The farthest reaches of creativity come from Nike Design Exploration.
NikeLab is renowned for being the experimental, exploratory side of Nike, including collaborations with up and comer, and far-out designs for shoes and apparel. However, a new breed of creatives at the company sparked the need for a refresh, something that spoke to the varied projects and philosophies of the younger generation.
Enter: Nike Design Exploration.
To help bring Nike Design Exploration to life, I created a simple, evocative tagline: Explore Without Boundaries. NDE designers need to be free to create without restrictions, fear of failure, or even knowing where their destination may be. NDE is positioned to speak to the radical young creative, and we want to bring them into our world, by showing them what’s possible.
To introduce Nike Design Exploration to the visionary audience, we partnered with A-COLD-WALL* founder Samuel Ross to host a series of discussions on the meaning of creativity. We paired Samuel with top NDE designers for free-flowing, longform conversations, which were then condensed into ten minute episodes for Nike’s YouTube channel. This series is a first of its kind for Nike, a cross between a podcast, a panel discussion and a guided presentation. The trailer can be viewed above, with the first two episodes following below.
In the first episode of the series, host Samuel Ross examines what it means to be unafraid to fail. Ross is joined by iconic Nike designer Wilson Smith and current ISPA vanguards Niek Pulles and Shamees Aden for a frank and illuminating conversation on the nature of exploration, and why sometimes failure can lead to greater successes.
The NDE film series was the top story for the Holiday season in 2020, typically the busiest and most visible time of the year for Nike.
In addition to a prominent placement on Nike’s website and YouTube channel, the series was promoted throughout the Nike ecosystem. On the Nike app, fans and followers of NDE and NikeLab were served the episode before the general public, seeding excitement and helping generate interest in the campaign.
The trailer and first episode were shared by Samuel, the unofficial ISPA acount team_x6, and throughout Korean and Japan through influencer outreach.
The second episode of Explore Without Boundaries delves deep into the science of design. Sam welcomes Shamees Aden and Caroline Fullerton of ISPA and Caroline Till, cofounder of FranklinTill. They discuss biocentric design. In the second half of the video, Ross is joined by Joanie Larose and Jacob Arnold from the NSRL team to find out more about their processes and what they’re bringing to life in their new collection.
Samuel Ross shared the film with his followers on Instagram and IGTV. The second episode was also posted throughout Nike’s digital ecosystem, including on the Nike app and in multiple email campaigns.
Nike Design Exploration is made of three separate disciplines: ISPA, ESC and NSRL. That’s a lot of acronyms, so I’ve broken down my work across all three below.
The world is in a constant state of evolution, shifting with the expansion of our footprint. ISPA is a response to this state, calling for radical new methods of creativity.
This film serves as both an introduction to ISPA and the Road Warrior, one of the most radical footwear designs to come from Nike in years. Made in collaboration with Builder’s Club, the film is a fantastical and surreal exploration of what ISPA means, and what they stand for: Improvise. Scavenge. Protect. Adapt. This film was awarded a Vimeo Staff Pick and nominated for Vimeo Best of the Year.
When we launched NDE, ISPA was the lead story on NikeLab.com and for NikeLab fans on the Nike app. Following the Road Warrior film, we expounded upon the four tenets that make up the ISPA philosophy.
To playfully illustrate the ISPA philosophy, we created diagram videos for three key ISPA shoes: the Drifter, Flow and Overreact.
Using Nike’s robust email system, we were able to get the ISPA products and stories to the visionary consumer.
As a bonus for dedicated fans, we created an ISPA zine. While only physically available in Japan, we made it available digitally for members who engaged with past ISPA content.
Every Stitch Considered is the new spirit of luxury; data driven by the movement of athletes with a human touch of old world craft.
The muse for the first season of Every Stitch Considered was London-based artist Lea Colombo. Her prowess with both digital and physical media combines the classic with the modern, which is perfect for the refined ESC brand. Lea created a hero film as well as photography assets, in collaboration with our Nike team, for the campaign.
Lea shared the images and film on her social channels, helping spread the breadth of the work to a wider audience who might not know about ESC but would be interested in the craft-based clothing line.
Every Stitch Considered was introduced and hero’d throughout Nike’s digital ecosystem, starting with a takeover on nikelab.com and pushing through app, email and mobile integrations.
Lea’s imagery was also interspersed with images from the ESC collection on nikelab.com, creating an elevated shopping experience while showcasing the premium craft at hand.
Lea also sat down for an extensive interview, excerpts of which can be seen above. The interview captures the crux of what ESC stands for, and illuminates Lea’s process and how it intersects with the idea of Nike Design Exploration.
The research and analysis that fuels Nike Sport Research Lab is as precise as it is pioneering. Performance data collected in real-time, real-world conditions shaped the new NSRL series, focused exclusively on cold-weather running.
The first NSRL release concerned cold-weather running. Using data collected from the Nike Run Club app, global running crews, and the World Headquarters lab, a pattern emerged: the two greatest challenges for runners are temperature regulation and visibility in low-light conditions. Our campaign was filmed in Tokyo, using cutting edge technology to show how Nike was able to address these challenges head-on. The hero film features snippets that showcase the products in a heightened realism.
NSRL is built on the backbone of thousands of points of data, so we wanted to create a visual to mirror that fact. Enter GAN, or General Adversarial Network. This video was created solely by a machine learning computer, fed images of runners and stitched together by algorithm. The result is what the computer sees as a run. This use of GAN is a first for Nike and in the running space.
We created a series of product videos for the two main releases of the season, the Transform Jacket and the Aurora Bomber. Above, a split-screen video shows the many iterations of the Transform Jacket while a runner maintains her gait. The individual videos were comped together by a computer to create a whole moving image.
The Transform Jacket is a modular construct with removable sleeves and insulation, water resistance and a packable design. This video highlights those key features in motion.
The Aurora Bomber glows brightest at night, using a glow-in-the-dark material that can hold and retain light. By using a flashlight or other strong light source, runners can “power up” the jacket.
As always, NikeLab’s home page and digital presence hosted the bulk of the content and drove engagement, views, and sales of the NSRL product.
On the NDE hub, we showcased all of the video and product content we shot, as well as detailed information on the products.
On the Nike Run Club app, we created a version of the NSRL digital experience to reach a dedicated runner audience. This is the first time NikeLab has ever been featured on this app.
We also shared the videos as a social post on @nikerunning, a first for the NDE team. Response from the audience was very positive, and the post generated a 15% increase in reach and engagement compared to baseline for the channel.
ROLES
Senior Copywriter: Michael Taylor
Art Director: Jake Gevalt // Jake Gascoyne
Sr. Art Director: Everett Vangsnes
Digital Design: Tricia Diaz // Peter Gjovik
Brand Narrative Director: Lydia Pang
Creative Director: Kamauri Yeh
ISPA Production Partner: Builders Club
ESC Photography, Creative Direction and Film: Lea Colombo
NSRL Film Production Partner: Cekai
NSRL GAN Imaging and Additional Art Direction: Actual Objects
NDE Logo Design and Additional Brand Design: Actual Source
Explore Without Boundaries Film Production Partner and Additional Art Direction: New Company