Hudl Team Profiles: Connecting Athletes, Coaches, and Fans

I redesigned the team profile page for Hudl, a leading sports technology company serving 3.5 million coaches and athletes worldwide. By introducing a dynamic timeline and customization features, I transformed a static page into an engaging platform that allowed 130,000+ teams to tell their story and connect with fans.

Before

After

My Role & Approach

Hudl is a leading international sports technology company that builds video analysis and stats tools for over 3.5 million pro and amateur coaches and athletes across multiple sports worldwide. I worked as a designer on the Community Tribe, focusing on helping athletes, coaches, parents, and fans connect, improve, and share every moment in sports.

Key contributions

  • Led end-to-end design from research through implementation for responsive web, tablet, and mobile experiences

  • Conducted comprehensive user research through surveys, interviews, and usability testing across multiple sports and countries

  • Designed profile system that scaled across current and future Hudl profile types

  • Facilitated cross-functional collaboration leading squad sketching sessions with designers, developers, QA, and project managers

  • Introduced timeline concept leveraging user-generated content to create evolving team narratives

The Challenge

The existing team profile page served 130,000 teams across multiple sports, ages, and skill levels, but wasn't driving engagement between fans and team content.

  • Low engagement: Fans weren't connecting with team highlight videos

  • Limited investment: Coaches and team administrators weren't maintaining or promoting the page

  • Static experience: No way to keep up with what was happening with the team

  • Lack of control: Teams couldn't control their image or brand on the page

  • Competing channels: Teams used multiple other platforms to communicate with supporters

The Goal

Design a new responsive (web, tablet, mobile) team profile page that would:

  • Create better engagement between fans and team highlight videos

  • Showcase the athletes on the team

  • Allow fans to keep track of schedules and results

  • Increase coach and team administrator investment in the page

  • Function as a scalable system for other current and future Hudl profiles

My Approach

I led the design effort, which included:

  • User research leadership: Conducting interviews, surveys, and usability testing with coaches, athletes, and fans

  • Design exploration: Creating sketches, wireframes, and high-fidelity mockups

  • Facilitation: Leading design discussions and brainstorming sessions with a cross-functional squad

  • Collaboration: Working alongside project managers, developers, and QA staff through implementation

  • Iteration: Analyzing research data and using findings to continuously improve the design

Understanding Teams and Fans

Research Process

To understand the problem deeply, I conducted research across multiple channels:

Competitive Analysis

  • Reviewed how teams were currently communicating with supporters

  • Examined the public presence of Hudl teams across the internet

  • Identified alternative platforms teams were using

User Interviews

  • Interviewed coaches and students across multiple sports and countries

  • Understood current usage patterns of the team profile page

  • Identified pain points and unmet needs

Surveys

  • Surveyed Hudl users about their goals when visiting team pages

  • Gathered input from the general public through the existing team page

  • Collected quantitative data to validate interview insights

Research Insights

Four key insights emerged that informed our design decisions:

1. Competing channels: Many teams had multiple ways to communicate with supporters, making the Hudl team page less critical

2. Lack of investment: Low engagement stemmed from coaches and admins not investing time in maintaining the page

3. Brand control needed: Teams (primarily coaches or admins) needed to feel in control of their image and brand

4. Too static: The current page provided no way to keep up with ongoing team activities and developments

Dynamic Timeline and Customization

Collaborative Sketching Process

Given the complexity of redesigning the team page, I organized squad sketching sessions that brought together the project manager, developers, and QA in remote collaborative sessions.

Session Structure

  • Duration: One hour per session

  • Problem framing: Started with "How might we..." prompts

  • Individual sketching: 20 minutes of independent exploration

  • Presentation: Each participant shared their concepts

  • Second iteration: Refined sketches based on group discussion

My Role

  • Facilitation: Organizing sessions and guiding the process

  • Design curation: Synthesizing ideas and identifying promising directions

  • Squad buy-in: Ensuring team alignment on design decisions

This collaborative approach allowed us to explore multiple options quickly, understand different perspectives, and build cross-functional buy-in for the chosen direction.

Customization and Brand Control

To address concerns about page ownership and brand control, I designed customization features:

  • Profile pictures: Teams could upload custom images representing their identity

  • Banner images: Large hero images gave teams control over their visual brand

  • Content curation: Control over which highlights and moments appeared in the timeline

These features increased investment from coaches, team administrators, and athletes by giving them agency over their team's public face.

The Timeline Concept

Through research and sketching sessions, I developed the timeline as the core organizing principle for the new team profile. This concept addressed multiple challenges simultaneously:

Leveraging existing content: The timeline surfaced user-generated content and data already within Hudl to present an evolving depiction of team activities

Telling the team's story: Rather than a static snapshot, the page became a living narrative of the team's season

Driving engagement: Fresh, dynamic content gave fans a reason to return and stay connected

Creating investment: By showcasing their content prominently, coaches and athletes had incentive to contribute

Design Evolution

Web Design Progression

  • Early concepts focused on traditional profile layouts

  • Introduced timeline concept as central organizing element

  • Refined information hierarchy and content prioritization

  • Polished visual design and interaction patterns

Mobile Design Progression

  • Adapted timeline concept for smaller screens

  • Optimized navigation for touch interactions

  • Prioritized most important content for mobile context

  • Ensured feature parity across devices where appropriate

Impact & Outcomes

Measured Results

  • Released to 130,000+ teams across multiple sports using Hudl

  • 10-second increase in engagement time on team profile pages

  • 17% decrease in drop-off rate showing improved retention

Strategic Impact

  • Established profile design patterns that scaled to other Hudl profile types

  • Contributed to design system evolution at Hudl with reusable components

  • Demonstrated value of timeline pattern for user-generated content platforms

  • Increased platform stickiness by giving teams a reason to invest in Hudl beyond core analysis tools

User Benefits

For Teams (Coaches/Admins):

  • Greater control over team brand and image

  • Easier way to showcase team highlights and achievements

  • Platform that encourages investment through customization

For Athletes:

  • Prominent showcase of their contributions and highlights

  • Ability to share their team's story with family and friends

  • Connection to team narrative throughout the season

For Fans:

  • Dynamic, regularly updated content to follow

  • Easy access to schedules, results, and highlights

  • Engaging way to stay connected with their team