Sheffield University Men's Hockey Club 23/24 Social Media Graphics
This Week: 1XI
Each Monday the fixtures for that week were announced using a "This Week" post which showcased the opposition, push-back time and location to encourage attendance in person and people to follow the match online.
The post was a 2 image carousel with the first page being dedicated to the highest playing team, most commonly the 1XI. The logos of each team were used as well as secondary, vertical text stating the university name for supporters who were unfamiliar with opposition crests. Depending on whether the match was a home or away game, the side of the Sheffield University badge changed from left to right respectively to add a visual context to where the match was played. Each week a different action shot of a player was used to add arousal and build intensity around the game.
This is where the kit-inspired background is first seen on both the post background and date background. The diamond pattern was inspired from the same pattern used on the home playing kit, and helped to build consistency between the online content and on pitch hockey. Diamond patterns are also commonly used in wider University branding with "The Diamond" being one of the Universities flagship buildings. This was a key aim for this years socials, utilising the social media to bring people closer to the on pitch action and allow people to feel closer to the pitch when following online. A large percentage of the clubs supporters are family members or alumni who are no longer based in Sheffield so use the social media to follow the clubs success despite being unable to attend fixtures.
This Week: Rest of club
Swiping to the second photo showed the rest of the clubs fixtures. Opposition and match details were provided and the position of each team stayed in the same place irrespective of how many teams were playing. This was done to maintain consistency and make it easy to see what teams had matches without having to swipe read each fixture. Like the 1XI slide, a photo was used of a player to highlight different club members and build excitement. Shadows were added to each player to make the visibly 'pop' on the screen and separate them from the background.
GAMEDAY: TEAMSHEETS
Each Wednesday, along with a gameday graphic (See later), the team sheets of all playing teams was announced. The left hand side featured match details as well as the players representing the squad, with surnames in bold and captains highlighted. Goalkeepers were listed at the top of the list to maintain consistency with expected subs at the bottom.
On the right hand side a photo of one of the 16 players was used along with the 'Team hub' first seen in the "This Week" post. Instead of providing fixture details, this told viewers the game-week and league for BUCS fixtures, and for important matches or friendlies provided a short sentence adding context to try and increase engagement in the results.
Once again the diamond background was used, along with sponsor logos. Text and badges were used for home and opposition teams to provide clarity but also highlight the opposition playing colors.
Every post on the page featured a consistent, orange border. This was used as a separation between each season on the main feed, and a different border was used for Varsity specific posts.
GAMEDAY: MATCH POSTER
Each gameday post was headlined by a custom graphic that stated the number of matches and the game week. A completely new style was used each game to keep excitement around the game and build arousal. Specific games aimed to feature contextual elements in the graphic.
These have been broken down individually at the bottom of this portfolio.
RESULTS
Every Thursday the results from that weeks games were posted. The team logos were used, having created the link between university and logo on the team sheet posts. The results featured the team name in the top corner, utilising the same format from "This Week" and were used as an opportunity to highlight photographs taken of that team throughout the season and add color to the main feed that was a distinct break between each game weeks set of posts.
The choice to have a dense posting schedule between Monday and Thursday was chosen to keep engagement high close to match weeks and meant that from the start of the week to the morning after a gameday there was content being shared with the club:
1 - Monday: This Week highlighting each fixture
2 - Tuesday: Tuesday Times weekly newsletter featuring match predictions was shared with all club members
3 - Wednesday: Gameday and team sheets shared having been finalised on BUCS
4 - Thursday: Match results shared after they had been confirmed by BUCS
This posting schedule also left room on the weekend for one off posts for weekend fixtures or sponsorship engagements without disrupting the main schedule.
VARSITY CONTENT
In the weeks leading up to the highly anticipated varsity against Sheffield Hallam University various video based content was produced. This include a teaser video, main video, team sheet animation and count down animation posted at the end of the BUCS season. This was done to maintain excitement and build anticipation after the regular weekly hockey had ended. The videos are all showcased below:
Varsity Trailer
Main Varsity Video
GAMEDAY POSTERS INDEPTH
From Left to Right:
Manny Away:
Manny Away:
Each year the team does an annual pre-season trip to Manchester for a whole club away day. The motorway photo was chosen with the signs adjusted to showcase gameday in Manchester. Dates and locations were provided in the bottom, using orange smoke to add clarity to the text and SUMHC branding.
