To build on the on-pitch successes of Ashford United Football Club, we were tasked with providing a future-proof digital platform that delivers up-to-the minute news and content.
Overview
To build on the on-pitch successes of Ashford United Football Club, we were tasked with undertaking a complete redevelopment to the club’s website providing a future-proof digital platform that delivers up-to-the minute news and content.
With the club going from strength to strength and with ambitions of regaining Conference League status, Operations Manager Colin Hallybone established the need for a high-end content managed digital system that could easily be updated by different users in different locations with no coding and little IT experience.
The site features a custom Content Management System and back-end user interface and many custom front-end features including a unique animated player profile section that really brings the players to life.
Along with a minor identity clean-up, we developed a digital experience that truly sets Ashford United apart, and positions the club on top of the pile online, driving forward their ambitious plans for the future.
Background
Having recently renamed and re-emerged as a ‘new’ club, Ashford United was in a perfect situation to look to the future and where it sees itself in it.
The Club was in a unique position where it could draw from its rich history and successful past as previous club, Ashford Town, whilst being able to begin afresh as Ashford United.
The Club now had the opportunity to present itself as a new, better club that has set its sights very high. It was looking to show its supporters and potential investors that things had changed internally and the financial and boardroom issues that caused the breakdown of Ashford Town had been resolved.
Before its audiences could engage with it, the Club needed to build a coherent and firm foundation. Even the most popular football clubs in the world have required a restructure and refresh of their brand and identity at some point.
A sports brand identity system shouldn’t be too rigid but it does need to have a level of coherence that interlinks all aspects of the club visually.
Football clubs are unlike the majority of brands in that they need to appeal to a totally disparate range of fans, from young children to millionaire investors. A football brand should be designed to give a foundation from which the club can expand on and appeal directly to specific audiences.
How you appeal to your current fanbase and members is not how you appeal to potential audiences, so the identity system should allow as much freedom as possible whilst using elements which will create cohesion.
The Club’s existing visual identity was in desperate need of a refresh to reflect the significant internal changes and new vision. A more unified and congruent appearance was required – one that was more relevant to the club as it not only had become, but as it wished to be perceived in the future.
The new unified appearance will place the club in a strong position to build awareness and therefore gain greater interest within the community both locally and further afield.
