As Juventus look ahead to their opening game of the 2018/19 season this week we caught up with the woman responsible for designing the 18/19 home shirt at adidas, Francesca Venturini. A Juve fan, from the city of Turin, Francesca tells us about the design process, inspiration, and EA Sports Ultimate Team influence.
Francesca, how does the design process of the kit play out? Do the club give you a brief?
When we start designing we collect feedback from the club. The club trust us, they’re really open to exploring new designs and concepts. When we start designing we take into consideration the club’s ideas, their partners, creative direction, and of course the fans.
When do you start working on the kit?
We usually kick things off pretty early. We’ll brainstorm together with the club – it’s very much a collaboration – we collect their input and then we start sketching. After that, we’ll meet the club again to check the samples and discuss potential changes and details.
Can you tell us a little bit about your background with adidas?
I’ve been with adidas for five years now, but my adventure with Juventus started three years ago. It started in dramatic style as it was the year that Juventus introduced their progressive new logo. It has been challenging, for sure, and it’s been interesting to look at the club from a different point of view because the new club crest made people look at Juventus from a different view. I also had the chance to design the 120th anniversary jersey, which they wore for just one game.
Juve play in black and white. What sort of challenges does that present? Finding the balance between tradition and something new…
Yeah, it is challenging. When the partnership with Juventus started we built new stories and concepts that tried to combine our design language with the club’s image. For example, if you look at the 18/19 home jersey we used the new Juventus Icon (club crest) as a graphic element. We had great feedback from the digital team on the kit we created for EA Sports Ultimate Team, so we decided to celebrate the logo on the real jersey.
What we did was increase the size of the logo because we’re not allowed to show a crest on a jersey. Once it was increased we applied it to the front of the jersey and we ended up with these two really bold stripes – everybody thinks it’s just two stripes, but it’s actually the top of the two J’s from the logo.
Football shirts are big in lifestyle circles right now. Do you think about how the shirt will look off the pitch as much as how it will look on it?
Yes we do. Our approach to design is that we always take into consideration not only the culture of the club, but also the new cultural movements and trends off the pitch. We’re always thinking about how the shirt will look away from a performance environment and that follows our “Stadium to Street” mantra introduced in 2017. It gives us a lot more freedom as designers.
How closely do you look at previous shirt designs?
We do look at them, but mainly to see what has already been done so we can create something completely new. We want to be the leaders in football design, and at adidas we create new designs, not something that has already been done.
What are your thoughts when you see the new kit on the players for the first time?
It’s surreal. To see the result of your hard work worn by amazing players from one of the biggest clubs in the world, you feel really honoured and proud, it gives you goosebumps. Everything else disappears. I’m Italian and I’m from Turin so that makes it even more special. The players wore the new jersey for the first time in their final game of the season to life the Serie A title, so that was incredible.
If Juventus were to win the Champions League next season, then the shirt would become a piece of history. Do you think like that?
I’m Italian, so I’m superstitious! I don’t want to think about it too much! Of course, it would be amazing if they won a big title in this kit, but I don’t want to think or talk about that! I still remember the finals in Berlin and Cardiff, so i’ll stop talking now.
When the kit is launched do you look at comments on social media? How do you asses positive and negative reactions?
We read the comments because we care about what supporters think. We listen to their point of view because we respect them. I will say that it’s always very hard to make everyone happy, we have to learn to live with negative reactions but in a positive way because we learn a lot from the comments.
We’ve spoke briefly about the icon or crest already. Do you think it outlines the fresh thinking vision of the club?
Yeah, definitely. The Icon opens up a completely new and progressive way of thinking in football. They did a great job with the re-design and we’ve embraced the club’s new vision of “Black and White and More” and we really want to support this with more statement designs.
When Juve created the new crest or logo it was incredibly bold and industry leading, they looked at it from a different perspective, taking it into the modern environment while always paying attention to their authenticity and history. It is designed to be used on multiple media, digitally, on apparel, it’s very progressive in that respect. Having the courage to reinvent yourself is a big deal and one we also believe in.
The crest is the language now for us. Believe me, the best is yet to come. You will see next season!
Shop the Juventus 18/19 replica collection at prodirectsoccer.com