Branding at the Intersection of Football and Video Games

From Feb - Apr '26 supervised by Luis Callegari

During my time on the FC Brand Team at EA Sports, I learned the importance of concept into creation; and how to balance both product and culture.

But what do I mean by that? Let's have a look at FUT Birthday, a project I led across both brand and motion.

The project started a little bit like this...

The only guidance Luis had was to elevate the idea of celebration, away from the stereotypical approach from last year's design.

So, I began to unpack celebtration from a Football culture perspective, and how it could be brought forward into the digital realm of an EA Sports game.

Here's what I found...

Team Celebtration
Celebration occurs after every goal. Together as a team, the players come together and take in a moment of joy or the relief of tying a match.
The Echoes of Fans
Above all, this celebtration is echoed by the fans. Their expression, whether in the arena, at home, or in the pub, is electric.
The Emphasis of Old
In old stadiums, celebration was emphasized through retro LED matrices screens. They animated and visualized the excitement.
The Emphasis of New
In the present, these visualizations are on a ring of screens that surrounds the arena, creating 360 degree emotion.

And so, the idea of 360 degree emotion, combining the retro and new formed the core concept.

The ring was then transitioned to 3D space to allow more depth and dimension.

With that, the modern persepctive had been addressed, but I was still missing the retro aspect.

As a result, I harnessed the dot matrix style of retro stadiums, creating a set of iconography.

The final piece was the colour. A bold, vibrant, and unexpected pallette was the perfect way to underscore this new take on celebration.

And so, the ring was born...

But, the ring needed a home... so, I built an environment for it through a background and micrographics.

Getting the chance to work on the brand team for EA Sports FC was one of my most impactful experiences.

Luis and the rest of the team taught me so much, especially when it comes to slide decking, developing concepts, and backing up design rationale.