The challenge

Footy Finance puts young people in charge of a football club, challenging them with a number of fictional scenarios. The app aims to improve their confidence and awareness of finance, business and risk management.

The project was a success with 35% of pupils across 316 schools feeling more confident at managing their money after playing the game.

"I just wanted to thank you for the time and effort that everybody at Selesti has shown to deliver such a great initiative, which we hope will see real educational benefit to young people, both in Norfolk and nationally." '''
Danny Nobbs, Sponsorship Consultant, Aviva UK

One of the key challenges of Footy Finance was creating an application process and Q&A format that was accessible and engaging for both younger children and teenagers.

Getting the balance right was crucial as the target audience spanned a wide age-range.

A collaborative approach

We delivered the project using agile methodology to build a bespoke responsive design in line with Aviva and Norwich City Football Club’s brand guidelines.

Building Footy Finance in sprints allowed us to review the build with the client at every step — placing their vision at the heart of the project — while injecting our own creativity, of course.

To keep content fresh and interesting, we developed a content management system so that new scenarios could be added into the mix.

The use of school-specific login codes ensured security and complete confidentiality of school users logging into the app. To increase participation and generate interest, sharing functionality was enabled.

Behind the build

The underlying system for the game uses Laravel 5, a framework which has soared in popularity in recent years, with Backpack CMS. It offers lots of great features and is an open source project we regularly contribute to.

Our frontend responsive framework of choice was UIKit which offers a consistent and reliable experience across devices.

We also used the battle-tested AngularJS by Google to handle the logic for the game interface. Using a hardened and popular system meant that we knew core aspects are tried and tested — making it the ideal choice for the project.

Our bespoke build was part of our R&D activities at Selesti. We are passionate about investing in innovative projects in science and technology — this custom build was the latest instalment of our drive to advance the field.