We love a good bit of brand consistency at pixel8.
And whether we use it to come up with clever little brand guidelines, or perhaps apply it to the likes of a sports coaching manual - we like to do the best job possible and make sure it looks brilliant too.
So it’s a good job we’re a little bit creative, then!
Manchester United Soccer School recognised this, and approached us with the task of creating their soccer manual.
They needed multiple copies that could be distributed across the coaching school, and they also needed it to be clear, concise, easy to understand. Yet most of all - it had to be excellent.
So why don’t we look a little more closely at what we did for the football school and how we managed to achieve it?
Manchester United Soccer Schools Coaching Manual
When it came to Manchester United’s Soccer School’s coaching manual, one of our main focuses was one of our true loves - consistency.
The aim was to ensure that every single coach was able to deliver their teaching to the world-class standard that so many have come to know and appreciate from the Manchester United football club - and the whole point of the manual was to guide them so they could achieve this.
With this in mind, every manual had to be the same no matter which coach was in control and who was being taught; and one of the hardest part of this was ensuring the manual was easy to understand regardless of whose hands it fell into.
MUSS coaches provided us with everything from their coaching drills to their sketches, and this gave us an excellent picture of their training tactics. From this we were able to analyse their drills and put together a series of clear illustrations perfect for the coaching manual.
How we put together the coaching manual
Now that we had our illustrations, we needed to make sure that everyone would be able to follow them.
Visually, there was no room whatsoever for errors. Not only was this key, but the content in the form of nutritional information, equipment lists and best practices also had to be warm and engaging to encourage users to read them.
This was the only way to ensure that the best was gotten out of each and every young football player in the school - so it was a vital part of the process!
We made the manuals as user friendly as possible by creating them with a durable, handy A5 size. This meant that they could easily be slung into a training bag, and were able to withstand harsh conditions. This led to them easily becoming a part of the training experience and also one that was close to hand at all times.
We even weather-proofed them. (Everyone knows you can’t trust the climate in Manchester!)
What did we achieve?
Our illustrations, enticing colours, killer content and easy to understand instructions certainly hit the back of the net!
We included the likes of player silhouettes, field formats, directional arrows and this helped the coaches to achieve success when it came to the sports school training sessions.
Championing the team's colours of red, white and black ensured our graphic content was striking, and making sure complicated training processes were formatted in a way that was simple to follow and re-enact also had huge benefits.
It was key to have all this information in one place for the coaches, and the manual helped to reduce the amount of time spent locating session notes, allowing for a more streamlined coaching experience for all.
Here’s to the soccer stars of the future!
Pixel8 and Branding
If you're interested in creating a manual, or perhaps a set of brand guidelines, then be sure to give us a call at pixel8.
You can reach us on 0161 228 6489, or you can also request a call back by filling in the form below.
We love working with brands to help them capture their brand essence perfectly across their collateral. So whether it's a guide or a whole rebrand project, we'll be able to help!
