Bringing the pulse of the arcade to the palm of your hand.
Dave & Buster’s isn’t just a place to play—it’s a neon-lit, high-energy world of competition, camaraderie, and celebration. Tasked with translating this electric in-venue energy into the digital space, I led the UX and visual transformation of their loyalty and food service apps, reimagining the experience to make every visit feel like a win. Building upon the foundational brand identity developed by Mother Design, I extended its vibrant visual language into the product space, crafting a digital ecosystem that felt as dynamic and immersive as the IRL experience. The challenge was not just to modernize functionality but to amplify the rush of play—turning routine app interactions into moments of excitement, engagement, and reward.
To achieve this, we designed a custom badge system and motion kit that celebrated player achievements, fueling deeper engagement and brand loyalty. Every interaction was designed to channel the thrill of competition, from game-inspired animations to seamless reward tracking that made progress feel tangible and exciting. The client was deeply invested in capturing the spirit of being inside a Dave & Buster’s, and we ensured the app reflected that—delivering bold, energetic content that resonated with users and kept them coming back. By streamlining the platform and injecting it with a sense of play, we created an experience that was an extension of the brand’s core promise: bringing people together through the joy of gaming.
From the archive — the Hathway case study
Dave & Buster’s is a restaurant and entertainment chain in the USA which approached Hathway with the goal of improving their digital offering. The task was to improve their rewards and loyalty program’s engagement and UX. We delivered a best-in-class custom app for usage within their arcade, replacing the need for costly and clumsy tickets.
Dave & Buster’s continued the contract by asking our team to design a new phone-based menu and ordering system for their restaurants. We put together two completely custom products: a loyalty app and a mobile ordering site.
For this, I created and maintained two interlaced design systems, creating a fluent and consistent design language which represented the Dave & Buster’s brand and supported each app’s specialty. I was the UI designer for the ordering app, which I fully prototyped for the client. Upon delivery of the design assets and UI, Dave & Buster’s asked us for more discovery, for which I created 3D models for our reward illustrations, representing enamel pins. Dave & Buster’s planned to manufacture these and use them as a reward for their highest-tier spenders — and only decided to do this after seeing our renders. I also created the 3D assets and animations for the mockup shown below.
