Following the release of our Footpatrol x ASICS GEL-Saga, we wanted to show what happened behind the scenes and appraise the teams responsible for turning vague ideas into gripping intricate animation sequences, life-size robots and ultimately producing one of our most visually compelling campaigns to date.

Our latest collaboration with ASICSTIGER takes you back to the early 90s, back to a time where games consoles and cartoons took over the tv screens. A TEAMFP member discovers a dormant Mecha robot, giving him the inspiration, he’s been looking for.

Below we would like to thank Art&Graft, StudioFortyThree and IPOS Design. Here’s a short introduction about who they are and the roles they played in the campaign for Footpatrol x ASICS.

Art&Graft

Art&Graft is a London-based, motion-led design studio existing of a highly skilled design team crafting intelligent, original motion and animation reels. Art&Graft’s name reflects a philosophy that culminates everything they do, expert creative concepts realised through an enduring attention to the finest of details.

The campaign centred around a TEAMFP member and his eureka moment in discovering a Mecha robot and designing a shoe that in turn shared characteristics of its appearance. Establishing a visual theme that could support, compliment and ultimately bring thoughts to life was a goal all to intriguing for the A&G team.

The initial stages involved the A&G creative team, discussing unique approaches and sourcing a wide selection of 90s anime, a world of glowing 2D effects, dynamic camera angles and intense fight sequences from which to draw inspiration. From these sessions A&G created a series of concept boards that combined design with attitude, encapsulating exactly what Asics and Footpatrol had been looking for.

Determined to build upon the visual language, A&G continued to push the level of animation on both a technical and creative level. It’s not just the character design that makes the anime from the period so distinctive, it’s also the environments and the colouring. There’s a distinct grade to the images, stripping out solid whites in favour of saturated static hues. Then there’s the neon glows and highlights that come with the narrative. The idea is for it to feel totally part of this world, the trick is to make people think this is an authentic short anime film.

We wanted to create epic scenes relative to anime scripts, i.e Fireballs, Speed lines, Lightning and introduce an environment that was explosive in detail but doesn’t appear hostile. We wanted our characters to represent both brands and affirm an identify people understand all over the world.

We would like to thank Mike, Tom, Jim, Stephen and the rest of the Team at Art&Graft for rendering the ideas a reality creative prowess on the Footpatrol x ASICS GEL-Saga project.

StudioFortyThree

StudioFortyThree are a multi-disciplinary creative design house and manufacturing workshop based in Meon Hill Farm, Hampshire. Working with clients such as Dyson, Asics and Google just to name a few. We travelled to the South to see first-hand on how the process is made in creating CAD renders into 3D models to any scale ie. The Mecha robot.

Tom, co-founder of StudioFortyThree and his team showed us the initial stages of the creative process before manufacturing the model. From thorough designing on CAD renderings, the preciseness is key in making sure the delivery on the manufacturing side is on the same wavelength.

Once the CAD is ready, its processed by their state of the art 7-axis CNC robot in which is an asset in producing computer designs to 3D models. The Mecha robot is made by Polystyrene then coated in resin, sanded down before being painted. Each part of the body is then glued together to deliver a life-sized robot!

We would like to thank Tom and the rest of the team at StudioFortyThree for their tireless work and making ideas real for this Footpatrol x ASICS GEL-Saga project.

IPOS Design

IPOS Design are a retail design and brand agency who were on hand with creating the box for our Special Packaging relase for the first 25 in-store only consumers. The package heavily features the theme as well as a magazine, stickers and mini figurine.

Thank you to IPOS for generating the special box that accompanied the launch of the Footpatrol x ASICS GEL-Saga and also for creating the interactive in-store space.