Newbury Racecourse

UX/UI WEB

Agency
McCormack & Morrison

Role
UX/UI, Creative Direction and Lead Design

Overview

Newbury Racecourse is a well known UK venue with a broad commercial footprint, spanning professional horseracing, large scale events, corporate hospitality and property development.

I led the UX and creative direction for a new website that needed to represent all sides of the business in a single, coherent experience. The challenge was balancing heritage and prestige with commercial clarity, without letting any one area dominate.

2013-2015

Research and insights

The site served very different audiences. Racing fans, event organisers, corporate clients and commercial partners all arrived with different priorities.

What became clear early on was that a one size approach would not work. Users needed to recognise quickly whether the site was relevant to them, and then be guided to the right content without friction.

This led to a clear separation of content streams, supported by strong navigation and page structures that allowed each part of the business to stand on its own while still feeling part of the same brand.

Design work

The design focused on clarity, hierarchy and restraint.

Racing content, events and hospitality were given distinct spaces within the site, using layout and structure rather than heavy visual treatment to differentiate them. Imagery played an important role, but was used carefully to support content rather than overwhelm it.

The overall experience was designed to feel premium and confident, while remaining easy to navigate and maintain.