ISAAC WOOTEN
CueScore, League Edition

CueScore

An iPhone scorekeeper for pool leagues, and the seed of Digital Pool. Its screens, scoring system and signed scoresheets from 2010 and 2011, and the brand world they implied.

2010–11
Designed and built at Levid Media
Digital Pool
The idea that became the company
10 → 15
Ten screens, fifteen brand surfaces
↗
Brand book
Result

CueScore kept score so league players could keep shooting. An iPhone scorekeeper for league nights that I designed and built at Levid Media in 2010 and 2011: rack-by-rack scoring for 8-ball and 9-ball, safeties, dead balls and timeouts, match points against handicaps, and a scoresheet both captains sign on the phone, which then comes out as the league’s own form, filled in. In 2013 cuescoreapp.com still said it was coming soon; the idea came back in 2018 as Digital Pool, now the scoring platform under events like the US Open and the World Pool Championship. What it taught me: in a pool room, the interface has to read from across the table.

The brief

In a loud pool room, the score has to read from across the table.

The table is the interface. The racked balls sit on full-screen felt, each player’s score in a big white ring at either side, safeties and timeouts along the bottom, and a black rail of chrome above and below for the match and the actions. Tap a ball and an overlay asks one question (Score It, Dead Ball or Cancel). Games end on a gold winner and a green Continue Match; matches end on a ledger of totals, then a signature from each captain. Behind it sits a flowchart of every branch a rack can take, drawn before a screen was.

The table is the interface

Felt, balls and two score rings: the game on the phone looks like the game on the table.

One question at a time

Score It, Dead Ball, Cancel. Green to go on, red to undo, gold for the winner.

Signed on the phone

Captains sign and rate the other team; the league’s scoresheet comes out filled in.

Mapped first

Break, safety, dead ball, game and match: every branch charted before it was built.

The work

Three iPhones running CueScore: a nine-ball rack on green felt with each player’s score in a big ring, the Score It, Dead Ball and Cancel overlay, and James A. wins game 11 with Continue Match.
A match, a shot, a game won.
The splash screen: CueScore League Edition over a spill of glossy pool balls.
CueScore, League Edition.
The dashboard: a grid of icons for Play, Teams, Activity, Profile, News, Events, Live, Rules and Settings.
The dashboard.
An 8-ball game: the balls on the felt, each player’s score in a ring, safeties and a timeout along the bottom.
8-ball, Match 2, Game 8.
The scoring overlay: Score It in green, Dead Ball in red and Cancel, floating over the felt.
Score It, Dead Ball, Cancel.
The end of a game: James A. wins game 11, with Continue Match and Edit History.
A game won.
Match 2 results: total score, match points, safeties, 9 snaps and break-and-runs for both players, innings and dead balls.
The match in numbers.
Sign Scoresheet, in landscape: a captain signs on the screen, rates the opposing team in stars, then submits or protests the match.
Captains sign on the phone.
A completed league 9-ball scoresheet, filled in and signed by both captains, footed Scoresheet generated with CueScore (2010).
And the league’s scoresheet comes out filled in.
The scoring system as a flowchart: a new or loaded match, the game type, players and handicaps, then every branch of a shot, a game and a match, to the end of the match.
Every branch of a match, mapped before it was built.

Brand system

Seen again years later, the app was already most of a brand. I locked what it held (felt green and rail black, nine-ball gold for the winner and stripe red for undo, a light small-caps wordmark with a script League Edition, glossy balls under a pendant light) and followed it into print, product, an app icon, photography, data, a campaign and a pool room.

  • CueScore. Brand world: the wordmark over a pool table at nightBrand world · rendered from the locked brand DNA
  • CueScore. Logo variations sheet
  • CueScore. Wordmark construction
  • CueScore. Brand guidelines sheet
  • CueScore. Business cards
  • CueScore. Packaging
  • CueScore. Merch collection
  • CueScore. App icon
  • CueScore. Lifestyle photography: league night in a pool room
  • CueScore. Website hero
  • CueScore. App screens
  • CueScore. Campaign key visual
  • CueScore. Data visualisation: match and player stats
  • CueScore. Billboard
  • CueScore. Pool room storefront at night

The app and its screens are the work. The wordmark is rebuilt from the 2010 splash screen, and the brand world is a 2026 study made with my own tool from them. It is not the CueScore tournament service founded in 2015.

Scoresheet generated with CueScore.

The foot of every signed scoresheet, 2010

Role

Designer and developer at Levid Media, 2010 to 2011. A 2026 study for the brand world.

Product design

Scoring for 8-ball and 9-ball, the overlays, game and match results, and the signing flow.

Scoring system

The rules of a league match as a flowchart, then as code.

Scoresheets

Filled in, signed and printed in the league’s own format.

Fifteen surfaces

From the locked brand DNA: logo system, guidelines, cards, packaging, merch, an app icon, photography, data, web, app, a campaign, billboard and storefront.

  • Product design
  • iOS
  • Scoring systems
  • UI design
  • Brand DNA extraction
  • Brand systems

Next

Where it went: the company it became.

See Digital Pool →