What is FUTBIN?
FUTBIN is leading insights platform for EA FC (formerly FIFA) Ultimate Team Gamers, providing users with tools and real-time data to enhance their gaming experience.
3M
Daily active users on App
50M
Monthly users on Web
1.5M
Followers on Social Media
Designing a Hub for all things Evolutions
So, what is ‘Evolutions’ in the first place? In EA FC, “Evolutions” is a feature that allows players to improve their in-game cards over time. Think of it like leveling up a character in a role-playing game (like Pokemon!). Each player card in the game starts with certain stats (like speed, passing, or shooting), and through the Evolution system, these stats can be upgraded by completing challenges and meeting player requirements.
Our goal was to bring all Evolutions feature into a single location, as various components were previously distributed throughout the App. This approach also enables us to future proof for any additional Evolutions features.
Team members & Roles
Myself - UX/UI Designer (Lead designer for this project)
Patrick Johansen - UX Researcher
Martin Billmann - Senior Product Designer
Yaniv Guertal - Product Manager
Matt Thomas - Product Manager
So, what was Evolution 'Hub' like before the redesign?
Well… one thing is certain, that it was surprising to realize how accustomed users had become to a feature that wasn’t fully functional. Below you can see how content is not in place, key data was missing and evolution paths were not displaying correctly. Let’s not forget to mention that the design was quite out-dated! It was important to consider that a complete overhaul could potentially shock users and lead to a negative reaction. However, with extensive user research, we were confident that the redesign would resonate with users and be a successful change.
We conducted surveys to gain valuable insights into our ideas, their preferences for displaying Evolutions information and our proposed designs
We asked 3045 users what Evolutions details they wanted most, ranked their priorities, and explored how frequently they engage with this feature to tailor our approach to their needs. Using these insights as a foundation, we tailored our designs that aligned with user priorities and usage patterns.
Diving into the Evolution product
Evolution Hub Tab
We combined sections like Popular Players, Evolution Cards, and a My Evolutions section, experimenting with visual design and element hierarchy. Later, we gathered user feedback to determine their preferred priorities and then optimized the layout.
Evolution Detail Screen
Evolution details page displays indepth data of player requirements, upgrades and challenges for evolving a player. Explored information design by leveraging colour and structured layouts to highlight key details.
Evolution Builder
A building tool where users can explore different evolution paths for their preferred player. Explored different approaches to displaying filtering options without disrupting the building process.
My Evolutions Tab
A personalised section allowing users to add players to a watchlist and track evolution upgrades as they become available. Leveraged AI to create captivating visuals that drew attention while staying true to Futbin's branding and enhancing its overall aesthetic.
Evolutions Hub
A few screens of the Evolution Hub and states of components, depending on Evolution upgrades available. We added in a Popular Evolution section and created a personalized My Evolution feature. The Evolution cards has also been redesigned with tweaks to make the cards more visually appealing.
Evolution Details Screen
The redesign of the Evolution details screen involves restructuring the hierarchy of the old layout, displaying important data points and highlighting challenges and requirements for the evolution.
My Evolutions - Evolving a player flow
A few screens from My Evolutions tab, where users can add Evolution and non-Evolution players. Users are notified if there is an upgrade to their added player, and an upgrade card is displayed with a preview of the upgrade. Once the user has evolved their player, the old card is discarded and replaced with the upgraded player.
Evo Builder Flow
A few screens from the Evolution Builder, where users are able to build an evolution path of active and expired player cards.
Launch & Impact
The Hub feature was released in October 2024 following extensive user testing, including surveys and interviews, and multiple design review rounds. We upgraded the outdated Evolution page turning it into a Hub, and enhanced the feature by introducing a personalized section called My Evolutions, allowing users to add players to a watchlist and track upgrades as they become available, as well building your own evolution path using the Evolution Builder! It quickly gained popularity within the Ultimate Team community, as you can see from the numbers below…
100%
Raise in login rates
2M
Users interacted with the Hub & Builder in the first 30 days
20M
times the feature has been used within the first 30 days
