event & brand design
the aer lingus college football classic
problem | Develop and execute the branding for Notre Dame Football's 2023 opening game in Dublin, Ireland. As the "home team," for the event, the goal was to bring a uniquely Notre Dame experience to both international and domestic fans.
solution | Merge the Notre Dame brand and Irish culture to celebrate the "ancestral home" of The Fighting Irish. We emphasized the green within Notre Dame's brand palette, found ways to take our traditional brand elements and give them a unique Irish twist, and brought American College Football culture to Dublin.
Our key message: The Irish Are Home
| the branding |
To create a versatile toolkit that we could use throughout event site, we started by designing traditional Irish Celtic knots from a distinctly Notre Dame Football perspective. First, we took the diagonal hash marks (known as “Founder’s Lines”) traditionally in our end zones and reimagined them into a Celtic knot based on the Irish Book of Kells. Second, to bring a specifically American football touch to Ireland, the alternate Celtic knot takes elements of the uniform design and weaves the lines into an American football.
above: the process and inspiration behind each Celtic knot
| the event: aviva stadium |
These elements were then used throughout Aviva Stadium. Including “c’mon Irish” (a play on “c’mon Ireland,” the slogan for the Irish National Team). The upper ribbon of the stadium also lays out the Notre Dame Victory March in both English and the Irish Language. The game, and subsequently many of these brand elements, was viewed by more than 3.8 million people.
| fan zone: "notre dame street" |
Prior to the game, we created a special fan activation in Dublin’s City Center, temporarily renaming Dame Street “Notre Dame Street.” To celebrate the idea of Ireland as the ancestral home of "The Fighting Irish," the street heavily features the phrase "The Irish are Home" in both English and the Irish language. Deliverables included banners to cover key buildings, cross-street banners, photo props, light pole banners, signage, and more. The event was attended by over 10,000 guests.
a little more on how we did it:
Developed in close collaboration with Notre Dame's Director of Brand Tim O'Connor; Fighting Irish Media and Notre Dame Athletics; University of Notre Dame; the Aer Lingus College Football Classic, and Davis Events. Dame Street illustrated backdrop by Boston Logan.
key aspects of my role: overall creative direction, project management, final logo designs, all graphic design shown above, the field design, and the creation of all required production files (I executed 96 production files in 1 month, amongst other projects for the athletic department).