Flare: Website & Branding
Home ➔ FLARE
Overview
The Center for Academic Esports led by FLARE will be the first of its kind in the world, focusing on the connection between technology, gaming, esports, and transferable skills as well as creative arts. And as an extension of the University of Agder, the branding for FLARE had to connect to the university’s own brand image.
As a research assistant at the University of Agder, I was in charge of creating the branding and website for FLARE: The Future Lab of Academic Research in Esports.
Logo & Branding
With a name like “FLARE”, it was immediatelly clear that the branding for the lab had to have some sort of fire motifs. And considering the lab was planned to have 5 separate innovation hubs, I wanted to combine both “5” and “flames” into one logo design.
Logo Design Sketches
(Round 1)
Logo Design Sketches
(Round 2)
Final Logo Design
The final logo created for FLARE resembles a phoenix, a fiery bird from ancient egyptian mythology. This logo, as planned, is made up of 5 distinct “parts” that represent the innovation hubs in the lab. The font chosen is in line with University of Agder standards.
Website
I was asked to create something cohesive with the logo, while being professional and in line with academic standards. To do this, I begun by sketching out some ideas, and then turned them into a working mid-fidelity wireframe in Figma.
Low-Fidelity Wireframes
Mid-Fidelity Wireframes
Usability Testing
After completing the mid fidelity wireframe, I ran some user tests with participants from the University of Agder. This test involved giving tasks to the test takers, and seeing if they struggled or excelled in location things on the wireframes.
A lot of great feedback came in from this first round of testing, including comments on the overall design of the page feel quite amateur, with a lack of hierarchy with its content.
Final Product
Finalized FLARE Homepage
The finalized website has a home page with an introductory panel, a news carousel, and a rotating advisory board member preview. The website also has an about page, and a full advisory board page dedicated to the members that are inside of it.
