The Challenge

To create a coherently branded fantasy league spanning 4 disciplines of mountain biking; with each league represented by its own sponsor. Completing this project would mean a significant increase in user engagement, new data on user behaviour, and a new avenue for revenue generation.

Summary

I approached this branding exercise with a Design Research methodology. To provide initial direction, I explored existing fantasy leagues, then progressed to ideation, and finished off with an iterative design process to create the final deliverables.

My Role

• Market Research

• Art Direction

• UI Design

• Graphic Design

Tools

• Photoshop

• Illustrator

• Adobe XD

The learning phase began with researching successful fantasy league examples; the Yahoo Fantasy and Fantasy Premier League were two such examples. These findings led me away from using graphical elements, such as iconic sports objects, as they were not an effective way of distinguishing mountain biking disciplines. The most effective way to display the identity was through typography and composition.

To establish the look and feel, I undertook several design meetings with the marketing team, deciding upon a futuristic and performance driven aesthetic that would appeal to a mountain biking / outdoor audience. The typography echoed the look and feel of successful mountain bike brands, making it relatable to Pinkbike’s audience.

The concept was designed with the primary sponsor, Trek, in mind. Using the 2018 creative as a template, I focused the new creative on each sponsors brand, carrying these through into the league identities. Below are the initial concept creatives for the 2019 season.

Pinkbike’s marketing department offered feedback that imagery was to show through in the leagues identity. Mountain bike racing is heavily covered by Pinkbike, with photographers who document each round of the racing season. With this library of images at my disposal, I searched for imagery that represented success and winning. I did not want imagery to distract from the contest sponsorship, so I ensured the imagery played a subtle part in the background. The below deliverables are final skin creatives for the contest landing pages.

The four mountain biking disciplines contained 8 rounds throughout the year. The purpose of the advertising deliverables was to communicate the race location, reminder for users to enter, and contest prizes for eligible users. These deliverables consisted of image and ani-gif files and were displayed across social assets, editorial header & prize banners, varying digital ad sizes, contest microsite and Pinkbike.com home page skins.

The challenge was designing a product’s identity while the product itself was evolving. I was able to overcome these challenges with the help of the marketing team, who provided input and helped establish the identities look and feel. By carrying out the initial research, I learned to focus the design on the sports disciplines and its relevant imagery.

The design was successful during the 8 months of the racing season with the contest garnering a cumulative 27+ million impressions and over 67,000 engaged Pinkbike users.