Haxby Runners is a friendly, inclusive affiliated running club based in Haxby, York, welcoming all abilities.
Haxby Runners were looking to move on from their England Athletics-provided website, which offered little flexibility — no image support on key pages and a largely text-heavy experience. The committee also needed to be able to update the site independently, so a straightforward, no-code builder was a must. I produced parallel mockups in both Wix and Squarespace so the club could make a direct comparison, and they landed on Squarespace as the better fit.
Brief
The club had a clear vision for what they wanted — a modern, image-led website that made proper use of their extensive photo library. Key requirements included a dedicated race page covering their flagship event, the Haxby 10k, alongside information on their regular run sessions. They also needed a password-protected members area, giving the committee a private space to share content exclusively with club members. As with any modern website, mobile optimisation was equally important, ensuring the site looked and functioned just as well on a phone as on desktop.
The Process
With full creative control over the design, the starting point was understanding the audience. Haxby Runners attracts a broad membership, skewing towards the 30 to 55 plus age range and rooted in the spirit of an inclusive, social running club rather than a competitive one. That shaped the design direction early on -- rather than reaching for something ultra-modern, the priority was clarity and simplicity, making the site welcoming and easy to navigate for all members.
The colour palette was drawn directly from the club's existing logo, keeping the visual identity consistent across old and new. From there the build went straight into Squarespace, working through each section of the site and making layout decisions as the content came together.
A few rounds of feedback with the committee followed, mostly centred on copy refinements and additional information that needed incorporating. Some of those additions required new layouts to present the content clearly, but nothing that required stepping back from the overall design direction.
Check out the full website at www.haxbyrunners.com