Following the launch of the brand-new Sport Industry Group website in September, SIG sat down with PT SportSuite programme manager and COO Sally Arnold to discuss the project …
How did your partnership with SIG initially come about?
PT’s relationship with Sport Industry Group kicked off in January 2020. At the time we were looking for a partner to help us take PT into the sports market and soon after we came on board as award partners at the annual SIG Awards in the Cutting Edge Sport category – which resonated well with our team’s culture of innovation.
SIG have proved to be a valuable partner and collaborator in enabling us to share our digital experiences with the sport tech community and we’re excited to enter into this new phase of the relationship as official web platform partners too.
What did SIG want to achieve with the new site?
The SIG website had not changed in over a decade. As well as reinvigorating the website design, SIG wanted our help to make the website more interactive, dynamic and visual.
Although SIG still practises its important position within the industry as providers of daily industry news, they wanted to make sure they were offering more – engaging the audience in more interactive ways than just the reading of a news article.
Which notable additional features have been added to the SIG website.
Interaction and engagement were key pillars of SIG’s vision and PT SportSuite’s plan.
Firstly, upgrading SIG’s current offerings of news stories and features. This included more dynamic and visual news articles – with wide, impressive spaces for its wealth of sporting imagery and a variety of different article styles. More flexibility was also important – giving SIG the option to create more user-friendly galleries, Q&A and interview pieces than they had offered before.
There are also some completely new capabilities integrated into the site. New video capabilities give them more options and flexibility when it comes to publishing video content. There is also the ability to add interactive features such as quizzes and polls.
What is it that keeps the train on track for a web project of this scope?
For a project like this there are many stakeholders involved, including various internal teams, providers, as well as SIG, and so it’s critical that key stakeholders are communicating, that project milestones are met to keep within time and budget, and that team members have what they need to progress.
We set clear goals for each milestone, which helps our team keep tight focus. Regular check-ins with stakeholders are important for cultivating open dialogue, and agility when it comes to any change needed.
How did you approach the initial stages of this project?
Any project or programme always begins with a holistic understanding of the client and the goals they’re looking to achieve. Only then do we gather information from a user’s perspective to formulate all the requirements for the project. Thereafter, we specify a phased approach and set our goals and milestones we need to reach during the project.
Once achieved, we execute the design phase, which includes some deep analysis, user journey workflows, creating wireframes, prototyping and defining design specifications.
For the SIG project, we looked to incorporate an interactive experience for viewers when they consume content, as well as making the website as flexible as possible for the client to represent their content and supporting media professionally and in line with their content and brand strategies.
How would you describe PT’s design philosophy?
Our goal is always to reward users with digital uniqueness and quality. We always put simplicity and the user in mind before making any design decisions, but also making sure that any design call we make takes the user on a digital journey that excites, encourages engagement and loyalty within a branded ecosystem.
We strive for a strong content design, which is not just about applying your brand identity or basic design principles, but to implement good storytelling and delivering a core message through visual communication and interactivity.
What elements of the site are you most excited about?
Flexibility and dynamism were two important words for SIG at the start of the project. To not have any ideas ruled out because of the website’s capabilities or lack thereof.
Now, the shackles are off for SIG, and this allows them to move forward in an exciting time for the company. Editorially, the new site allows them to be more adventurous and experimental. I am really excited to see what content is to come.
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