PLL Calendar

The Problem

I was tasked with creating a promotional event calendar for the Premier Lacrosse League. I chose to create a calendar for their entire season schedule. With the continuous development and growth of the Premier Lacrosse League, there needs to be more widespread ways to promote games. With many fans not knowing all the Premier Lacrosse League has to offer, new solutions like full-season calendars should be offered. The Premier Lacrosse League is supposed to be a sport that attracts fans all around the world and the calendar is meant to improve this.

The Process

I first researched about how the Premier Lacrosse League likes to promote their content. I wanted to see how they reach their fans and audience so I could try to improve it. Using this research, I then looked at other sports game calendars for inspiration.

I found that the PLL didn’t use photography a lot and only used graphic content. A lot of the inspiration I looked at had photography in it. I decided to create a calendar with some sort of photographic content in it. I chose to go out to the Quinnipiac Lacrosse field and take a variety of photos. I ultimately decided that a photo of just the lacrosse net would be the best option. I want the photo to be the background of the graphic and I was split between a lacrosse stick and the net. I decided on the net because it would be less distracting from the content in the calendar.

I also had to decide on typefaces. I wanted to have typefaces that are fun and eye-catching but were still essential and effective in getting the information across. Through my research, I decided that a sans serif body copy would be effective and a slab serif typeface for the headlines. I decided to use Rockwell for my headlines as it is bold and effective in catching the eye. I also chose to use Frutiger as my body copy because it is very clear and legible for readers.

The Solution

I created a promotional calendar design layout that highlights the entire season of the Premier Lacrosse League. With the Premier Lacrosse League’s design focus being heavy on graphic materials like shapes and colors, I wanted to focus this design more on realism with photography. With the Premier Lacrosse League growing rapidly, I created the calendar to help promote and gain new audiences for the league. With multiple angles to take the calendar design, I chose to keep the focus of the branding on the whole league itself. With at the time 6 teams in the league, I could have focused my designs on the individual team branding. One of the unique things about the Premier Lacrosse League is that each team doesn’t have a home city. The league brings the teams to the fans and travels each weekend of the season. With this unique style, I wanted to keep the focus on the whole league itself.

The Impact

My work creates an impact because it highlights the whole entire Premier Lacrosse League and promotes the season to gain new audiences. While I couldn’t exactly measure the impact of the design on the Premier Lacrosse League audience, with user testing from my class, I found that my design was eye-catching and was informative about the season ahead. I learned that there are many ways I could promote the league but I felt that the simplicity of a photo in the background was essential in emphasizing the information in the calendar design. If I were to go back and redesign, I might try version of vector art with just colors and shapes. The simplicity might draw different eyes to the calendar and might distract less than the image. I would try and focus my design more on the content and less on the background.