Case Study: Award-Winning Web Design for Sports Training Service

Design In DC’s Approach to Reflexion’s Dynamic Web Design

As mentioned in an earlier post, we were incredibly honored, recently, when Design Rush recognized our rebuild of Reflexion’s website as one of 10 “Best Dynamic Website Designs.” Industry recognition means a lot, as we work hard and take pride in our work, which we also love to share with potential clients who might benefit from similar collaborations.

With that in mind, we have to give credit where it’s due. Reflexion, a cognitive sports training service offering cutting-edge AI technology, is an ideal client—and by that we mean, truly collaborative every step of the way. They’re not only open to innovative web design ideas; they push us to come up with more.

We’re sticking with the present tense because our collaboration with Reflexion continues. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. 

In this post, we’d like to highlight what Design in DC and Reflexion were able to achieve together, in part by pushing the boundaries of web design. Specifically, there are four items we’d like to discuss in detail, to show potential clients what we’re capable of. They are:

• the collaborative design and development of the website
• an exceptional animation explainer video
• a video-game-style web app
• ongoing collaboration

But before we dive in, first, a bit of background.

Reflexion—A Willing, and Great, Collaborator

We connect with potential clients in all kinds of ways—references, word of mouth, businesses looking to create or upgrade their websites and coming across one we’ve designed. But in this case, Reflexion’s principals found us on the freelancing platform Upwork and reached out for an initial discussion. This is part of Design in DC’s dynamic web design process—get to know a potential client, see what they need and, perhaps most importantly, determine whether we might be a good fit.

In Reflexion’s case, it’s a great fit. We pride ourselves on being a disruptive, boundary-stretching creative agency, one which tailors cutting-edge web design to a client’s needs. And Reflexion, which was already disrupting the sports training industry by offering a cognitive technological tool called Edge, needed a website which reflects, as well as promotes, its pioneering methods.  

As their website now demonstrates, Reflexion offers indispensable AI tools for what’s known as cognitive, or neuro, training—teaching the brain how to process what it sees and, in turn, react much more quickly and efficiently. Reflexion is way ahead of the pack, offering the portable Edge suite of tools to assess and improve an individual’s cognitive abilities and give them the competitive—yes—“edge” they need to beat their competitors. Our potential new client needed a website that could do the same.

Not only that—they needed a dynamic web design team that could also explain and highlight the nuances of Edge’s applications outside of sports training—for rehab, physical therapy and business training, for example.

It was a tall order. But guess what? From the get-go, we loved the team at Reflexion, and their work absolutely fascinated us. Design in DC is progressive in all kinds of ways, including our own team’s extracurricular activities, which range from basketball to soccer to running, so we have folks in-house always looking to up their games physically and mentally.

Reflexion also wanted to create much more than an informational website—they wanted something dynamic, from top to bottom, so as to engage current and potential clients and show even casual visitors just how pioneering their work and products are. So we signed on to work in the best way we know how—collaboratively.

Taking Sports Training to the Next Level: The Animated Explainer Video

We wanted to start with a bang, something which shows potential customers exactly what Reflexion and Edge are capable of, so we created an animated explainer video. The team at Design in DC is uber-creative, with expertise in animation, motion graphics and creating compelling content. So after digesting the science behind cognitive sports training and getting plenty of input from Reflexion, we created this video, showing how improved cognition leads to ramped-up performance:

Animated explainer videos—so long as they’re compelling and professionally executed—go a long way in attracting potential customers. At their best, they are relatively word-free, visually and aurally stimulating and make the complicated seem uncomplicated. Reflexion was very happy with what we produced, as were we, and it set us on the right path moving forward.

Dynamic Web Design, from Top to Bottom

To borrow a sports term, Design in DC has “a deep bench.” Our team is replete with experts on dynamic web design and the ways in which it fuels business growth—via site visits, clicks, calls to action (CTAs) and search engine optimization (SEO), to name just a few methods. And in Reflexion we have a partner more than willing to experiment marketing-wise, especially considering that Edge, when we began working together, was already gaining traction, not just in sports training, but in physical therapy, home use and in business settings.

So we wanted to ensure that the tone we’d set with the animated explainer reverberated on every page of the new Reflexion site, in ways more innovative than we’d tried before—with dynamic scroll effects, for example, and explainer videos featuring Reflexion clients anchoring every page describing specific uses for Edge. One highlight, on the home page, is how the multifaceted sports training tool enhances professional athletes’ performances.    

But you’ll see examples of dynamic web design on every page, each one visually arresting, rhythmic and informative. Plus, the navigation up top makes it easy to go wherever you want—to see Edge’s applications, learn the science, browse the video library and check out the blog archive.

And let’s not forget the CTAs. Reflexion wanted to make sure they were planted everywhere, like Easter eggs in films, so we did just that, from the “Get In Touch” button in the nav bar to the lime-green “request demo” and “learn more” buttons punctuating each page.  

Reflexion was already a marketing-savvy company when we partnered with them, producing amazing ads and using social media in ways that promote the brand far and wide. But with the new website, they’ve ratcheted up their promo and sales games, backed by amazing analytics as proof. One day, recently, for example, their site had 13,000 visits and 339,000 impressions, with the mobile version of the site, which we designed, serving as a lead entry point.

Speaking of mobile, we had a lot of fun co-creating something special with Reflexion.

A Sports Training Mobile App Like No Other

One thing we’d never tried before, but which we brainstormed with Reflexion, was the creation of a free mobile app, which, in this case, allows anyone interested to sample neuro-training video-game-style. Whereas the Edge technology provides users with a huge screen, on which they use their hands, the app allows them to use their index fingers to run through drills. Users are then scored for each drill and given an assessment of their performance.

Reflexion’s other partner on this app is Under Armour, and the app’s been a big success, translating into traffic on the website and serving as brand promotion for both companies. The app was certainly a big challenge for Design in DC, but it was a lot of fun to create and helped expand our dynamic web design repertoire.

It also helped convince Reflexion that we should keep the collaborative efforts going.

Ongoing Dynamic Web Design with a True Partner

As we have with other clients, we’ve signed an open-ended contract with Reflexion which involves us being on call, if you will, to help maintain, upgrade and promote the site. They’re big fans of our web design and development talents, and we’re big fans of their team and work, so it truly is an ideal partnership for us.

It also greatly benefits Reflexion, as the new, constantly changing website serves as a topnotch informational and marketing tool. Any new ideas either of us have, we discuss first, then decide whether to execute. It could be a redesign of the pages, the creation of new explainer videos, the addition of applications or products or simply an upgrade of the site, ensuring it’s performing optimally.

With Reflexion, what began as the seed of a potentially productive relationship blossomed into a truly collaborative partnership. On Reflexion’s end, it’s improved brand awareness, driven new levels of traffic to the site and increased sales. On our end, we’ve helped create a site we’re extremely proud of, one that’s earned industry recognition and can be shared with potential clients.

First and foremost, the Reflexion website shows what our team is capable of when it comes to dynamic web design. But it’s also a testament to how Design in DC is constantly experimenting, disrupting the status quo and taking websites to the next level. The best way to do that, of course, is to collaborate with a client equally invested in dynamic web design. We thank Reflexion for being exactly that kind of client.

Are You Next?

Design in DC is a full-service creative agency, as our website attests. But when it comes to web design, our expertise is rooted in years of working with myriad clients across multiple industries and meeting all of their communication and marketing needs. We work closely with each client to determine the best strategy for getting a brand in front of the right audiences.We invite you to reach out to us and start a discussion about how we may be able to help your business or organization ramp up your website. You can start right here.