The Lamp HQ
The Lamp HQ is an unofficial NHL fan forum, built as a real, running web application rather than a static mockup. It is one clean, fast room for all thirty-two clubs: pick your team in settings and the whole site wears its colors.
Creative & Technical
Design & Full-Stack Development
Initial build: 3 weeks. Ongoing.
32 NHL Clubs
The Challenge
Understanding the problem space and identifying key obstacles.
Fan communities live and die on atmosphere. A forum that looks like every other message board gives supporters no reason to choose it, and most sports fan sites are either abandoned templates or thin social feeds with no real home of their own.
The brief grew over time. What started as one team's arena had to become a single home for all thirty-two NHL clubs, re-theming itself per fan, while still working as a genuine forum with accounts, moderation, and live data. On top of that sat a harder problem: a Trade Builder that does honest, league-wide salary-cap math, not a toy. All of it had to stay fast and polished without leaning on an off the shelf component library.
One clean, fast room for all thirty-two clubs, with a thread that lights the lamp every game night.
The Solution
Our approach to solving the challenge through design and technology.
We built The Lamp HQ as a complete, custom application rather than a configured template, then scaled it from a single team to the whole league without a rebuild.
How we built it
- ✓
A hand-built, re-themable design system: The entire interface runs on a custom CSS design system with its own tokens, with no Tailwind or component kit, so the whole site can repaint itself in any of the thirty-two teams' colors.
- ✓
A real Trade Builder: League-wide cap impact is computed from real CapWages data, with salary retention, verified picks, and real prospects, then made shareable with rich link previews and community voting.
- ✓
Live data with a safety net: Scores, standings, and a transactions wire sync automatically, with a coverage watchdog and graceful fallbacks so the site stays informative even when an upstream feed drops.
- ✓
Full account and moderation system: Registration, sessions, and member, moderator, and admin roles, with an engagement-weighted hot sort, a reputation ladder, and an earned badge trophy case.
Experience It Live
Step into the rink. Explore the live, league-wide forum we built, from team personalization and the Trade Builder to Game Day mode and the transactions wire.
Pick any of the thirty-two clubs and the whole site wears its colors
Trade Builder with real league-wide cap impact and shareable trade links
Live transactions wire with a coverage watchdog and daily digest
Game Day Live broadcast mode, boards, standings, and collectible fan cards
Performance That Matters
Built for speed and optimized for every device. Real metrics from real users.
The game-night experience had to feel just as immersive in a pocket as it does on a desktop, because most fans check the boards on their phone during a game.
Responsive by design The layout reflows cleanly from a wide desktop view down to a single column, keeping the scoreboard, threads, Trade Builder, and Game Day feed easy to read and tap on any screen.
Motion that respects the user Every signature animation, including the goal lamp flash in your team's colors, honors the system reduced motion preference, so the site stays comfortable for everyone.
Built for speed A modern Next.js and React foundation with server rendering keeps first loads quick and navigation instant, even with live data on the page.
Measurable Impact
One forum for the whole league, re-themed to the team each fan picks.
The Trade Builder runs real league-wide cap math from CapWages.
A hand-built CSS design system, with no Tailwind or component library.
Ready to Create Something Extraordinary?
Let's work together to build a solution that drives real results for your business.