logo's got game

defining the brand of global basketball
FIBA (Fédération International de Basketball)
Geneva, Switzerland

I worked on this identity program while I was still at Interbrand Zintzmeyer & Lux in Zurich, back in 2001. It was one of those projects where the client comes in with a sketch on a napkin and says "we want something like this" – well more or less.

And yes, i rolled my eyes. However, not only were they a pleasure to work with, but the outcome did in fact take on a unique life of its own.

A comprehensive brand identity system was launched across five global regions and apparently, nine years later it is not only still in place but the individual Basketball Federations seemed to have embraced it, this clip being the semis of the recent FIBA Europechallenge in March. Secretly, I get a kick out of seeing the FIBA font, co-created by myself and purist Dalton Maag in London, be applied in such loud and vivacious brand environments. And who doesn't get a kick out of seeing a larger-than-life rendition of their logo being trampled on by the likes of a Dirk Nowitsky on a break-away? Except that it´s on a jarring white ground due to television legibilty... but I am sure that only I notice this "do-not-do" quite so painfully.