EA Sports
About This Project
Madden player ratings were one of the most-visited pages across all EA Sports franchises, but they lived across blog posts, filtered blog pages, and microsites. As in-game ratings started tracking real-world performance, they became core to how people played. I led UX on turning them into a dedicated hub, built on the EA Pattern Library I had just introduced, with a CMS that let the ratings team publish updates in near real time.
The Challenge
Madden players checked ratings constantly to decide who to trade, which players to upgrade, and which skills to build. Leading into the Madden NFL 15 release, ratings were updating from real-world events: player performance, injuries, status changes. The game was evolving like a real season, and ratings had become part of play strategy.
But the content was scattered across blog pages and microsites, hard to find and slow to update. Players who couldn't find answers messaged the ratings team through a support portal that, at the scale of millions of players, often ran slow or went unanswered.
The Approach
I led UX and design decisions, working with a producer, an engineer, and the content and editorial team, including the ratings adjusters. We started with deep player persona research: lifestyles, levels of dedication, and the patterns behind different play styles.
That shaped the core decision: the hub had to put players in control. They could sort and organize ratings by strength, skills, and recent updates to match how they managed their own team. The centerpiece was a custom table component built on the EA Pattern Library. Not a standard data table, but a dynamic one that felt like it belonged inside the game.
On the back end, we replaced page-by-page publishing with a CMS. The ratings team uploaded a single spreadsheet with the logic built in, connected to feeds and filters that removed most of the manual work.
The Outcome
The hub shipped with Madden NFL 15, and its foundational design is still live today, updated with each new game. Editorial update time dropped by over 53%, so ratings kept pace with real-world news.
Player engagement grew significantly, and inquiries to the ratings team dropped because players could find what they needed on their own. The table component became part of the design system, and the hub pattern was later applied to FIFA and NHL.
EA Sports
About This Project
Madden player ratings were one of the most-visited pages across all EA Sports franchises, but they lived across blog posts, filtered blog pages, and microsites. As in-game ratings started tracking real-world performance, they became core to how people played. I led UX on turning them into a dedicated hub, built on the EA Pattern Library I had just introduced, with a CMS that let the ratings team publish updates in near real time.
The Challenge
Madden players checked ratings constantly to decide who to trade, which players to upgrade, and which skills to build. Leading into the Madden NFL 15 release, ratings were updating from real-world events: player performance, injuries, status changes. The game was evolving like a real season, and ratings had become part of play strategy.
But the content was scattered across blog pages and microsites, hard to find and slow to update. Players who couldn't find answers messaged the ratings team through a support portal that, at the scale of millions of players, often ran slow or went unanswered.
The Approach
I led UX and design decisions, working with a producer, an engineer, and the content and editorial team, including the ratings adjusters. We started with deep player persona research: lifestyles, levels of dedication, and the patterns behind different play styles.
That shaped the core decision: the hub had to put players in control. They could sort and organize ratings by strength, skills, and recent updates to match how they managed their own team. The centerpiece was a custom table component built on the EA Pattern Library. Not a standard data table, but a dynamic one that felt like it belonged inside the game.
On the back end, we replaced page-by-page publishing with a CMS. The ratings team uploaded a single spreadsheet with the logic built in, connected to feeds and filters that removed most of the manual work.
The Outcome
The hub shipped with Madden NFL 15, and its foundational design is still live today, updated with each new game. Editorial update time dropped by over 53%, so ratings kept pace with real-world news.
Player engagement grew significantly, and inquiries to the ratings team dropped because players could find what they needed on their own. The table component became part of the design system, and the hub pattern was later applied to FIFA and NHL.
EA Sports
About This Project
Madden player ratings were one of the most-visited pages across all EA Sports franchises, but they lived across blog posts, filtered blog pages, and microsites. As in-game ratings started tracking real-world performance, they became core to how people played. I led UX on turning them into a dedicated hub, built on the EA Pattern Library I had just introduced, with a CMS that let the ratings team publish updates in near real time.
The Challenge
Madden players checked ratings constantly to decide who to trade, which players to upgrade, and which skills to build. Leading into the Madden NFL 15 release, ratings were updating from real-world events: player performance, injuries, status changes. The game was evolving like a real season, and ratings had become part of play strategy.
But the content was scattered across blog pages and microsites, hard to find and slow to update. Players who couldn't find answers messaged the ratings team through a support portal that, at the scale of millions of players, often ran slow or went unanswered.
The Approach
I led UX and design decisions, working with a producer, an engineer, and the content and editorial team, including the ratings adjusters. We started with deep player persona research: lifestyles, levels of dedication, and the patterns behind different play styles.
That shaped the core decision: the hub had to put players in control. They could sort and organize ratings by strength, skills, and recent updates to match how they managed their own team. The centerpiece was a custom table component built on the EA Pattern Library. Not a standard data table, but a dynamic one that felt like it belonged inside the game.
On the back end, we replaced page-by-page publishing with a CMS. The ratings team uploaded a single spreadsheet with the logic built in, connected to feeds and filters that removed most of the manual work.
The Outcome
The hub shipped with Madden NFL 15, and its foundational design is still live today, updated with each new game. Editorial update time dropped by over 53%, so ratings kept pace with real-world news.
Player engagement grew significantly, and inquiries to the ratings team dropped because players could find what they needed on their own. The table component became part of the design system, and the hub pattern was later applied to FIFA and NHL.
EA Sports
About This Project
Madden player ratings were one of the most-visited pages across all EA Sports franchises, but they lived across blog posts, filtered blog pages, and microsites. As in-game ratings started tracking real-world performance, they became core to how people played. I led UX on turning them into a dedicated hub, built on the EA Pattern Library I had just introduced, with a CMS that let the ratings team publish updates in near real time.
The Challenge
Madden players checked ratings constantly to decide who to trade, which players to upgrade, and which skills to build. Leading into the Madden NFL 15 release, ratings were updating from real-world events: player performance, injuries, status changes. The game was evolving like a real season, and ratings had become part of play strategy.
But the content was scattered across blog pages and microsites, hard to find and slow to update. Players who couldn't find answers messaged the ratings team through a support portal that, at the scale of millions of players, often ran slow or went unanswered.
The Approach
I led UX and design decisions, working with a producer, an engineer, and the content and editorial team, including the ratings adjusters. We started with deep player persona research: lifestyles, levels of dedication, and the patterns behind different play styles.
That shaped the core decision: the hub had to put players in control. They could sort and organize ratings by strength, skills, and recent updates to match how they managed their own team. The centerpiece was a custom table component built on the EA Pattern Library. Not a standard data table, but a dynamic one that felt like it belonged inside the game.
On the back end, we replaced page-by-page publishing with a CMS. The ratings team uploaded a single spreadsheet with the logic built in, connected to feeds and filters that removed most of the manual work.
The Outcome
The hub shipped with Madden NFL 15, and its foundational design is still live today, updated with each new game. Editorial update time dropped by over 53%, so ratings kept pace with real-world news.
Player engagement grew significantly, and inquiries to the ratings team dropped because players could find what they needed on their own. The table component became part of the design system, and the hub pattern was later applied to FIFA and NHL.