Roblox
Designing the Future of Game Advertising
Project Overview
@Roblox I led multiple high-impact initiatives to redefine Gen Z engagement with game advertising. From homepage takeovers to post-play recommendations & privacy-first personalization, each project aimed to scale monetization while maintaining user trust, safety, & platform integrity.
Outcomes
Across all projects, I contributed to Roblox’s mission of building a safe, engaging, and monetizable platform for Gen Z. Whether optimizing ad formats, enabling post-play discovery, or designing for global compliance, each initiative advanced both user experience and business outcomes at scale.
Role
Lead product designer.
Team
Product manager, legal team, developers team, UX designers.
Tools
Figma, Confluence, Excel, Slack.
Timeline
November 2024–April 2025.
1. Homepage Premium Brands Ads Design
Capturing Attention Through High-Impact Ads Tiles
Overview
The Premium Home Screen Takeover was Roblox’s first high-impact ad unit, created to capture gamers' attention for premium brands' products. I led UX design efforts to develop a modular and scalable creative system tailored for flexibility, safety, and monetization.
My Role & Contributions
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Designed a flexible, format-agnostic creative framework.
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Collaborated with product, policy, and engineering on deployment and review workflows.
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Embedded integrity and monetization goals into UX decision-making.
Key Challenges & Insights
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Needed a system that balanced performance, aesthetics, and safety at scale.
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Required seamless alignment between ad quality, platform standards, and engineering feasibility.
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Content from big brands demanded an agile, repeatable design template.
Results & Impact
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$600K in test bookings before launch.
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65M+ daily impressions, 7M+ unique reach.
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100% adoption across pilot campaigns.
2. Homepage Roblox Creators Ads Redesign
Enhancing Visibility, Relevance, and Value in Native Surfacing
Overview
Sponsored ads on the Roblox homepage for small brands lacked visibility and engagement. I led a redesign to make these ads visually distinct and more effective for users and community game developers.
My Role & Contributions
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Directed the end-to-end UX redesign of the homepage ad row.
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Led user research and prototyping to validate design directions.
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Partnered with monetization and data teams to optimize for ad performance.
Key Challenges & Insights
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1:1 tiles blended in with organic content, reducing visibility.
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Users ignored ads due to visual monotony and low-quality creatives.
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Larger 16:9 tiles and better curation significantly boosted trust and interaction.
Results & Impact
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Increased click-through and play-through rates by 7%.
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25M+ daily impressions, 5M+ unique reach increase.
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Higher perceived quality led to better user trust.
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Greater advertiser ROI with fewer but higher-performing ad placements.
3. Exit Screen Sponsored Ads Recommendations
Transforming Game Exits Into Discovery-Driven Monetization
Overview
Roblox’s static game exit screen was reimagined as a dynamic discovery surface for personalized game ads. I designed the "Related Games (Sponsored)" module to feel native, engaging, and high-value.
My Role & Contributions
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Led UX design of a recommendation module integrated into the exit experience.
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Collaborated with data science and product teams on personalization algorithms.
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Created layouts optimized for mobile, desktop, and console surfaces.
Key Challenges & Insights
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Game exits were high-intent moments but underutilized for discovery.
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Personalization needed to feel organic and avoid intrusive design.
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Users responded positively to visually curated, relevant suggestions.
Results & Impact
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2.3× increase in native ad impressions.
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18% CTR to recommended games.
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$1.7M/month in projected revenue.
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12% boost in bounce-back retention.
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1.6B+ daily ad impressions unlocked.
4. Personalized Ads Opt-In
Driving Ethical Engagement in Regulation-Heavy Regions
Overview
In privacy-regulated markets like the EU and Japan, users 18+ were defaulted to non-personalized ads. I redesigned the opt-in flow to prioritize transparency, value, and trust while boosting engagement and monetization.
My Role & Contributions
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Led UX strategy for consent flows in privacy-first regions.
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Designed contextual prompts and walkthroughs that were skippable and compliant.
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Embedded opt-in opportunities across user flows without disruption.
Key Challenges & Insights
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Legal frameworks restricted default personalization settings.
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Users needed clear value propositions to opt in voluntarily.
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Simplified messaging and contextual timing improved outcomes significantly.
Results & Impact
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+11.3% lift in opt-in rates.
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Higher ad relevance and engagement across markets.
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Positive lift in trust scores from internal audits.
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The framework scaled across multiple regulatory environments.
5. Click-Out Experience for Video Ads
Enabling Safe, Seamless External Brand Engagement
Overview
To support immersive ad campaigns, I designed the click-out UX for 2D Rewarded Video Ads, allowing users to engage with external branded content while preserving gameplay continuity and platform safety.
My Role & Contributions
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Designed UI components for video player integration and brand flexibility.
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Developed flows for secure in-app browsing and browser handoffs.
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Built reward logic to ensure completion before click-outs were activated.
Key Challenges & Insights
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Needed to protect immersion while enabling brand interaction.
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Early exits could disrupt reward integrity or frustrate users.
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Visual clarity, exit confirmation, and re-engagement flows reduced confusion and drop-off.
Results & Impact
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+12.5% lift in ad completion rates with minimal user disruption.
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8.4% CTR to advertised games.
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Secure click-outs maintained safety and session continuity.
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Scalable system that supports diverse branded experiences.
Lessons learned
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Modular systems accelerate scalable, repeatable design for monetization.
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Privacy-forward UX can increase trust and drive performance.
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Seamless ad integration improves user engagement and platform value
This project deepened my ability to design ethical, high-impact ad experiences—balancing monetization goals with user trust across a dynamic, Gen Z-focused ecosystem.
Outcomes
Sponsored Ads launched across mobile and web, generating $11.8M in revenue and increasing cross-device engagement by 12%. Delivered the Ads Manager to empower developers at scale. Redesigned multi-platform ad experiences, improving bounce-back retention. Personalized Ads revamp led to a 20% opt-in lift and over 92M additional daily ad impressions, advancing Roblox’s monetization efforts.
