Chicago Bulls Design Team - 2023-24 Season
The 6th Annual Awards
- Best Graphic Design
ABOUT THIS ENTRY
The Bulls graphic design team attempts to storytell the Bulls team and brand in a way befitting of one of the most global brands in all of sports. With the launch of the forward-looking SEE RED brand campaign—and a thoughtful celebration of the past through the team’s Ring of Honor celebration—the design team melded multiple worlds and directions into a cohesive look and visual approach across all Bulls channels and platforms.
How does this represent “Excellence in Engagement”?
“We don’t live in the shadow of others, we cast our own.”
This sentence appears in our internal brand campaign manifesto and encapsulates what the Bulls brand means around the world. This was not only our north star in terms of purpose, but also was incorporated in our actual visual identity and look—the Bulls silhouette is a constant presence throughout our work and our design, and the underlying storytelling is present in all forms of content.
Fans experienced our storytelling through social media, through creative across the city of Chicago, within a virtual experience for Ring of Honor, in person at pop up events at the United Center. Current players engaged with it through multiple season-opening events and shoots, and our legends got a taste of it as they were celebrated with our design elements throughout Ring of Honor celebrations, including receiving a custom-built trophy designed with our creative in mind.
Excellence in design is often about the emotions and feelings it conjures in the viewer—we are proud to say that our purposeful designs achieved that in the eye of the viewer.
Objective
This season, we were tasked with a unique opportunity to create a visual thematic direction for two very different campaigns: the Chicago Bulls forward-looking “SEE RED” brand campaign and the team’s “Ring of Honor” salute to our storied history. The two campaigns were the central messaging of the team this season and both required a visual design that was unique and told its own story.
The team’s brand platform SEE RED launched this year and aimed to create a look that expressed three main values, Heart, Toughness and Future, would serve as a throughline in all Bulls content and creative, and reflect the organization’s brand approach.
Meanwhile, without compromising this identity, the team planned to launch its inaugural “Ring of Honor,” a celebration of past Bulls legends with a distinctly different visual that would endure for years to come. We needed the look to feel very high-end and timeless to live beyond the inaugural class. The Bulls will be adding players to the Ring of Honor every two years, so we wanted the Ring of Honor visual identity to stand the test of time.
Strategy & Execution
When creating SEE RED’s visuals, our team posed three questions: Is it defendable, ownable, and flexible?
To be defendable, it needed to visually represent our three values, heart, toughness and future, and Chicago’s spirit. We adopted a grungy, gritty look with rough textures and edges in our backgrounds and text treatments.
To be ownable, we needed to craft something distinctly Bulls. By integrating the Bulls logo within the ”D” of ”See Red,” we incorporated our unique brand without using our full logo, ensuring recognition with versatility.
To be flexible, we needed to create designs that work everywhere—in and out of the arena, the city and the NBA season. By ensuring visual harmony with our brand’s colors and creating design elements like Chicago stars and word marks in the gritty look, we were well positioned to design for a wide range of use cases.
In contrast, for the Ring of Honor design we omitted the team logo. Instead, we featured the iconic diamond from Bulls’ uniform shorts since 1966, symbolizing unity across eras. Elevating the design, we incorporated gold, marble, and crystal textures, with renowned artist Victor Solomon’s solid crystal basketballs as a centerpiece, honoring the legends’ contributions.
Organizations
- Chicago Bulls
Links
Credits
Jon Shoemaker
Executive Director, Creative Services
Chicago Bulls
Jimmy Mitchell
Manager, Content Design
Chicago Bulls
Jeff Pitcock
Sr. Manager, Creative Services
Chicago Bulls
Dave Zarzynski
Manager, Animation and Design
Chicago Bulls
Jamie Beyer
Digital Content Designer
Chicago Bulls
Dylan Barnedo
Associate, Creative Services
Chicago Bulls
Celebrate in NYC
Join us for the 6th Annual Hashtag Sports Awards™ on the evening of June 6, 2024 as we celebrate finalists and reveal the winners of this year's awards live during the show.
