Carlisle based print and digital marketing experts, H&H Reeds, are delighted to be able to claim a professional connection to the recent World Darts Championships, dominated by the two British Lukes – the winner, Luke Humphries and the remarkable 16-year-old- runner-up, Luke Littler.
Shortly before the Championships began at Alexandra Palace last month, H&H Reeds launched a new website commissioned by the Professional Darts Players Association (PDPA), also based in Carlisle. The new site is designed to reflect the growing status of Darts in the world of professional sports and provides a state-of-the-art portal for players like the two Lukes to tap into the support the PDPA offers the growing ranks of professionals.
“We are very proud of the site,” says H&H Reeds Head of Web Design Steven Hart, “and absolutely delighted that we met our launch deadline to coincide with the amazing success of the World Darts Championships.”
Like virtually every other area of sport today, darts has a huge amateur base, but has also evolved into a fully professional, multi-million-pound sport, which attracts millions of viewers to major international events like their World Championships. The PDPA is the organisation that safeguards the interests of professional players, and they needed a website that gave their members quick and easy access to all the benefits and support they offer to help them make the most of their careers in the professional arena.
The website is designed with a mobile-first approach, emphasising clarity and ease of use, ensuring players can efficiently navigate and access crucial information on the go. And the team at H&H Reeds were particularly excited to work on a design that incorporates high-quality photography that captures the passion and enthusiasm players have for the game.
Steven Hart, comments, “We were thrilled to collaborate with the PDPA on their new website. It was an amazing opportunity to work on a project that would have immense global reach, catering to hundreds of members worldwide and we are pleased that the site has been so well received. With almost 40,000 hits in the first month suggests it’s working well for the PDPA and its growing membership of world class sportsmen and sportswomen.”
H&H Reeds undertook detailed User Experience research to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the existing PDPA site, and went on to develop a mobile-first hub that gives professional players access to the full range of PDPA support in areas including mental health and wellbeing advice, financial and careers guidance, and a centralised platform for accessing information about upcoming events and player rankings.
A crucial element of the project centred on seamlessly integrating the iDarts API. This application programming interface ensures real-time updates for the website, offering the latest calendar events and world ranking information. Providing players with a centralised hub for important information, and significantly reducing the workload for the PDPA. The automation eliminates the need for manual updates, streamlining operations and ensuring that the information is always current and accurate.
The site is built on a CRAFT CMS platform with real-time API information systems that reflect the PDPA’s commitment to excellence, and the imagery, and particularly the extraordinary parallax home page header, reflects the passion and diversity of the players who are taking the sport to a new level.
Alan Warriner-Little President The PDPA , said of the updated website, “Since we decided to work with the local team at H&H Reeds on our new website concept, we cannot fault any communication, planning, meetings and most of all the end product. Our new mobile phone website is not just a great look but easy to navigate, very informative and the current tech shows our members and fans everything they need to know.
“We got exactly what we had planned and wanted as they listened, understood, and developed with us from its inception all through to the final stage when we launched, and the professional standard remained throughout.”
Visit the site at: pdpa.co.uk
