According to Forbes, the Boston Bruins are valued at $1 billion dollars. Professional athletics, as a whole, is an estimated $500 billion dollar industry.  For an industry that seems to have every possible resource at their disposal, are they keeping up with current trends within UX/UI to facilitate the needs of the consumer? 

The NHL follows the same format for all team sites.  So, why did they settle on this layout?  Could there be room for improvement or is it time for a complete overhaul?  Let’s take a look!

To critique this site, we must first understand the income model behind it. Fan engagement is what drives this site.  The majority of revenue generated will come from ticket sales and paid advertising. The idea here is to provide fans with media and statistics that make them feel a part of the team. In return, the fans will purchase tickets and frequently visit the site.

During task analysis, I noticed an issue with load times on the home page.  After each task, the user was prompted to go back to the home page.  A couple of these users experienced the spinning wheel for quite some time.

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Optimizing speed influences conversion and facilities user engagement. The site should be loading within 2 seconds.  Every second matters within our fast-paced, content-saturated world of technology.  Slow load times can cause the site to be harder to search on Google.  Currently, a Google search for “Bruins” yields the site 3rd on the list (behind NESN and NBCSports).

So, what can we do to improve?

Now, there are a multitude of ways to reduce load times. Compressing images, videos and reducing excess content is one way that could help to achieve this goal.

Let’s start by removing the white space that spans the right column underneath the advertisements. We can also reduce the amount of content on the Home Page.  This page loads too many videos and news articles immediately, and the site already has specific pages dedicated for that content.  A “View More” button that links to those pages would significantly reduce the amount of content that loads on the home page.

Next, we can look into reducing duplications within the front-end code.  According to Varvy, the site has two external CSS files.  If we merge the two external files into one, then the browser will make one less HTTP request, thus reducing the amount of time the page takes to load. This will not make a huge difference but, we should be focusing on reducing requests to the server in order to increase site speed.

The most overwhelming page on the site is The News Page.  While there are a ton of articles with great information, the page breaks from the general flow of the site. Consistency is key and users should be able to navigate the site seamlessly.

The video below shows the subject attempting to find a particular article on the page.  You will see the user begin to second guess themselves as it takes them almost 40 seconds to realize the column on the left scrolls.

You will see the subjects eyes begin to scan the entire page.  This tells us that the user is confused.  While they try to recall the structure of the page, they may begin to get frustrated.  This stifling could cause them to go to another site that is easier to navigate.

Recognition not Recall

We want the design to be easily recognizable in order to achieve less recall for users. Had this article been further down the page, I wonder how long it would have taken the user to find it.  How long before they go to NESN or Instagram to find the article?

The solution here is fairly simple.  Lose the giant scroll bar on the left, span the articles across the entire page,  then add a search bar just above the articles.  When the user clicks the search bar, a drop down will show recent and popular articles/searches.

Current trends can dictate user needs and expectations.  Semi flat design is becoming quite popular with the tycoons, like Google, pushing the curve.  The site could potentially profit from following in their footsteps. A consistent design with less clutter could be beneficial.  While task analysis found the site to have fair usability, it did also convey some weak points.

Recognition, not recall is huge for the end user.  We must be aware of what users expect, especially when it comes to site structure and speed. A faster, fluid, and clutter-free site would create a better user experience.  The templated site does not need a full redesign however, a revamp to the home page and news page would be advantageous.