Recruitment for college sports in the U.S. can be intimidating, confusing, and an expensive process that a vast amount of teenager's dreams depend on. Working with Backyard Lion I built the foundation for their brand, working within a larger team, leading other designers, and helping shape their strategic decisions.
Communicationally, the brandmarks for Backyard Lion work on two different depths. On the surface, the pictorial mark is based on the 'Lion' part of its identity, as it is a concept that is healthy to reinforce for a simpler and stronger communication of the brand, and 'Backyard' being a more abstract concept, both visually and in its meaning (as it is tied to the metaphor behind the name). The pictorial mark, as the letters in the word mark, pay graphical reference to professional sports team logos, but with a slightly simpler compositions and uses of colors to provide better contrast with photographs, which are a fundamental part of the brand, as we want to establish this is real, and deals with real people and opportunities, to diminish the fear people might feel dealing with online recruitment. The color green reinforces the 'backyard' concept, as of sports in general, as grass is a very common visual attribute.
On a second level, the use of color communicates the 'story' behind the brand, of progress/evolution: from undiscovered talent in backyards to something grander (as we read from left to right in the western world, it communicates obscurity to light/fame). An interesting detail about the colors is that the pictorial mark and the word mark use the same color palette - the lion's left and right eyes have different colors, but look roughly the same at a first glance due to an optical illusion created by the colouring of the rest of the face (like this).
Strategically / user experience wise, a very important element of the project was the inclusion of gamification. The final objective the company hopes for players is for them to flesh out their profile as much as possible, thus having more and better profiles, thus attracting more recruiters, and generating a positive cycle for everybody involved. To that end, we borrow game mechanics, such as completion percentages, and pseudo-achievements: a fundamental part of player profiles is the use of badges, which not only act as an incentive for players to do what is required to earn them, but also acts as an instant visual reference for recruiters for how filled out a profile is, or other positive aspects.
The visualization of statistics and aesthetic display of information helps to not only create a funner and easier to digest sheet of information, but also provide a profile which a player is proud to 'show off', creating publicity for themselves and the site itself.
It can't be expected that all players will submit real statistics, so we devised a system in which recruiters can see if a statistic has no verification, is verified by a third party (and can then see this verification to see how reliable it is), or ideally, be verified by Backyard Lion itself: the only way that fully proves statistics for a recruiter with no doubts. This is also a great way to monetize the service, while keeping it accessible to those that can't afford systems like that.
