WACA (WA Cricket)Interactive Tournament Guide & Design System

2024
Year: Brand Identity · UI/UX
Discipline: 7 deliverables
Scope

A 64-page interactive guide built in about a week, then a matching A5 print edition in a further three to four days

64-page interactive guidebuilt in about a week, on a page system rather than page by page
A5 print edition in 3–4 daysthe same system re-flowed, and the only reason a second edition was possible at all
13 sections, one tap eachan interactive index instead of scrolling a 64-page document mid-match
100+ pages across both editionsrefined down from a ~150-page brief to a leaner interactive core
Art director, not sole handbrought in a collaborator and led the build on a timeline with no room for a second draft

CASE01

What they came with

The project began small. A police-affiliated cricket body connected to WACA needed a member catalogue for their police cricket club, a quick, low-stakes job.

They liked it, and the scope changed entirely. The next request was far bigger: an interactive guide for the Australia & New Zealand Police Cricket Championships in Perth, scoped at roughly 150 pages covering schedules, venue profiles, merchandise, rosters and rules. WACA had a brand to start from, yellow and black on a custom typeface, but no precedent for a document this size that still had to feel fast in someone’s hand at the side of a match.

CASE02

How I built it

The real constraint was time. The client gave us about a week for the complete interactive guide. I brought in Sheraz Nawaz to execute under my direction and led the build as art director rather than the sole hand on every page. It landed inside the window. Roughly 48 hours later came a second request: an A5 printable version, needed in three to four days.

Why it could not be designed page by page

A document this size cannot be designed page by page, not on this timeline. Every section (match schedules, team rosters, merchandise) had to share the same visual grammar, or the guide would read as dozens of pages stitched together rather than one product.

Three sections of the 64-page guide shown together — match schedules as fixture grids, team rosters as portrait photography, and tournament merchandise as a product catalogue — each a different shape of content — Three sections, three content shapes, one clock.

One repeatable system: header, colour, type, grid

So I put the work into a repeatable system first: a consistent header treatment, a colour and type language pulled straight from WACA’s brand guideline, and a page architecture that could absorb any number of teams, venues or match days without being reinvented. That system is the only reason a second A5 edition was possible in days rather than weeks.

Four page types, four things they all share.

Navigation for someone looking up one fact

A guide this size is also easy to get lost in, especially when someone needs one fact quickly in the middle of a live tournament. It is built around a central navigation hub: a full interactive index linking straight to 13 major sections, each reachable in a single tap rather than a long scroll.

The tournament guide’s interactive index, linking to all 13 sections — One tap to any of 13 sections, mid-match.

CASE03

What shipped

Every good guide earns trust before it turns functional. The opening pages carry a welcome letter from the WA Cricket CEO, giving the document a sense of occasion before the reader reaches schedules and logistics.

Welcome letter page from the WA Cricket CEO

Match schedules, laid out to read at a glance

Match schedules are the pages people return to most, usually in a hurry. I laid them out to read instantly: clear match-ups, ground assignments and start times at high contrast, so nothing is missed at a glance.

ANZPCC match schedule page — Opened under pressure, read at a glance.

Venue pages for every participating club

Venue pages tell the story of each participating club, some with a century behind them, paired with photography of the grounds.

Team pages with player photography and bios

Team pages introduce every squad with player photography and short personal bios, giving the tournament a human face beyond the fixtures.

Official merchandise as a retail touchpoint

It doubles as a retail touchpoint. I put official merchandise in the same visual system as everything else, product photography against bold typography and pricing, so buying reads as part of the guide rather than a catalogue bolted to the back.

Official ANZPCC tournament merchandise page

The full championship rules section

The final third holds the full championship rules, a dense reference section that still had to stay legible and on-brand across dozens of pages of regulation text.

ANZPCC championship rules reference page

CASE04

Where it landed

What started as a small member catalogue became a full digital ecosystem: a 64-page interactive guide with instant section navigation, followed by a matching A5 print edition delivered within a further three to four days of the second request.

The two versions weren’t identical in length. The 64-page interactive build reflowed to roughly 70–80 pages for A5 print: page sizes shifted enough that roster pages had to be split so each team still got its own. Together the editions came to well over 100 pages, all refined down from the original ~150-page request.

Twenty-three seconds of the thing the page has been describing: one page system, and everything built out of it.

Built and delivered across roughly two weeks in the lead-up to the tournament (about a week for the interactive build, three to four more days for the A5 conversion, and the rest for revisions), working as art director alongside a collaborator, on a timeline that left no room for a second draft.

CASE05