OVERVIEW
I partnered with Nike’s Brand Jordan creative team to create a brand identify for the launch of the first shoe for NBA and global superstar Luka Dončić. In late 2019, Jordan Brand officially announced Luka Dončić as the newest member of its growing roster of athletes. At the time, Luka was just barely into his second season as an NBA pro, but with a Rookie of the Year hardware under his belt, the Slovenian guard had all the promise to be a perennial force in the NBA, and thus far he’s surpassed expectations as a player, a leader, and as an icon of the game. After three years in the league, Brand Jordan decided it was time to provide Luka with his own identity in pursuit of launching his new brand globally in 2022.
magija
Tagged as “magic” in his native Slovenia, Luka dazzles the league
We labeled the space the “Design Gym” (Luka is a habitual gym rat and loved the idea of nodding to his obsession to craft) and created a mindset around pushing he boundaries of ideas “Department of Unimaginable.” We brought in new ways of thinking and working—3D printers to create replicas of the new shoe, unique fabrics and materials—as we wanted this experience to be more than just about a logo or a singular feeling.
APPROACH
Luka had quickly become a centerpiece of the Dallas community. Nike’s team wanted to make sure that the voice of the community was a part of the process. We scouted several locations across the city to host a three day design session. We wanted to make the experience unique and consistent with the Jordan brand, but relaxed enough to allow for a free exchange of ideas. Luka was extremely accommodating coming to the challenge with no preconceived ideas or direction.
GOAT
“His Airness,” Michael Jordan, was not able to join the sessions in person but kicked us off in style
We were able to attract people of all ages and backgrounds to our design workshops. It gave us an incredible backdrop to pull from and provided us with a variety of different ideas.
Teams started out their discussions keying on building out themes in various methods, with word clouds seeking to find unique properties being most popular
THE SOLUTION
We took advantage of moving in a “sprint” mentality, breaking out attendees into groups with creative leaders and designers to help facilitate to bring to life. We would use presentation sessions to give the teams a chance to share their ideas to a panel that included Luka. As we narrowed in on ideas we would eliminate others and go back to refine ideas in a round robin fashion before honing in on an idea that resonated with the panel.
When it came to the logo mark, teams had lots of great ideas, taking cues from Luka’s current team all the way to reflecting on his homeland of Slovenia
Being as competitive as he is, Luka even dazzled with some of his artistic swagger, lending thoughts and ideas to the process
Narrowing down the process, teams turned to bringing their marks to life, utilizing the power of the different tools and products Nike brought to the sessions. At the end of the three days, the panel and Luka were really taken by one solution in particular that the team helped to visualize on his to be launched shoe among other aspects of the intended brand launch.
We eventually expanded the work from those sessions to undertake further testing. As the team from Nike continued those tests, the feedback wasn’t as strong as anticipated. We went back to the drawing board, taking cues from the initial mark and expanding to refine, landing on a solution that was a strong improvement of the foundations of the first ideas.
Luka was incredibly proud of the mark. He shared "It’s inspired by the Mobius strip, which looks like an infinite loop from inside to outside. It’s a very deceptive shape, almost like two lightning bolts. It also looks like my initials, “LD”, and my number, 77. The negative space reveals an “S” for Slovenia."
OUTCOMES
Luka has such a big community presence in Dallas. To payback the younger participants he promised they would be the first to get his new shoes and some gear. We also went a step further to pull together some volunteers in the area and partner with Nike to revamp near by courts, celebrating the launch of his brand.
“We were thrilled with the three days we were able to do in Dallas. Nike is big on connecting to our community and with someone with the power to transform an entire city like Luka, it was important that we had the city’s stamp was on this process. I am grateful for Brian’s partnership in helping us conceive the ideas for the sessions, steer direction, and shape what the groups were coming up with as a result. His passion for sports and understanding of what Nike and Brand Jordan stand for was evident in the vibe in the room for those days and carried over into the final solution.”
– Christopher Barclay, Creative Director for Jordan Brand North America