FloSports

Build the new digital hub for one of the fastest-growing sports media movers in the country.

FloSports is one of the jewels of Austin’s entrepreneur scene. Founded in 2006 by brothers Mark and Martin Floreani with 20 grand and a van, this publisher has emerged as a real challenger to ESPN and other sports media institutions. And they’d done so giving long-overdue attention to some traditionally underserved sports like wrestling, grappling, cycling, track, and more.

In Fall 2019, FloSports was fresh off a rebrand and looking to uplevel their digital footprint to match. So, they reached out to their neighbors (literally, with only a mile separating our respective East Austin offices) and WordPress experts Tilted Chair. Like always, our first order of business in understanding a brand’s digital needs was to do a deep dive into analytics and extract some very human insights. In this case, our evaluation led to some high-priority opportunities for improvement.

Like many brands, FloSports had a complex set of stakeholders, each with unique usability needs. So, in an effort to instill empathy for each audience, we developed customer personas and a content strategy aimed at serving their needs.

Many agencies build out beautiful wireframes that basically represent a finished web comp without color—which has never made much sense to us. After all, you’re not designing yet. You’re wireframing. In the case of Flo, we did what we always do: think through content modules first, developing ugly but useful wireframes that could then be interpreted by a designer in the next phase. The outcome? We and the client had the ability to consider content flows without a critical eye to design.

With an approved content strategy, we moved quickly into design. After a couple of rounds of fine-tuning, we landed on the right concept—something that reinforced the exciting new brand, but that let content take center stage.

We also integrated a JSON feed that allowed live and upcoming events to automatically update and appear on the site. We imported close to 500 blog articles and prepped everything for launch. Then, on the last day of April, at about 1 o’clock in the morning, the site went live.

Take a look at the live site here.