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gordie_delini

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So after my great reveal in the 2013 NFL changes thread, it's been come to be known that for the last 8 months I was a designer in Nike's NFL/NCAA Apparel Group. This means I was part of the team that designs on-field uniforms for the NFL and NCAA, as well as replica versions, sideline & training apparel, fan apparel, and equipment. Before I say anything else, I CANNOT AND WILL NOT DISCUSS ANY SPECIFICS FOR ANY PARTICULAR TEAM OR SCHOOL. That means no details on rumored designs, confirmed design changes, or anything in the works, so don't ask. That being said, I WILL take you through the general process for how a uniform comes to be.

Now, there are several ways that this process even begins. Sometimes it's a schedule redesigns. Sometimes it's at the behest of the school/team. Other times, they'll get a new logo, and a uniform will come with it. Sometimes we will get specific requests to incorporate things into a design, sometimes it's a particular theme, other times it's a "have-at-it" approach. But here's where it all starts: research.

That's right, it's not just a "wheeeeee we're Nike, let's make something CRAAAAAAZYYYY!!!!!!" There's a ton of research that's done before any design happens. This means looking at the current uniform the team has, the history of the team's uniforms, the city/location, the coach, the atmosphere, the fanbase. All of that is considered and thoroughly researched. Generally the design team will make a trip out to that school or team to interview the coaching staff, players, and students/fans.

Once the research phase is over, the design phase begins. It starts by creating vector line art on our uniform templates. This will be reviewed internally by the art director. Once a design or designs are approved, then it goes to the global creative director for the football category. Once that gets approved, we create a presentation that includes our research, the line art, photoshop renderings, and the story behind the design. This then gets sent to the team for their feedback. We'll get changes from the team, make the revisions, and send it back until we get approval on the design.

The NFL process at this point is slightly different. We do everything up until the presentation, but rather than sending it to the team directly, we have to submit our design to the NFL first. Once the league signs off on the design, then and only then do we get to show it to the team.

Once we've got approval on the design, we work with the development team to get patterns made if there are inset or special design pieces. Otherwise, we will build schematics for any uniform graphics, which include building out the number sets. This can be a tricky process depending on the design of the uniform. After schematics are created, the development team will have a prototype made and we'll take that to get fit approved - basically that means make sure it looks good on an actual body in full pads as it would appear on-field. This also gives us the opportunity to fix any flaws in the design, or to make changes that we couldn't forsee. For example, we may design a stripe for the shoulders, but when put into production it may make numbers too small, so in the fit session we can see that and we may move the stripe or numbers to the sleeve instead. Once the design is fit-approved, then we move into production.

And that's basically it. Questions?

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Brian, here's a few questions:

How many general prototypes does Nike produce for a team/school initially, uniform wise?

Once a team chooses a specific look, what happens to the other prototypes that were created? Do they become property of the team, or does Nike file them away back in the closet for future reference?

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What about name and number fonts? Does Nike come up with those or does the NFL tell you to use a certain font? Does the NFL have certain guidelines you must follow for each team? Example use black numbers with teal outline on the Jaguars away jerseys. Does the NFL leave alot of feedback during the process or do they just look at your proposals and reject/accept them along the way?

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For the most part we create custom numbers and fonts for each team. For NCAA, we typically have one or two nameplate fonts with custom numbers. The NFL has a lot of rules as far as uniforms go, so yes, there's a lot of feedback we get from them, both in terms of adhering to the rules and to the design itself. There's a lot of back and forth there.

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Prototyping is dependent on the team. Some ask for prototypes to be developed, others are just for the final design (which is usually the case). I'd say it's typically just the one. And those prototypes are property of Nike and kept in our archives.

I'd imagine those unused prototypes might find their way into future designs for a different team; are you aware of that having ever been the case?

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I think this is great. This is something that is missing from the way a lot of the posters here look at and critique uniform design. Especially the ones who have not worked in an agency environment. There is a lot of push and pull, both from team and league that affects the final design. There is not as much freedom as some think; it's not like the concepts people make on this forum where they can throw out whatever they want.

Very well done write up, and insight into the Nike process. I'm sure you have lots of specific anecdotes that would be fascinating to hear.

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Shaydre: Can't get into specifics with regards to our uniforms. They are very particular about certain things, such as the socks having the bottom half be white. Stuff like that. It's a big learning process on our end.

Gothamite: No, prototypes are really only created for finished and *approved* designs. They don't really get taken into other uniform designs. In fact, we make a big point out of making sure uniforms DON'T look similar or have similar elements really. We want each uniform we design to be unique.

JP: Thanks! And I do have lots of anecdotes, and none that I can share sadly lol

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Do you mind if I ask how you landed a job with Nike?

Sure! I registered with a staffing agency that's geared toward people in the creative industry, 52 Limited. They are a feeder agency for contract positions at Nike, and the job with the football group came through them. My experience working at Old Hat Creative and all the sports concepts I've done helped me a lot to land the gig.

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Have you been a part of any designs that have already been released to the public, and if so are there any interesting anecdotes or insights you can give on those? I'm not sure how the whole no clause agreement works in regards to that.

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Joe Kane: Yes, certain teams do prefer the shiny material to the matte. Depends on the team/school.

LETSGOBLUEBEATMSU: Yep, got a good chunk of free stuff for sure. It's all about knowing the right people around here ;)

Coheed: I have been mostly apart of stuff that will come out for next season, since I arrived too late for 2012. However, there's some stuff to come out later this year I've worked on, but can't talk about yet.

I worked on components of the Army, Navy, and Ohio State uniforms, mostly in creating schematics or working on equipment and baselayers. I also designed one of the high school rivalry uniforms that debuted earlier this year, but that was a completely different process.

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Great read, love hearing about stuff like this. This is an honest question, what was the reasoning as to why there's no outline on the Seahawks shoulder numbers?

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