Passion Project
Over the next few weeks we're going to look back at some of the ads (print and film) that stood out over the course of 2018. First of all, however, here's a charming labor-of-love project undertaken by Hernan Ibanez, ACD at FCB NY. Since it is all about football or soccer as it's called in the US and since my eyes tend to glaze over at the mere mention of it, I asked Hernan to present it himself. – Michael Weinzettl
"Love it or hate it, football is the most watched sport in the world. For me, Hernan Ibanez, an art director from Argentina currently residing in New York City, football is life. I grew up watching football religiously. If I wasn’t at the stadium watching a game, it would not have been a proper Sunday.” Even though I've been living in the United States for more than 15 years, I still watch the game regularly and have managed to find a way to keep the sport a part of my career as well.
In 2016, I was lucky enough to be in charge of the worldwide branding for the legendary Internazionale Milano. Then, in 2017, I was in charge of branding for the one and only Pele. Meeting and working with and for Pelé was an incredible honor, while I must confess it still feels happily surreal, to have been working with arguably the best ever player in the game.
When the 2018 World Cup rolled around Gabriel Schmitt, GCD at the agency FCB NY, who was aware of my passion for football, asked me to create one poster for the area where everyone gathered to watch the games. But after creating the initial poster, I started to see the games in a new way. As stats flashed across the screen throughout the game I realized there was more to the story than who won or lost.
I decided to create a series of posters where each piece tells the story of each game, paying homage to the beauty of the sport, as I saw it. Essentially, each poster is created based on statistical data and that data is then turned into art. Statistics like goals scored, yellow cards, red cards, ball possession and substitutions were pulled from the FIFA website and the information was then summarized through the art of data visualization.”
I began with the goals scored being created in 3D and the remaining stats were later added to the layout It took some time but for a guy who loves the game, the time spent was pure joy.
Once I created the first poster, it turned into a sort of passion project and I could not stop. There are 80 posters in total, 64 games and a few additional ones because why not? Despite the earlier than expected elimination of the Argentinian team, it was an incredibly enjoyable World Cup for me."
