ART DIRECTOR | NFL SUPER BOWL SLOTS
Led the creative vision and execution of NFL Super Bowl Slots from concept to global launch, building and scaling a multidisciplinary organization while establishing the foundation for a new NFL-licensed game.
THE PRODUCT
Official NFL licensed social casino
Personalized team experience across all 32 teams
Progression from Rookie to Hall of Famer
Live events, missions and seasonal competition
Defined the visual direction for NFL Super Bowl Slots by leading the exploration of multiple creative territories and validating concepts through stakeholder alignment and player testing, ultimately identifying the strongest fusion of NFL authenticity and casino excitement.
the vision
challenge
Create a visual system that combined:
NFL authenticity
Casino excitement
Team personalization
Scalability across 32 teams
exploration
To establish a distinct visual identity for NFL Super Bowl Slots, I explored multiple creative territories that balanced NFL authenticity with casino entertainment. Each direction was evaluated against player appeal, brand alignment and scalability.
5 VISUAL TERRITORIES EXPLORED
Classic Social Casino
Vector 2D Style
Broadcast Futuristic
Casual Gaming
Vintage Collage
Insight
Player testing revealed that authenticity drove trust, while premium casino presentation drove excitement.
The winning direction successfully balanced both.
outcome
Broadcast Futuristic emerged as the strongest direction through player testing and stakeholder reviews. It delivered the ideal balance of NFL authenticity and casino excitement while providing a flexible visual system that could scale across teams, features, and live content.
DESIGN PRINCIPLES
Create a premium, modern sports experience that feels authentic to the NFL.
Use team identity as a core personalization pillar.
Balance casino excitement with the world of sports.
Build a visual system flexible enough to support all 32 NFL teams.
VISUAL ELEMENTS
High-rendered visuals
Glossy finishes
Mixed-metal materials
Strong contrast
Dynamic lighting
Early concept used for player validation and direction testing.
Refined visual system incorporating player feedback and approved design principles.
BROADCAST FUTURISTIC INSPIRATION
Modern NFL broadcasts
Sports graphics packages
Stadium lighting
Premium materials
Dynamic camera energy
References from modern NFL broadcasts, premium sports graphics packages, and stadium presentation systems that informed the final visual direction.
Building a Football Progression Ecosystem
The Progression Loop
Designed to connect core slot gameplay with meaningful long-term progression, creating daily goals, aspirational rewards, and repeat engagement.
As Art Director, I partnered closely with Product, UX, Game Design, and Consumer Insights to shape the player experience across the game's progression systems. Together, we defined features that were intuitive, engaging, and aligned with both player expectations and business goals.
I led the visual direction for each feature, driving thematic exploration, creative development, and execution from concept through launch. I provided creative leadership, final approvals, feature branding, and cross-functional alignment to ensure successful implementation and on-time delivery.
The work highlighted here was created in collaboration with a multidisciplinary team including UI/UX designers, illustrators, animators, and tech artists.
Driving daily engagement
Designed to increase daily engagement through short and long-term objectives. Players earned multiple currencies while reinforcing the core gameplay loop and progression systems.
Advance Your Career
A career progression system that transformed slot play into a football journey. Players earned Yards through gameplay, advanced from Rookie to Hall of Famer, and unlocked rewards throughout their progression path.
Reward Long Term Commitment
A seasonal achievement system designed to reward long-term engagement. Players earned Trophy Points through gameplay and events, unlocking exclusive rewards and recognition throughout the season.
turn rivalries into competition
Turned NFL rivalries into head-to-head competition. Every spin contributed toward team success, creating a sense of urgency, social competition and event participation.
My Contributions
Progression ecosystem vision
Feature branding & visual direction
Progression loop design collaboration
UI & art direction
Feature naming & identity systems
Cross-functional leadership
Balancing NFL Progression with Core Slot Gameplay
I led the creation of a flexible slot UI framework that integrated NFL progression systems without compromising core slot gameplay, enabling scalable support across teams, features, orientations, and LiveOps content.
Safe Zone Framework
Defined protected gameplay areas across portrait and landscape layouts to ensure NFL features never disrupted core slot interactions.
ONE FRAMEWORK. 32 TEAM EXPERIENCES.
Built a modular template system that supported all 32 NFL teams while maintaining consistency across the slot ecosystem.
LEADERSHIP IMPACT
Defined UI Framework
Created standards supporting NFL features across portrait and landscape experiences.
Scaled Team Alignment
Aligned Product, UX, Art, Engineering and Slot teams around a shared implementation strategy.
Enabled Future Growth
Built systems that supported future features, LiveOps content and team personalization.
scaling creative development with ai
Using AI to Explore, Test, and Refine Character Concepts at Scale
We integrated AI throughout the creative pipeline to accelerate exploration, validate concepts through player testing, and scale asset production, while maintaining visual quality and NFL brand standards.
AI accelerated ideation and iteration, enabling us to explore more concepts, validate directions faster, and deliver high-quality creative at scale.
final character lineup
AI accelerated exploration and testing. Artists refined, polished, and prepared the final creative for integration.
We used a combination of AI tools, including Leonardo and Firefly, to rapidly explore character directions for the Coach, Host, and Mascot. Partnering closely with our copywriter, we developed four distinct character archetypes for each role, complete with unique backstories, personalities, and visual attributes.
AI enabled us to generate a broad range of concepts that could be tested with players, helping us identify the most compelling direction through consumer insights. Once winning concepts were selected, we leveraged Leonardo to further refine the characters while preserving the traits players responded to most.
To support adoption and quality at scale, an AI Champion role was established. This individual led tool exploration, documented best practices, and ensured all AI generated content aligned with our creative vision, art direction, and NFL brand standards.
The work highlighted here was created in collaboration with a multidisciplinary team including UI/UX designers, illustrators, animators, and tech artists.
IMPACT
Built
New NFL licensed game from concept to launch
Team scaled from 3 → 14
defined
Visual Direction
Feature branding for progression ecosystem
UI framework
enabled
Support for 32 NFL teams
Portrait and landscape experiences
Future LiveOps roadmap
led
Cross-functional alignment
Consumer-insights driven decisions
AI adoption across the art organization
The work highlighted here was created in collaboration with a multidisciplinary team including UI/UX designers, illustrators, animators, and tech artists.
Team
Luz Toscano - Art Director
Game Art & Animation
Camille Benyamina - Sr Art Manager
Anh Thu Le - Sr 2D Artist
Jean Samuel Roux - Sr Animator
Pierre-Etienne Colin - UI Motion Designer
UI
Monica Brito - UI Lead
Karen Lee Foon Chen - UI Artist
Minhye Kim - UI Artist
UX
Ragan Delarosa - UX Artist
Tech Art
David Moussa - Tech Artist Lead
Tri Nguyen - Sr Tech Artist
Pele Chaengsavang - Tech Artist
Linas Paulauskas - Tech Artist
Cindy Tousignant - Tech Artist