Sneaker Time
A sneaker publication that turned into an app: what is dropping, which raffles are open, and what things are actually going for, without the hype.
This one went the other way round from the rest. The audience came first and told me what was missing, so by the time I built the app I already knew what it had to do.
- What I did
- Brand · Editorial · Product · Design · Build · Launch
- What it is
- iPhone app · Editorial site · Drops and raffles · Alerts
- Who it is for
- Software product, built out of an audience
- Status
- Live
Published on
Sneaker Time
The publication and the app carry the same voice, which is the only reason either of them works.
The problem
The information is everywhere, and most of it is wrong.
If you want a pair of trainers at retail rather than double retail, you need to know three things, and all three are scattered across places that are trying to sell you something.
When it drops. Which shops are doing a raffle and when those close. And what it is honestly worth, as opposed to what a reseller would like you to believe it is worth.
That last one is where most of it falls down. Plenty of accounts will tell you a shoe is a grail. Far fewer will tell you it is sitting on a shelf and will be on sale in a fortnight.
What I built
The brand first, then the app.
It started as a publication rather than a product. New releases, resale prices, what is actually happening in the industry, and the design history behind the shoes people are queuing for. Aimed at the exclusive end rather than everything with a swoosh on it, which made it narrower and better.
Running that is what told me what to build. The same questions came up constantly, and they were questions a feed is bad at answering because the answer is time sensitive and the feed is not.
So the app does the time sensitive half. What is dropping and when. Which UK raffles are live right now and the moment each one shuts. What you are watching, kept in one place. And alerts, so you find out before it has gone rather than after.
What it does
- Drops, with the dates that matter
- Open UK raffles, and when each one closes
- Resale prices, including when the answer is do not bother
- The ones you are watching, in one list
- Alerts before a drop, not after it
- Editorial and design history alongside the news
- A site and an app sharing one voice
Why it is on this page
Building an audience is work, and it is the same work.
This is a different kind of project to the rest of what I do, and that is exactly why it is here. The brand, the writing, the look of it, the app and the site are all mine, and they all had to agree with each other or none of it would have landed.
It is also the clearest proof I have that I do not just build the thing and hand it over. Someone had to decide what this sounded like, what it would and would not cover, and what it looked like on a phone at eight in the morning. That is the same job as the brand and social work I do for other people, except here nobody briefed me.
Where it is
Live, with the site alongside it.
The app is out on the App Store and the publication runs at sneakertime.co.uk. The two feed each other, which was the point: the writing brings people in, and the app is the reason they stay.
Want something like this
If the Sneaker Time story sounds like your business, tell me about it.
No pitch and no obligation. Tell me what you’re running on now and what’s going wrong with it, and I’ll tell you straight whether it’s worth doing.