When Nike first released its Flyknit line of shoes, in 2012, it seemed like yet another attempt—albeit, a technologically impressive one—from a sportswear company to cash in the trendy barefoot running trend. Now, it’s a few years later, and most Nike shoes feature the lightweight Flyknit technology. For the last World Cup, the Nike Magista soccer cleat was a Flyknit product. So is the Back to the Future-inspired self-lacing HyperAdapt 1.0 shoe. Flyknit is more than a cornerstone of Nike; it’s now a brand in its own right.
We know this because, as of last month, Flyknit even has its own visual identity. London design studio ManvsMachine created it for Nike’s 2016 Innovation Summit, along with an otherworldly 80-second, animated promotional film that turns a hallucinogenic, kaleidoscopic lens on the Flyknit technology. Because Flyknit products are woven together from many, many threads, ManvsMachine used that motif to create the main graphic components of both the new Flyknit logo and the video. The typeface is an adaptation on Objektiv, a font from Dalton Maag’s foundry that is built according the golden ratio. ManvsMachine’s spin on it introduces some slight curves, giving it a subtly unspooled look.
ManvsMachine created the video in Houdini, which allowed the designers to give Fantasia-worthy superpowers to a bunch of digitally rendered threads. A purple-and-blue thread loops together into an infinity symbol—the new Flyknit logo—before looping, darting, and weaving around. Watching the graphics is like peering into the manufacturing process through a magnifying glass. The end result is, of course, a Flyknit shoe. But if this snazzy campaign is any indication, Flyknit will soon be in more places than on your feet.
