Gretel designs the perfect fit for Nike ID by rebranding it as Nike By You

The work by the New York firm positions Nike for a future where technology is increasingly making bespoke sportswear accessible to all, and where consumers expect to be co-creating with the brands they love.

More than anything, it's meant to be a strategic repositioning of Nike as a service, as much as a product. It is opening up new possibilities for growth.

Nike ID was the first of its kind when it launched in 2000. Fast forward to 2019 and Nike By You is also the first of its kind.

"The next generation of consumers is setting a high bar for customization to express all facets of their identity and individuality," explains Daniel Edmundson, strategy director at Gretel.

"Nike’s audience craves creative input and the chance to be heard, and Nike needed a pivot not only in how they spoke about customized experiences but also what the entire offering meant across the brand, inside and out. With this launch Nike is celebrating individuality, the value of being unique and standing out from the crowd."

The project started from a need to refresh Nike ID’s existing identity but quickly became a major overhaul of how the brand considered and expressed this offering.

"This is the kind of project everyone wants to work on," says Simon Chong, design director, Gretel. "Not only is it a privilege to work with Nike, which rarely entrusts this type of work to an external agency, but it also posed a really interesting design challenge.

"We needed to figure out a way to re-orientate the brand around co-creation, delivering something that is recognisably Nike, can stand out within Nike environments and flex across endless, unique applications."

The identity consists of two layers. The first layer is Nike, a technical, black and white layer, representing Nike's expertise. It leverages the core elements of the Nike brand – the swoosh, the Futura Extra Bold Condensed typeface – but places them in a new context.

The second layer is ‘You’ which includes colour, expression and personality. While the base layer is controlled and functional, the ‘You’ layer is free and expressive with endless possibilities for iteration. The identity has a broad scope for modification to suit any product, consumer or high-profile co-creation.

The rebrand appears online and will gradually roll out in stores.