2022 Winner
2022 Winners
World Anti-Doping Agency
WADA
In 2021, after two decades without a rebrand or even refresh, the World Anti-Doping Agency was long overdue for an image overhaul.
Though its name may be familiar to anyone who tunes into international sporting events like the Olympics, WADA’s visual identity offered little to remember it by. When your logo is as minimal as a Helvetica bold equal sign, establishing brand recognition is a particular challenge. It was just too generic.
More challenging still, WADA had a history of being associated with bad news. You only heard from them when there was a doping scandal. Like referees who are booed for just doing their jobs, WADA could not escape the shadow of the scandals it was created to prevent. It was important to create a brand for all stakeholders to rally around--from the athletes, both amateur and pro, to the scientists, governments, and regional anti-doping agencies. We needed to communicate that ‘we’re all on the same team’.
WADA was always about integrity, but was perceived as a crisis-driven enforcer. It was high time the brand reflected the fundamental way WADA raised the game for athletes worldwide who believe in playing true. We needed to shift the focus away from ‘enforcer’ back to the athletes, the love of sport and the level playing field they deserve to compete on.
Even though WADA’s visual identity was too generic, we knew that the equal sign clearly communicated what the organization stands for. What it needed was personality. We decided to retain the equal sign but find a way to make it more memorable.
We had to widen the lens through which WADA was viewed and to communicate that WADA exists to serve athletes and preserve the sanctity of their sport. At its core, WADA advocates fair play and clean sports for all. We had to communicate that without coming across as authoritarian or bureaucratic. To reinforce what it stood for, we decided to create a supporting visual language around the logo that drove home the notion of ‘leveling the playing field’.
To make WADA’s bland visual identity more memorable, we rendered the equal sign as a stacked pair of identical brushstrokes, giving it the personality it needed. To make the background less austere and connote the colour of a playing field, we switched from black to grass green.
To build a supporting visual language that communicated the notion of a ‘level playing field’, we turned to playing fields, courts, and the demarcations used by the different sports played on them. Those demarcations are stand-ins for the rules we all agree to play by. We relied on the symmetrical patterns of the field and court markings to convey the notion of fair play and equality.
Typographically, we abandoned the mechanical severity of DIN (which was originally designed for Germany’s highway signs) and created something more approachable. The ‘play true’ tagline presented a perfect opportunity to vary the look of the word play to represent different applications while always keeping the word true the same. We developed a dynamic palette comprised of the authentic colours of different playing surfaces and paired it with a grid system based on the equal sign. The consistent use of vertical symmetry--adaptable to any media or format—maintains both formal and conceptual cohesion without sacrificing flexibility.
WADA’s usual reliance on images of bureaucrats for its communications was replaced by much more appropriate images of athletes in action. By cropping out faces, we reinforced the theme of universality and avoided association with or exploitation of any one athlete. Instead, the use of imagery reflects perseverance. It reflects the blood, sweat, and tears required to achieve a goal.
Launched in January 2022, WADA’s brand transformation garnered widespread industry recognition with publications such as Creative Review and Strategy Magazine.
The face is undoubtedly the most powerful communicator of emotion and humanity. The contact high that you experience when you see an athlete’s raw expression in the heat of competition is palpable. To capture that energy without actually showing athletes’ faces, and to avoid exploitation of any individual athletes, we relied on careful but dynamic cropping to focus on the human form in action.
Though its name may be familiar to anyone who tunes into international sporting events like the Olympics, WADA’s visual identity offered little to remember it by. When your logo is as minimal as a Helvetica bold equal sign, establishing brand recognition is a particular challenge. It was just too generic.
More challenging still, WADA had a history of being associated with bad news. You only heard from them when there was a doping scandal. Like referees who are booed for just doing their jobs, WADA could not escape the shadow of the scandals it was created to prevent. It was important to create a brand for all stakeholders to rally around--from the athletes, both amateur and pro, to the scientists, governments, and regional anti-doping agencies. We needed to communicate that ‘we’re all on the same team’.
WADA was always about integrity, but was perceived as a crisis-driven enforcer. It was high time the brand reflected the fundamental way WADA raised the game for athletes worldwide who believe in playing true. We needed to shift the focus away from ‘enforcer’ back to the athletes, the love of sport and the level playing field they deserve to compete on.
Even though WADA’s visual identity was too generic, we knew that the equal sign clearly communicated what the organization stands for. What it needed was personality. We decided to retain the equal sign but find a way to make it more memorable.
We had to widen the lens through which WADA was viewed and to communicate that WADA exists to serve athletes and preserve the sanctity of their sport. At its core, WADA advocates fair play and clean sports for all. We had to communicate that without coming across as authoritarian or bureaucratic. To reinforce what it stood for, we decided to create a supporting visual language around the logo that drove home the notion of ‘leveling the playing field’.
To make WADA’s bland visual identity more memorable, we rendered the equal sign as a stacked pair of identical brushstrokes, giving it the personality it needed. To make the background less austere and connote the colour of a playing field, we switched from black to grass green.
To build a supporting visual language that communicated the notion of a ‘level playing field’, we turned to playing fields, courts, and the demarcations used by the different sports played on them. Those demarcations are stand-ins for the rules we all agree to play by. We relied on the symmetrical patterns of the field and court markings to convey the notion of fair play and equality.
Typographically, we abandoned the mechanical severity of DIN (which was originally designed for Germany’s highway signs) and created something more approachable. The ‘play true’ tagline presented a perfect opportunity to vary the look of the word play to represent different applications while always keeping the word true the same. We developed a dynamic palette comprised of the authentic colours of different playing surfaces and paired it with a grid system based on the equal sign. The consistent use of vertical symmetry--adaptable to any media or format—maintains both formal and conceptual cohesion without sacrificing flexibility.
WADA’s usual reliance on images of bureaucrats for its communications was replaced by much more appropriate images of athletes in action. By cropping out faces, we reinforced the theme of universality and avoided association with or exploitation of any one athlete. Instead, the use of imagery reflects perseverance. It reflects the blood, sweat, and tears required to achieve a goal.
Launched in January 2022, WADA’s brand transformation garnered widespread industry recognition with publications such as Creative Review and Strategy Magazine.
The face is undoubtedly the most powerful communicator of emotion and humanity. The contact high that you experience when you see an athlete’s raw expression in the heat of competition is palpable. To capture that energy without actually showing athletes’ faces, and to avoid exploitation of any individual athletes, we relied on careful but dynamic cropping to focus on the human form in action.