Represent Yo Clique! Flags Of The World Basketball Festival

If you recall in the summer of 2010, at the first World Basketball Festival in New York; there was some very inspiring illustration work created  by Saimin Chow that was featured all over the city. So when I found I would be attending this years World Basketball Festival I was super excited that I was going to be able to take in the beautiful graphic design that had been created for the event.

The most polarizing graphics I saw there were the representation of the countries that take part in the FIBA Tournament. I am not sure who but someone either at Nike or hired by Nike created these beautiful, simple and iconic designs that hung from the rafters at the D.C. Armory in the form of banners. The graphics have never been released by Nike so I photographed each banner and recreated them in Illustrator. The proportions and colors are not perfect but they are pretty damn close, no matter what they give you an idea of what a great grid based design looks like. What I love about these designs is how pure and iconic they are. They take each individual countries logo and colors and break them down to a simple form that is clean but bold and yet the flags still have a precise movement to them that shows direction.

I give all the credit in the world to who ever created the graphics for this event because it could not have been an easy task. It is challenging enough to keep something simple that translates a message to the viewers let alone do it within a tight grid based design.

I hope no one takes my intentions in the wrong way because I am not claiming these designs as my own or using them for any financial gain. I was just very impressed with them and wanted to share them with the world.