Fanalysis · 2026
Road to 100k Fans
Shaping design at Fanalysis, an early stage startup
Introduction
In late 2025, English comedian and entertainer, Michael McIntyre, launched Fanalysis. In partnership with Sky Sports and The Athletic, this new football app was designed to provide supporters with a safe social platform, where they can predict results, rate players, and debate every big moment.
Problems
I conducted 12 separate user interviews and discovered 3 key themes:
- Discoverability: Users were unaware some functionality existed (ratings, feed and predictions).
- Incomplete user journeys: Users missed prompts to take core actions.
- Ratings lacked quality and context: Users lacked trust in the review data.
It feels so overwhelming, cluttered…I had no idea Fanalysis had this much to offer
Strategic Design
The platform operated with disparate features. I mapped the 48 hour match experience to visualise the true user journey of a fan before, during and after a game. When a user returns to check on their prediction, we can leverage that moment to suggest they do their match review too.
Solutions
Working across these user journeys I focussed on removing noise from the interface, simplifying the user journeys and removing friction while modernising the design language in tandem.
The redesigned review experience made it easier for fans to discover, read and discuss matches.
Pre Game
The new match preview surfaces our proprietary rating data in a meaningful way and the overhauled predictions game offers fans leaderboards to provide gamification and social connection.
Live Match
On Fanalysis, fans were leaving the app during games to check match stats. We launched a brand new stats experience for feature parity, filling a huge gap in the user match day experience.
Post Game
Reviews and ratings existed, but were buried, harming the motivation to read and write them. I redesigned match reviews as a hero feature, flattening the information architecture to bring ratings, reviews and comments into a single unified surface.
Between Games
The feed was the connective tissue between match days, but wasn’t pulling people back consistently. To create a stronger social layer, we introduced a follow model, notifying fans of friends’ and celebrities’ predictions, reviews and posts.
Wrapped
Fans were missing a motivator to continue rating, and many users were unaware of certain features. Fanalysis Wrapped replayed a fan’s season with fun and interesting metrics, while also showcasing our features.
Conclusion
As we speak, we’re closing in on our target of 100,000 fans. These initiatives were supported by our marketing team, who utilised the likes of Sky Sports, Dazn, Wayne Rooney and Gary Neville to promote the platform.
