Apropos- designed a visual language document which governed every aspect of the design including advertising, in-store, print, digital and product. We developed an urban graphic language which anticipated a punk revival with photocopied textures and chevron motifs.
We chose Perou for photography – a creative more usually associated with fashion campaigns. The advertising was produced by Leagas Delaney who followed our visual language. The European campaign included magazine adverts and outdoor multi-sheet placements including a take-over of London’s Tottenham Court Road underground station. Apropos- designed press launches for newly signed brand ambassadors Thierry Henry and Andriy Shevchenko which included the location design, invites and press packs.
Following on from the 06/7 campaign, we designed a new visual language for the 07/8 seasons. Some elements were evolutions of the previous identity – ie. the logo and photography brief. But with the graphics we decided on a more confrontational approach. Scratched and painted type and graphics produced a more aggressive message. While the competition continued in it’s corporate clinical technology aesthetic we wanted Reebok to stand out as the credible urban football brand. Painted and scratched elements were widely used in product designs. In communication lifestyle graphics use painted type while performance used scratched lettering. Both have an amateur quality as part of the street authentic anti-design approach. Leagas Delaney designed the print campaign in line with the visual language. We created the graphic headline text for both performance and lifestyle campaigns. We also worked with Skive and Reebok to create a web site that reinforced the aggression and irreverence of the new football campaign. As each new page loads it obliterates the last, as if over painted. Painted and scratched graphic element were created by Apropos, also a simplified custom version of the hand drawn type face.
The 2008/9 language builds on the established counter-culture themes and goes back to basics with early computer graphics. We combined crude pixelated hand drawn elements with low-res photography in bold colour combinations to create a distinctive tribal aesthetic. Graphics retain the simplicity of 07/8 painted and scratched type, whilst acknowledging the growing interest in 80’s technology with it’s inherent crude design aesthetic. The communication signature for 2008/9 is a smashed version of the core design of the 07/08 signature. It references broken windows and shop/factory display lettering and signs.
