When a good website just needs a little help: a simple website redesign for a local sports club
- Apr 6
- 4 min read
Some projects come to you in the most straightforward way. Paul and I met at a local networking evening in Manchester, had a brief chat, and he followed up the next day after reading my flyer. A week later we were sitting in a local co-working space while he walked me through exactly what was frustrating him about his website.
There was no hard sell, and no lengthy back and forth. Just an honest conversation about what wasn't working for him, and what could be better.
About Assembly Pickleball Club
Assembly Pickleball Club isn't a club in the traditional sense. Paul runs weekly play sessions across three locations in Greater Manchester, open to absolutely anyone, with no experience necessary and no membership required. The whole ethos of Assembly is inclusivity: welcoming people of all ages, abilities, and backgrounds into a sport that's genuinely easy to pick up and hard not to enjoy.
Paul had invested in a proper brand identity when he launched, working with a designer to establish his visual identity and brand guidelines. The problem was that when it came to building the website himself in Wix, he'd struggled to translate that brand consistently onto the screen. The site did the job, but it wasn't quite reflecting the energy and warmth of what Assembly actually is.
The website redesign brief
When we met, Paul was clear about what he needed. He wasn't after a complete overhaul, instead he just wanted his website to actually feel like his brand, to function properly on mobile, and to make it easier for people to find and book sessions. He also wanted the site to be straightforward for him to update going forward, without needing to call in a designer every time something changed.
What struck me in that first conversation was how well Paul understood his audience and his business. He didn't need me to tell him what Assembly was about, he just needed help making the website say it clearly.
What we worked on
After our consultation, I put together a detailed overview of everything I was going to work on. The changes covered the whole site rather than just a few pages, but the focus throughout was always on making things clearer, more consistent, and easier to use.
These are the updates I made:
The header and footer were redesigned for both desktop and mobile, with a proper navigation structure that made it easier to find the most important things, including a clear Book Now button that had previously been easy to miss.
The homepage became more of a signposting page, with booking information brought up near the top where it belongs for a business that depends on people actually turning up to sessions.
A new section was added to the homepage which highlighted the Assembly philosophy and linked through to the Why Assembly page, which was itself redesigned to present the content more clearly and include testimonials that had previously been buried in the FAQs.
The bookings page was restructured to show all three session locations properly, each with the relevant details a new visitor would need: where to go, how to find it, and how to book. This was set up through the Wix CMS so Paul could update location information easily himself without touching the design.
The membership offer page had a broken layout that was fixed and rewritten to make clear that what Assembly offers is a session bundle rather than a traditional membership, which is a meaningful distinction for anyone wondering whether they have to commit before they've even picked up a paddle.
Accessibility
One of the things I'm most glad we included was the accessibility work. I installed and configured a Wix accessibility plugin that added a full suite of accessibility features to the site, and went through all the typography across every page to ensure contrast levels and legibility met a proper standard.
Paul mentioned afterwards that one of his clients had specifically thanked him for the accessibility features. That's the kind of detail that's easy to overlook when you're building a website yourself, and easy to get right when you know what to look for.
The result
Paul's response when he first saw the updated site was immediate and honest, which I really appreciated. He said he loved it, and followed up a few days later to say the site was live and already drawing praise. More than that, he told me it felt like his brand: professional and polished, but with the spirit of what he'd built still very much intact.
Visit the Assembly Pickleball Club website here: www.assemblypickleball.com
"You've kept all the spirit of the original and made it more professional, polished and credible. Thanks for listening to what I wanted and helping me understand what was needed, and for being easy to work with."
Paul, Assembly Pickleball Club
What this project taught me
Working with Paul for his website redesign was a good reminder that not every small business website needs to be built from scratch. Sometimes the bones are right and the content is good, and what's missing is the design confidence to bring it all together properly.
It was also this project that got me thinking about how many small business owners are in exactly the same position: a website that mostly works, or a brand they're proud of, but a nagging feeling that something isn't quite landing. Often they don't need a full redesign, but instead they just need someone to look at it properly and tell them what's actually worth changing.
That's exactly what my Website Design Sense-Check is designed for. It's a one-hour session where I review your website from a design perspective and give you an honest, practical list of priorities to work through, with no obligation to take things any further.
Find out more about my bookable design sessions here and get in touch with any questions!
