FC 26 x Spotify Soundtrack
Every year, with the release of the new FC title, Spotify and EA Sports collaborate to create a social media campaign for the playlist and artists featured in the game.
Even though I was only an intern, due to the small nature of my team, I was given the chance to be the motion design lead on this project.
The Question
After diving into football culture, and, of course, listening to the playlist, me and my co-designer Ravin created our direction: Play to the Tempo; embracing the rythm of both music and football.
Heatmaps are used to measure a player's movement across the pitch during a match. At the same time, their visual look plays into the FC 26 design system, and their ryhtmic nature embodies the liveliness of music.
Iterations
Originally, I tried to sync the movement directly to the songs featured. However, to ensure smooth movement, I provided a range of BPM mapped gradients as options.
The Execution
The vibrant nature of the direction stood out across social media feeds. In fact, the first reveal post for Soundtrack 26 got 72K likes and 18.1K shares on Instagram alone.
Reflection
The biggest takeaway from this experience was to always have a strong direction when starting a project. Without one, you are designing blindly. At the same time, I learned the subtle aspects of communicating in a professional work environment. I realized how important it was to keep my manager aware of tasks I was actively working on, and how they could better support me.