503 Adidas Brief - Design Development

Logo Design:

Following my initial sketches for the logo design, I went on to re-create some of my ideas digitally. I focused more on the idea of creating the letter 'A' for 'Adidas Ability' from the different Adidas-like shapes. I though these logos are all quite successful, as they are simple and easy to distinguish, but at the same time quite intriguing and purposeful. In the end, however, none of these logos were used, as when it came to the app and website layout design, my team member Serge did not incorporate neither mine nor his logo designs within the layout.

However, a form of a logotype was used instead. For the 'Adidas Ability' campaign, I created a sort of banner that could be used on the web/app platforms. This in a way turned into the campaigns logo, as it would sit on top of some navigational pages.

I decided to incorporate into the logotype the illustrations/icons I had created for the visual language of the campaign. I did this to give the logotype more personality, and to showcase to the target audience what kind of branding to expect. This logotype sets the tone for all the rest of the graphics/imagery content to come.

We wanted a 'main' colour for the brand, and although yellow was quite striking, it felt too typical and expected, so I explored various different colours that could become the brands 'main colour'. I found that very bright colours made the type and illustrations disappear, and that the softer colours made them stand out more.

 The colour I choose in the end was a baby/light blue. This was because I believe that the  colour is quite unexpected for a sports branding, and is also quite visually pleasing. The colour is calm and friendly, which makes it appropriate for our target audience of 17-25 year olds. I also looked at the positioning of the three signature Adidas stripes. I included the stripes in the first place so that there could be consistency between the main Adidas and the Adidas Ability brand. For the placement of the stripes, I wanted them to not overpower, but to enhance the logotype. That is why the simple yet effective three stripes rising up vertically was chosen. This symbolises how 'Adidas Ability' cane make you 'rise up' and 'become more' in a way, it symbolises positivity and growth.

 Looking back on the logotype design, I wanted to quickly explore how the icons/illustrations would look it they were not neatly collated above the name. Doing this revealed that if they were to be placed randomly over the page, the whole logotype/banner design losses balance and feels to unconsidered and unprofessional. Having the icons line up neatly on top of the world looks more serious and professional, as well as aesthetically pleasing.

The final logotype/banner design above is a slightly edited down version of the ones previously, there are less icons. I removed some of the icons because I felt that there were too many and they were making the logotype/banner seem too heavy and busy. By having less icons the logotype/banner feels more casual, friendly and approachable.

Drill Card Design:

After some feedback about my initial design, that they were a little bit "too much" and "over the top", I decided to try and make the drill cards less complex and overcrowded by utilising the illustrations within them. I also created additional illustrations of the items that I had already included within the initial design, but now they were less attention grabbing and more in cohesion with the rest of the branding.

Still, this illustration style felt a little bit too over the top, and so I wanted to simplify the composition and layout of the icons/illustrations. Also, to get rid of the fire element.

 After removing and changing some elements within the collage/composition, I was much happier with the look of the drill card. The layout/composition is now much cleaner and easier to understand. All the elements within the composition feel balanced, and the overall feel and atmosphere of the drill card is cohesive with the rest of the visual language/branding of the campaign.

 As I was happy with the expert 'Bossman' drill card, I then went on to create the medium skill 'bang average', and the beginner 'baby steps' custom illustrations and drill cards.

The colours I used for the skill levels are representative of the level, with baby steps being yellow, bang average orange and bossman red. The colour gradient helps to distinguish easily between the skill levels for the viewer and target audience, and can easily be adapted into various other drill exercises that could be added in the future.

Player Cards Design:

Having designed the icons/illustrations for the visual language of the branding, as well as the drill cards, I had a very strong visual identity that I could apply to the player cards. From my initial designs, I had kept only the imagery of the footballers in motion. This was because I felt that the motion pictures added a form of excitement to the designs. I also changed the name 'Adidas Ability' to the players actual names, to aid the users in distinguishing and recognising the players. I used the icons/illustrations within each player card to keep a cohesive and consistent design. Only the composition and the colour changes with each player. The different colours were assigned so that it could be easier for the viewer/audience to distinguish between the player drills, and also the colours can be used in the future to categories different drills and aid app/website navigation.

Drill Card Adaptation to Wesbsite/App:

Due to some communication issues between the team, the drills cards I had previously designed were the wrong format/size for the layout of the website and app. For this reason, I then had to go back to my design and edit them down to fit the layout format/size.
I wanted to try and keep the same humorous feel to the drill cards as I had previously, but just edit it down so I only needed a few elements to communicate the same message. Because of this, I choose to pick just one common group of illustration within each drill, and that was clothing. I realised that I can still easily and with humour communicate each category with just the top half of clothing. I used the same typeface and the signature three stripes within these re-designs, to keep the cohesiveness between the new drill cards and the rest of the content.

I played around with the placement of the stripes, and decided upon mimicking the logotype/banner design I had previously done and having them rise upwards. This fits in well with the composition as it allows all elements of the design to stand out and be clear. It also symbolises positivity and growth towards success.