PLAY WATER POLO

Swimming upstream to brand a vendor of logo’ed gear

A project by Eric Schaefer

for

UCSC Extension, UX and Web Design Certificate Program

Summer 2017

Client and Business

• Client: Javier Nikaido, a water polo dad

• Business: Design water polo logos; sell logo-printed gear on Redbubble and Zazzle

Client’s Expectations

• First: Create a site that ranks high in search results and can drive traffic to the online

stores at redbubble and zazzle

• Then: Create a site that strengthens the brand

• Later: Create a site that serves as a prototype for a possible future personal store

• Always …. with minimal cost

Audience

Any member of the extended water polo community:

• Players

• Coaches

• Family

• Friends

Focus on:

• Santa Clara Valley

• Youth players and their connections

Current Market Presence and Issues

Redbubble and Zazzle online stores:

• Seller has limited control

• Limited opportunity to differentiate (brand) products

Facebook and Pinterest

• Limited sales opportunity

• Expensive ads

Inconsistent brand name:

• “Pernik17” (Redbubble, Zazzle)

• “Play Water Polo” (Facebook, Pinterest)

Recommendations

• Create a personal site:

• Build the client’s credibility as a member of the water polo community

• Build the brand

• Guide users to the online stores at Redbubble and Zazzle

• Serve as a prototype for a personal store

Experience Goals

• A site visitor feels the excitement of the sport

• A site visitor feels connection with sport community members and family

• A site visitor understands that logo’ed water polo gear is an opportunity to express

connections with team, community, and family.

Brand Attributes

• Authentic:

The business springs from passion for the broader water polo experience

• Non-violent:

Although water polo is a violent sport, focus on the positive side … or be neutral.

Common quotes that are NOT representative of Play Water Polo:

“If you can’t play nice, play water polo”

“Keep calm and hit them under water”

• Inclusive:

Celebrate the bonds in the extended water polo community: Players, family, friends

Style Guide

Color palette

Complementary blue (water) and orange

(ball). Suggests sunset on water. Warm

orange for the artist’s story.

Typography

Headers and button text recall the artist’s

typeface in his logos:

Typo Grotesk: Play Water Polo

Regular text:

Arial: When there’s a lot to be read

Logo

The logo for the web page imitates elements of some of the artist’s water polo logos.

Redbubble FB & Zazzle

Design: Information Architecture

Use a single page and scroll among sections. On larger screens-- where the store links

might be below the fold--add a scrollspy navigation (menu on the side of the screen).

Section

Experience

User task

Hero images

slider

Recall the excitement and

bonding of water polo events

Enjoy!

Stores links,

product preview

Associate products with water

polo experience

Click directly to the store

Logo designs

gallery

Feel empowered to choose

(invest in) a design;

Find a nice logo, click through to the

store to see products with that logo

Artist’s story and

FB community

Connect with the artist;

recognize authenticity

Contact artist via form,

Interact via Facebook

Design:

Wireframe for

phone screen

Implementation:

Use Bootstrap to rapidly create

over 30 working prototypes

(10 are shown)

Many prototypes were tested by

classmates and instructors

Testing by Target Audience

8 testers of late version prototypes

(V5.0+):

• 5 parents of current or previous

water polo players

• 3 young adults (15 – 22), current or

previous water polo players or

sibling

Tested on phone, tablet, large monitor

Notable Results:

• “Wearable designs” term confuses

• Logos: Prefer grid layout to slider (all

screen sizes)

• Want more interaction with the logos

• Prefer to shop on the page vs. redirect

to Redbubble or Zazzle

• Don’t care about artist’s story

• Site logo is not understood

Challenges and Regrets

Client was challenging to work with:

• Provided few media assets (media, time, introductions)

• Was difficult to reach

Could have agreed to commitments at the beginning of the project (or before committing to

the project)

Could have done more testing, earlier, using paper and pen mock-ups and/or working

prototypes

Link to current implementation

on the class server

Thanks to All!

Thank you instructors and colleagues

for your

expertise, suggestions, kind words, and humor

Please stay in touch via Linkedin