A squishy identity for Nike Kids embraces the way young people play

How many times have you seen the Nike swoosh? Stitched into an unending array of fabrics and adorned with countless slogans and textures, the symbol is everywhere – and it’s hard to come up with unique takes where so many have trodden before. It’s a fact that makes Burn & Broad’s recent experiments with the form even more impressive. A half-chewed watermelon, fluffy cloud, dripping ice lolly and gap-full grin are just some iterations the New York-based creative studio have dreamed up for Nike Kids. The playful work is part of an identity for the campaign Never Done Playing, which launched this summer.

Centred on the back-to-school period, Never Done Playing looks “to go beyond the competitive side of sport”, instead showing parents and kids how sport can tap “into an imaginative world of play, laughter and fun”, Burn & Broad co-founders Eugene Serebrennikov and Vicente García Morillo explain. Interweaving live-action footage shot by Soursop, with typography and 3D graphics from Burn & Broad, the campaign shows kids’ imagination and “ever-changing” creativity transposed onto familiar scenes.

One notable area of the project is Burn & Broad’s use of 3D to create clay-like textures, imparting the sensation of squishy, mashed-up matter. Never Done Playing frequently looks as if its graphics were made by kids themselves – albeit with a slightly more polished edge. To prepare for the project, Burn & Broad sought inspiration directly from kids themselves. Observing kids playing with their families also helped the studio steer the campaign direction away from “over curation”, into more hand-made territory.

“As designers, we feel like we possess some child-like imaginative qualities; however, there's no greater imagination expert than a true kid,” Eugene and Vicente tell us. “Kids see the world differently [...] A banana is a telephone, the cracks in the pavement are molten hot lava tubes, and a skateboard is a space vehicle. That imaginative magical ability to dream while awake is what we were aiming to capture in our designs.” The campaign pulls off this concept – of imaginations breaking into the real-world – through an inspired combination of 3D and live action.

“Throughout the creative process we drew hundreds of sketches inspired by sport, summer and an adventurous spirit,” the studio continues. After several experiments with both 2D and 3D approaches, Burn & Broad landed on 3D accent letters for the Never Done Playing logo. Meanwhile, for the graphic execution, the studio merges 3D space with a “touch of 2D energy lines for layering and depth creation.”