The We Run enclosure had to encompass several elements related to San Francisco, the 2013 Nike Women’s Marathon host city. Tanamachi elegantly captured these elements within the circular enclosure.
Nike wanted to commemorate the 2013 Nike Women’s Marathon in San Francisco with a special identity program to celebrate the marathon’s tenth anniversary. To give the marks a distinguished, handmade look, Nike design director Emily Duell hired Dana Tanamachi as the artist-in-residence for the campaign. Tanamachi’s hand-drawn style has a definitively bold yet elegant aesthetic, perfect for the event.
The design brief had several objectives, including: to encourage and inspire, to celebrate accomplishments, to be authentic, to be youthful, and to be local to San Francisco. With these goals in mind, Tanamachi first started drawing the “We Run” logo in pencil. “I did a few rough sketches, a bit blockier with the words stacked like wood type,” she says. “I then drew the logotype on a swash baseline so it moves from low to high, showing forward movement, positive thinking and fluidity. There are a ton of hills in San Francisco so the upward movement is a nod to that.”
The lettering was accompanied by cityscape illustrations that captured the essence of the city with the iconic Golden Gate Bridge, rocks, cliffs and waves. “Nike wanted the illustration to tell a story within this enclosure. I have a collection of books on circular Japanese ornamental designs that I referred to when developing these vignettes. You can see the Japanese influence in the waves and sky, but I also tried to incorporate modern elements such as the geometric rocks and a bridge made from almost tribal shapes,” Tanamachi says.
Nike also asked Tanamachi to design a separate Nike Women’s logo that would be used on signage and promotions for the event. In contrast to the bold, blockier We Run logo, Nike wanted a more elegant script style for this logo.
Duell says, “Dana did an excellent job creating a variety of different branding elements that provided us with a robust toolkit. She helped create an aesthetic that felt feminine and relevant and brought a fresh look to the race series.”
The We Run enclosure had to encompass several elements related to San Francisco, the 2013 Nike Women’s Marathon host city. Tanamachi elegantly captured these elements within the circular enclosure.
The We Run logotype is used by itself for merchandise, printed over a female runner silhouette, illustrated by Hiroshi Tanabe. The fluidity and movement of the runner work seamlessly with the logotype, capturing the essence of the event. Even the Nike swoosh perfectly flows with the design.
In keeping with the forward movement of the other logotypes, Tanamachi incorporated the upward swoosh below the script for the secondary type. She used her own handwriting as the basis for the script, though she embellished the capitals.
