Game of the Week branding
Game of the Week branding
MaxPreps launched Game of the Week this fall. This programming series followed a 12-week high school football tour throughout the country, highlighting the best varsity football matchups. 485 D1 recruits were featured across 24 top 50 high school football teams.
I created an ownable look and feel for the program, embracing bold typography, hand-drawn elements, organic textures, and a nostalgic film strip-style photo and video treatment. This design system supported Game Of The Week content programming, highlight stories, marketing efforts, and live game coverage each week.
Role: Freelance Creative Director and Designer for MaxPreps. Creative direction developed in partnership with Alex Torres.
The Game Of The Week design system leverages several visual signatures to support the capture of impactful highlights and create a platform for telling powerful student-athlete stories. Typography is a dynamic driving force: multiple typefaces and color treatments are combined to build a sense of confidence, strength, and energy. Red, black, and white serve as the powerful color foundation, while school-specific colors lead marketing communications to draw the fans in. Hand-drawn textures are shared across communications to unify the system.
The Game Of The Week design system also leans into analog image treatments and handwritten typography. These connect back to Gen Z’s affinity for lo-fi, retro image capture methods and the nostalgia of collecting memories that is shared across generations. Photography captures the dynamic energy, fast motion, and crowd excitement that is core to high school sports.
Hand-drawn elements bring a level of grit and depth to the brand. They’re also reminiscent of your favorite coach’s chalkboard game plays.
The brand design system gave the on-the-ground social team tools they needed to quickly create branded content across Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok — like the below:
I worked with motion expert Maxwell Prendergrast to define Game of the Week's motion package: high-energy, high-impact, and aiming to generate excitement and aspiration in viewers. While our student-athletes aren’t professionals (yet), they’re on the road to the pro leagues, and we want to match the dynamic energy in which the pro sports are featured.
Pace and music should feel anthemic. Bold typography evokes the non-stop energy we see in live games. Hand-drawn elements should be supporting characters, bringing in depth, dimension, and playfulness.
The system flexes to hero the Game of the Week brand, or schools' branding, depending on the marketing touchpoint:
MaxPreps // Marketing Leadership: Devin Zimmerman, David Spiegel, BJ Pilling
Freelance // Creative Direction & Design: Helen Dear and Alex Torres
Freelance // Motion design system: Maxwell Prendergast
MaxPreps // Game of the Week announcement video: Mark King