Pizza Typefaces’ Olympics 2024 font for Nike mimics the movement of athletes

When Nike approached the French type design studio Pizza Typefaces for a new typeface during the Olympics 2024, the brief was clear: they wanted something different. It’s no wonder they chose Adrien Midzic and Luc Borho’s foundry; their fonts brim with customisable fun and a refined (yet juvenile) quality. “Nike’s art directors were very specific; they didn’t want the usual bold sports fonts or anything tied to French clichés,” says co-founder Adrien Midzic. “They wanted a font that, like the Olympics, could unite people, suggest movement, and evoke the pleasure we experience through sport.”

Interestingly, continues Adrien, Nike were very “receptive” to the foundry’s love of graffiti. This openness led Pizza Typefaces on a unique design journey, one inspired by the world of street art. “We started by developing the more complex version, which illustrates the idea of movement through its generous curves. For inspiration, we turned to the ‘throw-up’ graffiti style,” says Adrien. This particular style involves drawing letters in a single, continuous stroke – much like the fluid, precise movements of an athlete.

The result is a typeface with a dual personality. On one hand, it needed to be highly legible for athlete jerseys, and on the other, it had to have enough character for merchandising. “Futura, an iconic font for the brand, served as a reference for its round letters, which subtly allude to the Olympic rings,” Adrien explains. But, designing a font that could suggest movement while remaining versatile was no easy feat. “The lines suggest the trajectory of an athlete’s movements, akin to a long-exposure photograph,” he says. “This visual language not only imparts a sense of motion to the letters but also echoes the idea of connection, much like the Olympic rings.”

Pizza Typefaces took the design a step further by creating a variable font, allowing for seamless transitions between the two versions. “The letter ends twist and the curves intersect to create the transition between the two states,” says Adrien. “This allows the font to be modified through a ‘movement’ slider.”

The font defies traditional categorisation: neither overtly ‘masculine’ nor ‘feminine’, not overly bold yet not too delicate. “It’s hard to say whether it’s more performance-oriented or pleasure-focused, or whether it belongs to one country more than another,” Adrien adds. This versatility makes the font stand out in comparison to the bold, angled typefaces typically seen in sports branding.

Although the font was created two years ago, it made its debut in Nike’s training and Olympics village products, worn by athletes off the field, track, or court. While it’s not yet been used in motion (as the designers had hoped) the coherence and sense movement that static versions bring to text compositions undeniable.