English Football League
English Football League (EFL)
EFL sought a long-term digital partner to ensure the fan experience was second to none. The project focused heavily on the 'match centre' and required integrating various third-party services to provide timely, detailed, and consistent content for all clubs.
- Client
- English Football League
- Role
- Senior user experience designer
- Duration
- 7 months
- Year
- 2017/18
The Problem Statement
The Problem Statement
The project faced two major pain points.
The Fan Experience — the old legacy club websites lacked modern appeal. Fans needed real-time updates and consistent information during live events.
The Authoring Experience — club staff had to use too many different, disparate software applications to cover a single matchday, leading to process fragmentation, duplication of effort, and slow reporting turnarounds.
The Strategy
The Strategy
The strategy was to build a unified digital experience around the 'pulse of the match'—making sure that content was available, structured, and optimised for the three key stages: pre-match, during the match, and post-match. This required integrating the fan experience directly into the content creation workflow.
Approach
Approach
The approach combined observation, data mapping, and usability testing to create a cohesive solution that served both fans and content authors.
User Interviews & Observational Research
Speaking with users and observing multiple matches to understand the required content at different phases of the match—before, during, and after.
Information Architecture Mapping
Structuring the content flow for the match centre, ensuring consistent visibility of statistics and news across all 58 clubs.
The Solution Delivered
The Solution Delivered
A robust, integrated platform with two complementary halves.
The Fan Experience — a seamless, multi-stage journey providing all necessary pre-game guides, real-time match statistics, and post-match reports.
The Authoring Solution — a redesigned CMS allowing authors to write notes, schedule content, and publish real-time updates directly in a single, mobile-friendly environment.
Impact & Outputs
Impact & Outputs
The result was a scalable framework for 58 clubs, demonstrating a fluid and continuous user experience. The outcome included a fully functional design system and a comprehensive technical specification for the CMS. The impact continues to drive revenue and fan engagement across the league.
Reflection
Reflection
The main takeaway was the importance of editorial decision-making. While the technical design was successful, greater involvement in the editorial components would have allowed for a more holistic and positive impact on the overall digital story.
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