Sports Are Fun, Right?
SportsEngine is one of the leading Sports Management softwares, used by over 1 million clubs, leagues, and governing bodies to run their sports organizations. It was acquired by NBC Sports in 2016, when it created a new tech division called NBC Sports Next. In 2021 I joined the Sports Next UX Team.
One of the leading principles that we follow as a team is “Sports Are Fun,” and our mission is to remove the barriers that make sports any less fun. As we are actively trying to integrate that mission into SportsEngine HQ, I partnered with my colleague Macie Sherman to create an illustration system that would bring a touch of delight and personality into the platform.
Illustration Principles:
Use Cases:
-> Assist users in Onboarding Flows
-> Success Screens
-> Error States
-> Empty States & Zero States
-> Optimistic, Inclusive, and Team-oriented
-> Playful, Fun & Light
-> Sports-related when possible
-> Playful, Fun & Light
-> Sports-related when possible
Use Cases:
-> Assist users in Onboarding Flows
-> Success Screens
-> Error States
-> Empty States & Zero States
Spot Hero
Zero States, Empty States
Mid-Sized Icons
Cards, Avatars
Spot Hero Construction Guidelines
We created guidelines in order to empower other designers and illustrators to build illustrations that stay consistent with the set. Macie and I then ran a workshop in which other designers within the team used our guidelines to construct illustrations of their own.
Workshop Results
Illustrations created by other designers using our guidelines
User Testing Results
To ensure that the meaning of our illustrations came across as intended to our users, we partnered with research to test the recognizability of some of our icons. A few of the icons didn’t translate, leading us to revisit those particular illustrations.
Team (V1)
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Intended Meaning
“Team”
Perceived Meaning
“Uniforms,” “Gear”
Team (V2)
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Intended Meaning
“Team”
Perceived Meaning
“Team”