Week 1 - Filmburn:
A photo of Sam Jones and Ben Giardelli taken during Pre-Season was used. A filmburn texture was used on photoshop with the film reel effect being used to add to this. The HSL was edited to make the blue University logo stand out.
Week 2 - Gameboy:
For week 2 a take on the retro Gameboy posters was used, replacing Gameboy with Gameday. This was done early on in the season to emphasize the Gameday message on these posts. The text on screen was changed to a hockey pitch with "THE SUMHC" and the colour of the Gameboy was changed to match the border.
From Left to Right:
Week 3 - Fire:
Week 3 - Fire:
A portrait celebration shot of Shen Lim was used. The background was made greyscale to highlight Shen and a fire texture was used on the background and text to add intensity.
Week 4 - Derby Day:
The number on the back of the shirt was removed and replaced with Derby Day text drawing attention to the first game against Hallam of the season. A displacement map was used to make the text look realistic on the shirt.
Week 5 - Cup:
From Left to Right:
Week 6 - Fortnite:
Week 6 - Fortnite:
Following a good reception to both the Gameboy and FA CUP posts, a recreation of the Fortnite game cover was chosen after the game had been featured heavily in the news in recent days. A cartoon filter was added to the players and background in photoshop and illustrator was used to recreate the BUCS logo in the theme of the Fortnite publisher EPIC GAMES.
Week 7 - Camera:
After damage to the camera sensor caused pictures to have an old school blurred effect, it was decided to lean into this and recreate a vintage photo viewfinder for the second round of the cup. A black and white design also made it stand out on a users feed.
Week 8 - Film reel:
Coming to the end of the first half of the season, a film reel was recreated to highlight key moments and various photos. A film texture was added to the background photo and the portrait shot of Finn Lever was cutout of the film reel to make the team kit stand out.
From Left to Right:
Week 10 - Colour Pallete:
Week 10 - Colour Pallete:
A simple, bold design with all 3 key colours used to make the post clear on a users feed after a Christmas break with no content. The pitch was made black and white and Ed Jones in colour to stand out.
Week 11 - Henry:
Inspired by posters seen in the NFL and NBA, a celebration shot of Henry Latham was used on layered GAMEDAY text in an NFL inspired font. A plastic texture was added in photoshop to the background. Henry was made black and white but the kit in colour to highlight the importance of the team over the individual.
Week 12 - Two Tone:
Following positive feedback to the NFL font, this was reused in a poster featuring Rob Ireson in a main run. A grain effect and blur was added to the background to texturize it and the player was edited to increase contrast and vibrancy. The orange stripe increased legibility of the text which had a grey shadow.
From Left to Right:
Week 13 - Top Gun:
Week 13 - Top Gun:
A simple film burn was added to the background with Top Gun font used for the GAMEDAY. The design was chosen to highlight the player, Will Henderson.
Week 14 - Running:
An action shot of Cam Saunders celebrating was placed on a design inspired by retro car posters. The 3D effect was used historically to recreate lines in the middle of a road or racetrack, but with the black and orange colour scheme they were intended to replicate a running track. Font similar to that used by Porsche was used to lean into the car poster theme.
Week 15 - Billboard:
Photoshops Generative AI was used to create the indoor scene, with a lighting effects and overlays used to make the poster look inside the Billboard. The varsity inspired font was used to subtly build anticipation for the event whilst the BUCS season winded down
From Left to Right:
Week 16 - Fifa Game:
Week 16 - Fifa Game:
As this week only featured 1 game and the Fortnite inspired cover was well liked - the FIFA loading screen was recreated featuring both teams. This match was the decider for the 3XI winning the league so having the teams featured on the cover helped showcase the game. The last 5 games of each team were shown underneath the logo and a photo from a previous match was hung above the TV.
Week 17 - Information Commons:
For the final game week the recognisable university library, Information Commons, was used with text transformed and skewed in photoshop to look painted onto the building. This week featured plenty of inter club games so the university was chosen as a focus. As no BUCS fixtures were occurring, competition logos were removed.
Acknowledgements
Gus Brockwell - Various photos
