Little League
How we designed and built Little League a digital platform that bats a thousand
The challenge
Little League had a fragmented online presence and a timeworn brand and tech stack that kept them from meeting today’s digital expectations.
The Solution
Build a robust admin and design system that allows Little League to manage more than a dozen subsites, spin up and brand new World Series sites each year, and power a mobile app—all in one place.
Designing a look and feel for the digital age
Little League is a storied institution that was ready to step boldly into the 21st century. To help them along, we created a future-proof look and feel that can grow with the league and appeal to a global audience.
Founded in 1939, Little League has a rich legacy that we mined for inspiration—but we didn’t stop there. We wanted the branding to feel familiar and fresh at the same time, so we explored multiple visual styles and presented three moodboards to gauge their appetite for change.
Bringing it all under one banner
Armed with a new type stack, color palette, icons, and content patterns, it was time to turn our attention to their web setup. In addition to the main corporate site, LittleLeague.org, they had sites for training and education, tournament video, merchandise, the league’s nine international regions, and each World Series—about two dozen total.
To create a hub for all those sites, we put them on a single WordPress multisite network. Styling and content can now be managed in a central admin area.
Providing tools that put content in its best light
With a variety of content types (photos, videos, downloads) and content vehicles (training materials, rulebooks, regional subsites) to manage, Little League needed a comprehensive set of design and publishing tools that make the backend and frontend user experiences feel seamless.
Launching a rebranded site annually
For years, Little League built a World Series site from scratch for every tournament. Now, using our design architecture, they can upload the latest series logo, edit the site’s color palette and theme, and go live with a rebranded site in minutes.
Not only does this streamline site design, but it also gives the millions of people who visit LittleLeague.org each year during the World Series a consistent, upgraded user experience.
Putting an up-to-date rulebook in everyone’s pocket
Previously, the rulebooks for Little League Baseball, Softball, and Challenger Division were PDFs, making them difficult to edit and search. To remedy this, we created a mobile rulebook app for iOS and Android powered by LittleLeague.org.
Users can bookmark rules and definitions, add annotations, share pages, and more. Notifications alert users to significant changes and blasts go out to umpires whenever there’s an update.
THAT’S A WRAP
We’re a partner for the long haul
Back in 2017, we were excited to team up with the world’s largest organized youth sports program. Years later, our enthusiasm hasn’t waned a bit. Little League has been a great collaborator, communicating openly and honestly at all times.
Since our initial 18-month engagement, we’ve been able to cross quite a few items off their wish list. In addition to the launch of their mobile app, we’ve given them dynamic World Series features that update in real time with game scores and winners as well as a help center for parents.