Nike’s Latest ISPA Campaign Is a Retro Experimental Design Explosion

Today, Nike launches the latest in their iconic ISPA collection. ISPA is a radical design philosophy that was originally created by Nike Design Exploration in November 2018. ISPA stands for: improvise, scavenge, protect and adapt. The product creation scavenges through every sport’s archive to improvise and adapt protective designs meant to focus on performance and utility for consumers not focused on a specific sport.

London-based creative production company, Builder’s Club worked closely with the Nike’s creative team to create stories for five different products launching in 2020: four pairs of shoes (the ISPA Zoom Road Warrior, ISPA Overreact FK, ISPA Flow 2020 and ISPA Drifter) and one vest garment, exploring their individual narratives in relation to the I, S, P & A stages. 

In addition to the social assets, there is a 1’20” hero film for the ISPA Zoom Road Warrior shoe. A deep dive into the process, the film’s fast-paced edit cuts playfully between footage of the designer himself as well as a diverse range of visuals that show the humour and stylistic approach for each ISPA stage. As the film moves from low-fi to hi-fi we are taken through a range of sound effects and music that juxtaposed cliché sounds such as an elevator jingle to elevate the comical feeling of the film with the design elements. A fresh approach to balancing the hyper-cool design and light hearted humour that is not often seen in innovative sneaker design.

In order to delve into the minds of each designer, Builder’s Club worked from briefs from each designer directly. The films use a melange of styles; from hand drawings, low-fi 2D animations, self-filmed iPhone videos to high-fi, slick 3D animations - the journey from I to A is shown clearly, starting at the rough concept phase to final product. A number of the products are shown through a poster layout, deriving from 90’s Nike ads and giving the films a retro feel. Traditional techniques such as diagrams and flowcharts are also represented, outlining simplistically the practical step by step process behind each of the shoes’ design and leading the viewers through in a fun, inclusive way. 

Merve Kurt, creative producer at Builders Club, comments: “This project was extremely collaborative and exciting for our team. The playful, experimental and hands-on tone for the ISPA world felt clearly set through these films, creating a new visual language for this distinctively individual design philosophy. We find ISPA is much aligned with our own process. Our team tackles design through unconventional and experimental ways of thinking. We loved working with the designers to understand the completely unorthodox methods used to decipher and explore the purpose, design and construction of a shoe - leading to entirely distinctive and disruptive designs. ISPA is bigger than product, it is a problem solving philosophy that can be used to tackle everyday problems, big and small. By loosening the reins on the animation style and allowing for a diverse amount of exploration, it really imbued the work with a humorous, exciting energy and empowered the team to really mirror the designer’s unique approaches.”