AFL on Demand Redesign

Industry

Sports/Streaming

Client

AFL

Service

Product Design

Date

2022

My engagement focused on improving the AFL streaming experience, with attention to content discovery, personalisation, navigation between leagues and teams and content categorisation. The goal was to help users more easily find related content across AFL, AFLW and state leagues.

SCOPE

As the sole Product Designer on the project, my responsibilities included:


  • Competitor research

  • Persona creation

  • Journey mapping

  • Wireframing

  • Interactive prototyping


The work focused on defining a clearer structure for content browsing and improving how fans discover content relevant to their team.

PROBLEM

User surveys and an initial review of the platform revealed several friction points.


Users struggled with:


  • Discovering relevant content quickly

  • Understanding content categories

  • Finding club-specific material

  • Navigating between AFL, AFLW and other leagues

  • Identifying what content was available or new


Many features were hidden or unclear, creating high cognitive load when browsing content.

UX RESEARCH

COMPETITOR ANALYSIS

To understand how sports and streaming platforms solve similar problems, I reviewed platforms including Kayo, NFL, NBA, Disney+ and Netflix.


Key patterns observed:


  • Clear team selection flows

  • Personalised content feeds

  • Strong category hierarchies

  • Content grouped by user interest or viewing history


These insights helped inform how AFL content could be structured to reduce browsing friction.

PERSONAS

Based on user surveys, research and platform behaviour, three core audience types were defined.

JAMES - The Dedicated Viewer

  • Watches multiple AFL games weekly

  • Interested in both AFL and AFLW

  • Wants easy access to favourite teams


Needs


  • Clear content categories

  • Ability to save favourites

  • Faster discovery

LACHLAN - THE CLUB NOVELIST

  • Primarily watches his team

  • Wants quick access to team-specific content


Needs


  • Club-focused browsing

  • Personalised recommendations

  • Clear match information

SALLY - THE CASUAL FAN

  • Watches highlights and interviews

  • Interested in specific content types


Needs


  • Strong search

  • Clear content descriptions

  • Easy browsing of recent content

JOURNEY MAPPING

User journeys highlighted key points of friction across the browsing flow.


Examples included:


  • Difficulty understanding content categories

  • Confusion around match dates and content metadata

  • Lack of personalisation

  • Too many steps required to find relevant content


These insights helped prioritise where structural improvements were needed.

WIREFRAME

Early wireframes were created to explore the platform structure, navigation flow and content hierarchy before moving into higher-fidelity design.


This stage focused on validating how users would move between key areas such as team pages, matches, categories and account features, while ensuring important content could be discovered quickly.

KEY IMPROVEMENTS

PERSONALISATION

Users can select their team and interests during onboarding, allowing the platform to prioritise relevant content.


Benefits:


  • Faster discovery of preferred content

  • Reduced browsing time

  • More relevant homepage feeds

HOMEPAGE REDESIGN

The homepage was redesigned to prioritise:


  • Continue watching

  • Trending content

  • Club-specific sections

  • Recommended matches


This structure helps users immediately find relevant content without extensive browsing.

CLUB-FOCUSED NAVIGATION

A dedicated My Club area provides easy access to:


  • Matches

  • Highlights

  • Club news

  • Related content


This supports fans who primarily follow a single team.

CONTENT CATEGORISATION

Content categories were reorganised to improve clarity. This makes browsing content types more intuitive.

LEAGUE SWITCHING

Users can easily switch between:


  • AFL

  • AFLW

  • State leagues


This reduces confusion and improves discoverability of non-AFL content.

VIDEO PLAYER

Users can easily switch between:Enhancements included:


  • Additional playback controls

  • Quality indicators

  • More visible metadata


These changes help users better understand what they are watching.

PROTOTYPE

The proposed improvements were brought together into a clickable prototype using Figma, demonstrating onboarding, personalised content feeds, club pages, category browsing and video playback. I presented the prototype to AFL stakeholders to communicate the proposed experience and gather feedback.

OUTCOME

The redesign introduced a clearer structure for navigating AFL content and made it easier for fans to discover matches, highlights and team-specific material.


By introducing personalisation, clearer categories and club-focused navigation, the experience better supports the different ways fans engage with the platform.