Nike
Nike commissioned me to create a custom version of the Ordem football, with an open creative brief. I conceived the ball as a gallery, with each panel offering a different interpretation of London’s history, people and football culture. I selected and art-directed contributing artists, bringing together contrasting styles and guiding their work from initial sketches through to final artwork.
I illustrated two panels exploring different sides of London’s football culture. One captures the energy of grassroots football through an interlocking composition of legs, boots and movement. The other brings together club chants, colours and supporter stickers, reflecting the rivalries and loyalties that give London’s football communities character.
I created a bold typographic interpretation of Nike’s identity, combining expressive lettering with the Swoosh. Alongside it, illustrator Michael Arnold captured London through a playful composition of landmarks, architecture and everyday details.
Park Life celebrates the everyday pleasure of playing football, using flowing lettering to fill the panel. The accompanying collage draws on vintage London football programmes, bringing decades of club identities, typography and print graphics into the composition. Together, they explore the game through participation and its printed history.
Edward Monaghan’s illustration brings together a colourful cast of characters, reflecting the diversity of London’s football community. Chester Holme takes a more observational approach, depicting an improvised pitch beneath railway arches and tower blocks. Both explore the people and everyday places that give London football its identity.
Austrian design studio Zwupp explored the soul of football through an abstract composition of movement and texture. Joe Gamble focused on the crowd, using loose brushwork to capture individual faces and collective emotion. I encouraged this variety, giving contributors room to interpret the theme through their own visual language.
A typographic tribute to England’s 1966 World Cup victory sits alongside Quiet British Accent’s interpretation of the emotional highs and lows of supporting a team. The original ball featured at Nike’s House of Phenomenal event in London.
