The Best - FIFA Football Awards

Overview

For The Best FIFA Football Awards, I led the creative direction and visual design of a new winners graphics system. The objective was to evolve the existing brand specifically for winners content—creating a scalable, modern, and social-first system that could be applied seamlessly across all platforms and formats.

This system needed to feel elevated and celebratory while remaining unmistakably aligned with the official The Best brand.

The Challenge

Winners moments are some of the most visible and high-impact assets during The Best FIFA Football Awards. The challenge was to design a system that:

Worked consistently across all social media sizes and aspect ratios
Balanced team colors, country colors, and brand identity
Felt fresh, modern, and trend-forward while respecting FIFA brand standards
Could scale efficiently across multiple winners and categories
Pushed the brand creatively without compromising clarity or consistency

Goals & Objectives

Create a dedicated winners graphics system for The Best
Ensure full adaptability across social platforms
Elevate winners moments through contrast and hierarchy
Maintain strong brand recognition at all times
Push the visual identity to its creative boundaries in a controlled way

Moodboard & Visual Exploration

To guide the direction of the final system, I created a moodboard that helped define the visual tone, contrast, and level of brand evolution for the winners graphics.

The moodboard focused on:

Grayscale foundations to anchor the brand
High-contrast color moments inspired by team and country palettes
Bold, modern compositions that felt premium and celebratory
Clear typographic hierarchy and strong visual rhythm
References that pushed the brand beyond its existing comfort zone while staying recognizable

This exploration phase was critical in aligning stakeholders and establishing a clear creative direction before moving into final execution.

Moodboard

Visual Exploration

Creative Strategy

The final system was built around contrast, structure, and restraint.

A grayscale brand foundation became the anchor, allowing team and country colors to stand out with intention and impact. This approach ensured each winner felt distinct while keeping the overall system cohesive and premium.

Key strategic decisions included:

Grayscale base for consistency and flexibility
Intentional use of team and country colors for emphasis
Strong typographic hierarchy for clarity and impact
Modular layouts adaptable to any format

Design System & Execution

The solution was designed as a modular system, not a collection of one-off graphics.

The system was:

Scalable across winners and award categories
Flexible across all social formats
Efficient to reproduce under tight timelines
Visually distinctive while remaining on-brand

Each layout was tested across multiple aspect ratios to ensure clarity, balance, and consistency.

Before & After

A before-and-after comparison highlights how the updated system:

Increased contrast and visual hierarchy
Elevated winners moments with a more premium feel
Expanded the brand’s visual range while maintaining consistency
Improved adaptability across platforms

2024

2025

Key Takeaways

This project reinforced the importance of designing systems, not just assets. The moodboard phase played a key role in bridging strategy and execution, allowing the brand to evolve confidently while staying cohesive at scale.