Popular Brand Redesign
adidas — City Grid Redesign
Unofficial concept — an urban-sport concept connecting neighborhood courts, movement communities and modular performance apparel.
01 / At a glance
A quick summary for clients and collaborators.
What this project is about
A self-initiated redesign study exploring an alternative visual direction for adidas. This is an independent portfolio exercise and is not commissioned, approved, sponsored or endorsed by the brand. All trademarks belong to their respective owners. The project is structured as a complete professional exercise: research and positioning first, a repeatable system second, and production-ready applications third. Because it is self-initiated concept work, the page describes intended decisions and deliverables without suggesting a real commission, launch or commercial result.
Build local character across many cities while maintaining one recognizable global system and avoiding generic streetwear styling.
Translate court markings and city coordinates into modular grids that change by location while preserving disciplined typography and product focus.
Urban campaign / Apparel capsule / Court graphics / Community stories / Launch motion
02 / Brief
The challenge
Audience
- Decision-makers who need the offer to be understood quickly and trusted across several touchpoints.
Objectives
- Create a distinctive popular brand redesign direction that communicates the offer within seconds.
- Show how one strategic idea can become a coherent system rather than a collection of unrelated mockups.
- Demonstrate production awareness and handoff quality expected by international in-house, agency and production teams.
- Make every application useful for its audience, format and stage in the communication journey.
Constraints
- Urban campaign must follow the same hierarchy and visual rules while respecting its own format.
- Apparel capsule must follow the same hierarchy and visual rules while respecting its own format.
- Court graphics must follow the same hierarchy and visual rules while respecting its own format.
03 / Creative direction
The design response
Translate court markings and city coordinates into modular grids that change by location while preserving disciplined typography and product focus. The intended tone balances confidence with restraint: enough distinction to be memorable, but enough structure to feel credible across international commercial settings. References should be evaluated for strategic principles—hierarchy, rhythm, materiality and behaviour—not copied as surface style.
The core concept turns the project’s central subject into a repeatable visual rule. Each application should express the same idea through scale, sequence, crop or material rather than adding new decoration. The concept succeeds only if a viewer can connect the smallest digital asset with the largest or most detailed application.
Add audience notes, a concise competitor audit, reference principles and the selected concept territory.
04 / Design system
The visual system
Use a disciplined display-and-text pairing with a clear information hierarchy. Headline character supports the popular brand redesign idea; body copy remains neutral, highly legible and suitable for English and multilingual content.
Build a controlled primary palette around the volt direction, supported by neutral and functional colours. Define RGB, CMYK and contrast-safe digital values before final artwork.
Use a modular grid with repeatable spacing, alignment and scale rules so communication remains recognisable from compact formats to long-form and large-scale applications.
Set explicit rules for crop, perspective, background treatment, subject scale and captioning. Imagery must clarify the message rather than act as generic decoration.
Add high-resolution system sheets with readable specifications—not a distant phone or stationery mockup.
05 / Applications
What the project delivers
Unofficial redesign study
A respectful brand audit and alternative concept explored across relevant applications, always labeled as independent, speculative and unaffiliated with the trademark owner.
Add final artwork for urban campaign, apparel capsule, court graphics, community stories, launch motion, with captions describing the purpose of each item.
06 / Production & implementation
Designed to leave the portfolio and enter production
- Use self-created artwork, preserve trademark attribution, avoid copying active campaigns, label every presentation as unofficial concept work and never imply endorsement, employment or client approval.
Files should use a consistent folder structure, version names, editable masters, linked assets, licensed font notes and export presets. Final public content must pass a permission and privacy check.
Add dielines, grids, slide masters, apparel placements, responsive states, motion boards or preflight details relevant to this project.
07 / Iterations
How I developed the work
- Round 01 — Audit the category, audience, competitors and common visual clichés; write the problem and positioning in one sentence.
- Round 02 — Explore at least three distinct conceptual territories in black and white before committing to typography or colour.
- Round 03 — Test the selected direction on the most difficult real formats, not only the hero image; remove rules that fail under pressure.
- Round 04 — Refine hierarchy, spacing, colour and imagery; run print, contrast, small-size and responsive checks where relevant.
Add 3–5 meaningful options or revision stages. Explain why each changed; do not publish private client messages.
08 / Planned deliverables & status
What the future case study should contain
Planned deliverables
- Urban campaign
- Apparel capsule
- Court graphics
- Community stories
- Launch motion
- Creative-direction board and written rationale
Evidence standard
- The audience can identify the offer, category and next action without an explanation from the designer.
- Applications look related because they share rules—not because the same mockup or decorative effect is repeated.
- A production, marketing or development colleague can continue the work from the documented files and specifications.
- Accessibility, privacy and output requirements are resolved before presentation polish.
Current status
This is a written project plan only. Design execution and images have not been added yet.
International portfolio relevance
For an international employer or client, this planned case study is intended to demonstrate brand audit, redesign concept, art direction together with structured process, cross-media consistency and production discipline. It supports roles in in-house marketing, integrated agencies, brand teams and production-oriented design environments.
Next step
An unofficial concept direction and ten-scene application plan are prepared for portfolio exploration only. No claim is made that the brand needs redesigning or that this work represents an actual commercial proposal. The next improvement is to replace each placeholder with owned final artwork, add proofing or responsive evidence, and validate the narrative against the actual files. If the project becomes client work, the page should be updated with the true brief, contribution, constraints and approved outcome—never retrofitted with invented success.
09 / Image plan
Your exact upload checklist
These placeholders keep the written case study complete now. Replace them with owned, approved design images later in this order.
Treat the core mark as a physical object integrated into the subject environment, with deliberate negative space rather than a flat logo board. Visual world: rooftop courts, aerial city grids, chalk-line macros, modular apparel walls and night-lit community tournaments. Keep the project name, identity and core graphic language consistent through the complete sequence.
Use an oblique, reflected or partially obscured viewpoint that still proves the mark's silhouette and recognition. Visual world: rooftop courts, aerial city grids, chalk-line macros, modular apparel walls and night-lit community tournaments. Keep the project name, identity and core graphic language consistent through the complete sequence.
Photograph one relevant production method at extreme macro scale: embossing, engraving, stitching, illuminated acrylic or textured print. Visual world: rooftop courts, aerial city grids, chalk-line macros, modular apparel walls and night-lit community tournaments. Keep the project name, identity and core graphic language consistent through the complete sequence.
Show urban campaign, apparel capsule, court graphics as different communication jobs rather than repeated logo placement. Visual world: rooftop courts, aerial city grids, chalk-line macros, modular apparel walls and night-lit community tournaments. Keep the project name, identity and core graphic language consistent through the complete sequence.
Expand the graphic language into architecture, transport, exhibition or landscape without simply enlarging the logo. Visual world: rooftop courts, aerial city grids, chalk-line macros, modular apparel walls and night-lit community tournaments. Keep the project name, identity and core graphic language consistent through the complete sequence.
Show a real human action with the identity naturally present on a useful object, uniform, interface or sign. Visual world: rooftop courts, aerial city grids, chalk-line macros, modular apparel walls and night-lit community tournaments. Keep the project name, identity and core graphic language consistent through the complete sequence.
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