Bringing beat sports reporting to the UP through retro brand and website design.

Upbeat Sports Branding and Website

Development Tools

Adobe Illustrator
Adobe Photoshop
Figma

Client

Upbeat Sports

Employer

Freelance

Year

2018-2019

Contrubutions

Name Creation
Creating Brand Looks and Logo Concepts
Logo Design
Business Card Design
Creation of User Experience Strategy
Wireframe Creation
Establishing Photo Editing Style
Website Design
Collaborating with Developer/Programmer

Service

Branding
Web
UI/UX

Upbeat Sports is a subscription-based writing service covering high school sports in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. TheUpbeatSports.com highlights features, columns and game recaps from writers who are committed to delivering unique in-depth storytelling that differs from traditional newspaper competitors. The name Upbeat is derived from combining the “U.P.” (Upper Peninsula of Michigan) with “beat” reporting of journalism, described as the craft of in-depth reporting on a particular issue. The word “upbeat” itself evokes confidence and high energy, which the brand embodies. For the branding process, three logo concepts with an accompanying brand look were created. The selected logo mark combines a whistle, a sports communication element, with a speech bubble, a journalistic communication element. The brand look was inspired by retro sports design, which is conveyed through the use of retro colors, typography, color blocking, the use of lines and duotone images, all with a modern twist. Simplistic blocky design elements infused with the brand look were created to account for potential variances in content that also translated to responsive design functionality. This ensures the content remains readable on various devices. The complex framework of the website sought to account for the continuously growing news article archive. It was also important to consider the various types of followers of Upbeat and make the content easily accessible to them. My contributions included the name creation, creation of brand looks and logo concepts, logo design, brand collateral designs, website design, and partnering with a web developer and programmer to create the finished website.