FirstBlood
An esports platform for Dota 2, PUBG and other competitive titles — automated scoring, matchmaking, ladders and real rewards. The product that shaped how I think about design systems, team leadership, and designing for competitive users.
From designer, to team lead, to Head of Design
I joined FirstBlood as a UX/UI Designer under the Design Team Lead. When they left in June 2019, I took over as lead. In July 2021 — after Mana, FirstBlood's fintech subsidiary, launched — I was promoted to Head of Design, overseeing both products.
That arc shaped the case study: the same platform evolved through three seasons of my work, and the design system I built on day one is what made each next chapter possible.
Redesign a live competitive platform without breaking trust
FirstBlood had an engaged community of players already running tournaments through the product. The redesign needed to boost usability and appeal to gamers without breaking the muscle memory of people mid-ladder — a subtle UX rule you can only respect by knowing the user intimately.
A tournament is a high-intensity product moment: players are anxious, time-boxed, committed. The UI had to disappear during a match and be unmissable between rounds.
One design system, every surface
Full product & brand redesign. I streamlined tournament flows, revamped the marketing site for user acquisition and sponsors, and refreshed the brand identity across product, social and event assets. Everything was built so one person editing a component in Figma pushed the change consistently to every surface.
Mobile-responsive from the start. Players live on phones during event days. I led the responsive web designs so match check-ins, brackets and scoring worked just as well at 360px as at 1440px. "One product, every device" wasn't an aspiration — it was the shipping requirement.
Tournament states, one screen at a time
I mapped every step of the competitive journey — registration, check-in, round 1, results, next bracket — and designed a distinct screen for each state. Players always know where they are, what's happening, and what they need to do next.
The same two-screen flow above handles "waiting for teammates to accept" and "your team is registered" — with one tap's difference between anxiety and confidence.
Real rewards, not just points
Prize ladders, referral flows, cash prizes, skins, tokens — FirstBlood's competitive economy is layered, and the product had to make it legible. I designed the rewards surface so a new player understands exactly what they're playing for before they commit to a bracket.
The referral system is a simple hook that doubled as one of the platform's strongest growth channels.
Scaling design beyond me
Becoming Head of Design meant my job stopped being primarily about pixels. I hired and mentored a mid-senior UX/UI designer and a marketing designer, set up a shared design process, and ran feedback loops so quality stayed consistent across product and brand work.
The design system was the engine — it let the team ship fast without drifting. It's probably the single artefact from this period I'm most proud of.
A platform its players came back to
FirstBlood launched a complete product and brand redesign, grew its community of competitive players, and set the foundation for Mana to launch under the same parent. The design system, website, and marketing assets that came out of this period still define the visual identity of the product today.