NIKE78 is an exciting new project created by Paul Jenkins and inspired by NIKE. Creatives involved received a brand new pair of NIKE shoes and were asked to use sport as inspiration to challenge their function. The project will be documented online and after the shoes have been collected, an exhibition showcase is planned for the London Design Festival 2010. This is a unique project featuring some of the most talented creative individuals, studios and other organisations.

NIKE have been chosen as the inspiration for this project due to their rich history of creative ventures and the brand’s constant aim to push the boundaries of sport, something which NIKE78 will also seek to creatively challenge.

Bill Bowerman and Phil Knight created Blue Ribbon Sports on January 25th 1964. Blue Ribbon Sports officially changed its name to NIKE Inc. on May 30th 1978. NIKE started off producing shoes for track running and athletic purposes and has always been known as the number one sports brand.

"If you have a body, you are an athlete."– Bill Bowerman

The original NIKE athletic shoes have evolved into many new and exciting life forms including the Air Jordan, Air Force 1s and Air Presto. Over the years, NIKE have also created initiatives and projects including Reuse-A-Shoe, Run Across America and most recently NIKEiD.

Designed alongside the existing identity created by Paul Jenkins, NIKE78 uses Wordpress as the CMS of choice. Creating a custom theme and template files inside this meant that we could produce a site that was fast-loading, based on the 960.gs grid 960BC frameworks allowing a quick and efficient build which was streamlined with the print identity. The simple branding meant that the content could do the 'talking' and this is emulated in the participants outcomes