireframes and interactive prototypes
Held regular playback sessions with stakeholders
Evolved the designs into high-fidelity wireframes using Material UI defaults

My designs adapted dynamically to new requirements, which often emerged mid-sprint. With a flexible team and strong collaboration culture, we earned a reputation as the project that “just works.”

Challenges Along the Way

Tool access delays: I went two months without proper design software.
Process bottlenecks: Tech issues took days to resolve.
Team gaps: My holiday cover, provided by an unfamiliar partner company, had no design experience — I had to recover momentum post-return.
No direct user research: I had to rely on proxy insights and playback sessions to validate designs.

Results & Impact

The redesigned tool includes several key upgrades:

Role-based access tailored to different departments
A change request holding bay to reduce costly mistakes
A deductions section projected to save the company millions
A streamlined affiliate creation flow that has already reduced user errors

The tool has been well-received across the business — so much so that Bet365 has already lined up follow-on work for our team.

What I’m Proud Of

Navigating a challenging tech environment with patience and focus
Building trust with stakeholders and devs alike
Advocating for smart design decisions under pressure
Seeing tangible excitement from the business after rollout