[HEAT VICE]
PROJECT OVERVIEW & ROLE
The HEAT Vice uniform series was the most successful jersey campaign in basketball history. The design “broke the internet” and was the foundation for for the most successful retail season the NBA had ever seen.
In my role as Graphic Designer and Visual Identity Manager, I developed and executed the HEAT Vice uniform series including logo, uniform, court designs and supporting campaign content. I worked directly with Nike and the NBA to bring each uniform iteration to life (Vice, Vice Nights, Sunset Vice, ViceWave, ViceVersa), and worked with Impact Surfaces and Bona Paints to spec the accompanying court production.
Introduction
A New Partnership
When Nike became the NBA's official uniform provider in the 2017–18 season, they introduced a new “City Edition” uniform program which allowed teams to showcase the unique aesthetic of their respective cities. For the Miami HEAT, it provided the perfect opportunity to explore a new uniform concept using the infamous pink and blue color scheme that’s synonymous with Miami's identity. I was on the HEAT Creative team tasked to design this uniform as the basis for the multi-year uniform campaign, HEAT Vice.
Process/Development
The design process began with thorough research, pulling inspiration from internal team archives, South Beach Art Deco and 80s retro graphics.
From the reference material, Miami Arena emerged as the ideal foundation for the HEAT Vice narrative. The arena, which opened in 1988 and was illuminated in pink and blue, provided a distinctive script wordmark that captured the essence of the 80s while forging a deeper connection with dedicated HEAT fans.
after
before
I redrew the Miami script from historic references and stylized the mark with a multicolor block shadow to give it an 80s dimensional feel.
From there I incorporated the original (and period correct) throwback silhouette from 1988, selected Laser Fuchsia and Blue Gale as official campaign colors from Nike's extensive fabric library, and unified the entire concept with a custom number set inspired by our standard white, black, and red uniform set. As a finishing touch, I recolored a special edition “ball and flame” icon and positioned it on the shorts. The end result was a uniform that expanded the team's identity by introducing new colors to the brand palette, while maintaining the HEAT's recognizable aesthetic.
The design lent itself to a variety of colorways which were released in subsequent seasons – Vice Nights (Black), Sunset Vice (Pink), ViceWave (Blue), and a final future-focused Gradient version, ViceVersa.
Miami Arena
1988
Following the inaugural year of the program, I was asked to design and develop the complementary HEAT Vice court design. I once again drew inspiration from team aesthetics in 1988 and incorporated the double outline motif from the original Miami Arena floor. To achieve the vibrant pink hue for this project, we worked directly with Bona to create a custom Fuchsia paint color.
HEAT Vice
2018
Campaign Production
During this multi-year campaign I created countless branded campaign assets including graphics for digital channels, signage, broadcast, and print – even an official Vice license plate issued by the state of Florida.
I worked with New Era, Court Culture, WinCraft and other licensed partners to develop a line of supporting apparel items sold at the Miami HEAT Store.
Once in season, I created a variety of branded content in the Vice aesthetic to support team milestones, initiatives, and objectives.
Awards
Press
Results & Impact
The HEAT Vice Campaign was an unprecedented success.
In the first year of the program the HEAT sold more City Edition jerseys than all 29 other teams combined. Over the next 4 years the team would go on to sell more jerseys than they had in the Big Three era with LeBron James, all while the HEAT navigated a retooling period and struggled to make the playoffs. The Vice uniform program positioned the team to set new NBA retail records every year, with 70% of the the retail success in the final year directly attributed to HEAT Vice.
The uniform release “broke the internet” as the hot topic amongst sports media, news outlets, athletes, podcasts, hypebeasts and influencers alike, hitting nearly three billion impressions worldwide. They’ve been dubbed the “coolest jerseys in the NBA” by sports writers at ESPN, hit the cover of SLAM magazine and NBA 2K20, and have even permeated into pop culture being worn by stars Justin Bieber, DJ Khaled and A$AP Rocky.
The success of HEAT Vice served as a blueprint for successful City Edition uniform programs in other cities, and informed how Nike would approach subsequent alternate uniform programs in other professional sports leagues.