Bringing fans closer to every match
For the FIFA World Cup 2026, ITV wanted to create a richer digital experience around its live coverage.
Football fans regularly leave the broadcast to check statistics, replays, commentary and analysis elsewhere. The opportunity was to bring more of that behaviour into ITVX without distracting viewers from the match itself.
I led the end to end design of a new Fan Zone across iOS and Android, combining live match data, interactive content, replays and Gemini powered insights in one companion experience.
Project snapshot
Role
Senior Product Designer
Platforms
iOS and Android
Team
Product, Engineering, Editorial, Data, Commercial, Sport, Google and delivery partners
Scope
Product definition, information architecture, interaction design, prototyping, visual design and delivery
Outcome
Launched nationally to millions of viewers, with adoption significantly exceeding forecast
The challenge
The product needed to serve several needs at once.
Viewers wanted fast access to useful information during live matches. Editorial teams needed new ways to tell the story of the tournament. Commercial teams needed to support a major Google partnership. Engineering teams had to deliver a reliable product against an immovable tournament deadline.
The challenge was not simply to display more football content.
It was to combine live data, interaction, AI and streaming into one coherent mobile experience.
The product idea
We defined the Fan Zone as a companion to the broadcast rather than a replacement for it.
A live Match Centre became the core of the experience, bringing together:
live scores and match events
action replays
statistics and data graphics
polls and quizzes
additional commentary
highlights and full match replays
Gemini powered match and tournament insights
The product needed to work in short, high attention moments. Viewers should be able to understand what was happening within seconds, then explore more deeply when they wanted to.
Three key design decisions
1. Making Match Centre the anchor
The Fan Zone contained several different features, but it needed one clear centre of gravity.
The Match Centre became that anchor because it matched the viewer’s main live need: understanding what was happening now.
The current score, match status and major events were prioritised first. Deeper statistics, replays and interactive content were progressively revealed rather than shown all at once.
This allowed the experience to support both casual viewers checking quickly and more committed fans looking for greater depth.
2. Embedding Gemini in context
One of the most ambitious parts of the project was integrating Google Gemini directly into the live Match Centre.
Viewers could explore questions about players, teams, matches and the wider tournament without leaving ITVX.
The risk was creating an AI feature that felt detached from the product or competed with the live match.
Rather than building a separate AI destination, we embedded Gemini within the Match Centre. Contextual prompts helped users understand what they could ask, while the live match remained visually dominant.
The principle was simple:
AI should help viewers understand the match, not become the match.
3. Creating depth without overload
Live football produces a large amount of information.
Showing everything would have created a dense sports dashboard that was difficult to scan during a match.
The design prioritised information that was useful at a glance, then allowed viewers to explore greater detail through progressive disclosure.
Visual hierarchy, comparison and compact data graphics helped make complex statistics easier to understand on mobile.
We deliberately avoided turning the Fan Zone into a social feed or an unrestricted chat product. Every feature had to support the central job of helping viewers follow and understand the tournament.
Constraints
Fixed tournament deadline
The World Cup could not move. The team had to reduce ambiguity quickly, prioritise the highest value features and commit to decisions early.
Live product complexity
The experience needed to account for changing match states, delayed data, loading states and intense traffic during major moments.
Multiple stakeholders
Product, Engineering, Editorial, Commercial, Google and external partners each had different requirements. My role included helping turn those requirements into one consistent customer experience.
Outcome
The Fan Zone launched nationally across ITVX and attracted millions of users.
Adoption significantly exceeded the original forecast, validating demand for a richer companion experience around live sport. The product also delivered substantial visibility for the Google partnership through integrated sponsorship.
Some detailed commercial and behavioural metrics remain confidential.
What I owned
Framed the product opportunity with Product
Defined the information architecture and core interaction model
Designed the iOS and Android experience
Created high fidelity prototypes to align teams and validate direction
Worked closely with Engineering on feasibility and implementation
Collaborated with Editorial on live content requirements
Supported the Gemini integration with Google
Aligned Product, Commercial and delivery partners around a coherent experience
Reviewed implementation and maintained design quality through launch
Reflection
The hardest part of the project was not designing any single feature.
It was making live data, editorial content, AI, commercial requirements and mobile interaction feel like one product.
The project reinforced three lessons for me:
Live experiences must deliver value within seconds.
AI works best when attached to a clear existing user need.
Strong product design is often defined by what you choose not to include.
The final experience gave viewers a new way to follow, understand and interact with ITV’s World Cup coverage without taking them away from the match.
