|
|
Project Overview
ESPN set out to serve sports fans on mobile and on tablet - wherever they are, whenever they want it.
Project Commissioner
Project Creator
Team
Internal team and design agency - DigitasLBi.
Project Brief
To serve UK sports fans by delivering live scores, sports news and commentary, video, audio, photography and more across the UK’s main sports, on iOS and Android platforms for phone and tablet. The overriding principle of the app is to put the sports fan firmly in control of the experience – ESPN will provide editorial curation of what the biggest stories are, but the user can easily personalise the app to his team or sport preferences or simply follow the “all sports stream” and get all the latest news, scores and video as they happen.
Project Need
Central to discussions throughout the design of the app was the desire to offer sporting news in a stream-based approach: the latest news and scores first, rising to the top of the stream in a very natural and immediate manner. With MyESPN we also allowed users to customise their own stream to a highly granular level – the ability to choose, for example, new for England (cricket), Harlequins (rugby), Arsenal (football) and Division 2 of the County Championship (cricket) gives the fan almost total control over what they consume and what is most important to them.
At the same time, we retained ESPN’s editorial authority by offering a one-step access to the editorially curated stream for those who rely on ESPN to help them know the top stories of the day (not the most recent) and why they matter .
The app’s horsepower is all in the back-end, combining many different sports and their often contradictory terminologies, schedules, rules and structures into a design framework which is easy to read and allows the user quick, simple access to what matters most: their teams’ latest scores and news.
User Experience
The challenge was to balance relevancy with quantity and make content discovery easy, particularly when designing navigation and menu structures. We decided to position the navigation behind the left and right sides of the screen, with the user “pulling” them in to display contextual info, and “swiping” them away to hide. This has worked beautifully in our approach of offering a customised stream – MyESPN, on the left – while also catering for those who want quick access to all sports coverage and ESPN’s Top Stories to the right.
We took a minimalistic, flat approach to design, making extensive use of iconography – in some cases to save space, and others simply to offer a softer, more visual clue as to what sport users are consuming and at which point.
We also added actions including content filters and easy tabs to switch between scores or even set up push alerts contextually rather than have them take up additional real estate across the app.
Another example of attention to detail within the UX is the league tables. Here we made small, smart tweaks to only show the most relevant information, while highlighting the two active teams (if you’re viewing the table having just followed a particular match) in red. These may seem minor, but finding efficient, elegant ways to deliver relevant information fans expects in intuitive and integrated ways was a key principle, and we have achieved that with the UX of this app.
Project Marketing
Every fan is different. But they are united by a common obsession – sport. Our marketing campaign showcased the unique features of the ESPN UK App, giving fans the chance to customise and tailor their own personal feed with their favourite teams and sports. But more than that, it celebrated the ESPN UK App’s ability to feed their obsession.
“Feed Your Need” was a digital launch campaign across PPC, display, mobile, email and social channels, celebrating our users’ addiction to sport. Highlights included a one day takeover of YouTube and mass Facebook advertising campaign that between them drove nearly 200k clicks.
We also made the most of ESPN’s extensive existing presence in the UK, with a series of homepage takeovers of ESPN.co.uk, and ads across ESPNFC.com, ESPNcricinfo and the established ESPN Goals App. At our UK headquarters in Hammersmith, we took over reception so our staff and colleagues at parent company Disney could revel in their own sporting addictions.
The cherry on the cake of the campaign was the Apple iTunes Store featuring the UK App for 3 consecutive weeks, and then again in an additional promotion as the perfect app for your commute. The app was also recognised by Apple, who included it in App Store's 'Best of 2013' feature.
Project Privacy
This is irrelevant to the app. ESPN doesn't store users' details or track their habits.
Best New Service or Application
This category recognises the best new service or application on a mobile platform.
More Details