LEAD DESIGNER, KENE ESOMEJU RELEASES COVER ART FOR FIFA WC SINGLE
Licensed by UK’s Utmostt, a media sport management agency representing Team Nigeria during the FIFA World Cup, Kene Esomeju was responsible for leading Skynation’s design team in the branding of the Canadian-Nigerian artiste Kayode Fatoba’s new international single “Stand as one”.
Inculcating a combination of golden aged football nostalgia combined with 2018’s leading FIFA athletes who worked hard to secure Nigeria’s place in this year’s World Cup, the design required understanding the social and historical significance associated with the song composition. With Kayode already being featured on platforms such as, Globe and Mail, CBC, Canada’s Daily Hive, ETCanada, TooXclusive and much more. Leading the design team managing the cover art of this single meant the associated artwork had to be of a similar standard, quality, and connectedness. According to Kene “Going from the design team in Vancouver, to consulting with the artist in Nigeria, and interacting with the various stakeholders some of whom where in Ghana and the UK required being able to stay on top of communication”. This was Skynation’s first soccer and sports related design, and “being a very big soccer fanatic, it made it all the more exciting. I was a Nigerian designing content that would support the moral and overall confidence of the football team to represent my country proudly and that made me extremely honored to be part of this international project’ said Kene on the nostalgia this project drew. At first I was only looking to incorporate images of successful Nigerian football players in history, the reason being because the chorus has a lingo that is very familiar to Nigerians and there were lyrics which mention star players known to most eagle supporters. While the final art piece did incorporated images from classic Nigerian fixtures with football legends such as Kanu Nwankwo, Daniel Amokachi, and younger stars like John Obi Mikel, Kelechi Iheanacho, alex Iwobithere was a need to also connect the younger more contemporary athletes leading Team Nigeria to the FIFA WORLD CUP during this 2018 competition in Russia. Featured on the cover art were players like Kanu Nwankwo and Daniel Amokachi who were responsible for getting the country’s team to where it currently is. With the social connectivity associated with the songs message, Skynation wanted the accompanying artwork to tell just as powerful a story and being able to bring people together. Nigeria was making history and our work was to capture that through design. With the name of the song being “stand as one”, the selected images depict the players celebrating and carrying each other signifies teamwork and togetherness. Stand As One Drops On June first.
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