[Interview] The Genealogy of the Brand Identity of "FIFA World Cup 2026" | Takamasa Nishida Public Address

A chaotic career, a path to creativity that began amidst the adversity of the job-hunting ice age.

Thank you for today. I'd like to have a frank and open conversation about various things.

Takamasa Nishida (hereinafter, Nishida): Thank you for having me. Well, please feel free to ask me anything.

Having reviewed the materials provided beforehand, Ms. Nishida's career trajectory so far is quite dramatic, but what was your first step into the creative industry like?

Nishida: When I graduated from university around 2003-2004, it was the height of the "employment ice age." I'd loved culture magazines since my university days and aspired to work as an editor for magazines like 'STUDIO VOICE' and 'relax.' However, due to the recession, the publishing industry was hardly hiring new graduates at all. Still unwilling to give up, I was feeling frustrated when I found an advertisement for a video production job. Inspired by Haruki Murakami, I studied in the Department of Film and Theater at Waseda University, and the knowledge I gained there helped me pass the interview. Joining this video production company is the starting point of my career.

How did you decide to study abroad after working in the video production industry?

Nishida: Every day was incredibly demanding. Back then, I was working around 500 hours a month, and there really was a time like that. During my two years there, I was thoroughly drilled in the "fundamentals of management" and "efficient time management" necessary for a production manager, and I also became able to accurately understand my own abilities and limits. I am still deeply grateful to my superiors who taught me so strictly but thoroughly.

However, as I gained more experience on the job, a desire arose within me to "work on creative expression itself." Those around me were worried, but I trusted my intuition and decided to quit my job. With the lighthearted thought that I could at least learn English, I deliberately sought out an English-speaking environment and decided to go to Canada. I moved to Montreal, where French and English are spoken, and began attending a local university.

Studying abroad in Canada and my encounter with tangible design

And it was in Canada, where you ended up, that you stepped into the world of design.

Nishida: Around the time I was staying in Montreal, "Tangible Design" (tangible, tangible design), advocated by the renowned New York designer Stéphane Sagmeister, was a major trend in the design industry. Sagmeister took a vacation to teach at Laval University in Quebec and discovered two talented students. One is Julien Barret, who is still active on the world stage today, and the other is Karim (Charlebois) Zarifa. After witnessing firsthand their process of returning to Montreal and becoming famous, I was fortunate enough to be able to intern at their studio. This was the real beginning of my design career.

After that, I had the opportunity to work with Moment Factory, a company that handles interactive spatial design and is well-known in Japan, when they had only about 60 employees and were just starting to gain recognition worldwide. There, I explored the possibilities of digital and video, but I couldn't quite get that feeling of satisfaction, and I felt a strong desire to challenge myself again with graphic design, which is the foundation of design. So I applied to Bruce Mau Design in Toronto and ended up joining the company.

The concept of branding learned at Bruce Mau Design

Bruce Mau Design is a prestigious design studio, isn't it? What kind of company was it back then?

Nishida:After joining the company, I encountered the concept of "branding" in earnest for the first time in my life. At the time, branding itself hadn't yet been established as a major method, so it took me quite some time to understand the essence of their philosophical approach. Every day was a continuous stream of thoughts that felt like my brain was being torn apart.

Bruce Mau was incredibly intelligent and approached design not as mere decoration, but as a philosophical system. He spoke softly, and the studio had a unique, tense atmosphere where everyone listened intently (laughs). When I joined, Mau had just retired from the front lines, and there was a somewhat melancholic mood, as if a master had left. But at the same time, there was an incredible passion to "reinvent it with our own hands," and I found myself in the midst of that transitional period.

From there, I was fortunate to be in a great environment and was able to be involved in many global projects. Before I knew it, I had been there for about 10 years and was eventually promoted to director, but my boss at the time decided to go independent and start his own business, and asked me if I wanted to join him. The company I joined to launch was "Public Address," where I currently work. I ended up staying in Canada for about 19 years, the first 5 years in Montreal and the following 14 years in Toronto. I also received offers from prominent studios in New York, but due to family matters, the complexities of visas, the serious problem of anti-Asian hate in North America at the time, and the unstable social situation, I chose Japan as my next base and decided to return home.

Meritocracy and corporate survival in North America

What were your impressions of the differences between work styles in Japan and North America while you were there?

Nishida:Comparing my two years working in Japan with my 19 years in North America, there was a huge contrast, despite the difference in historical context. In Japan, working 500 hours a month was the norm, but the sheer volume of effort I cultivated in that environment became a weapon that differentiated me when I jumped into the creative industry in North America.

When I first joined Bruce Mau Design, I was producing output at a furious pace, just like I would in Japan, so my local colleagues were completely taken aback and actually told me with a straight face, "Please, for the love of God, stop working!" (laughs). But I just kept working relentlessly. I was desperate to survive, you see.

The social structure in North America at that time was very simple and rational. It was a meritocracy where "the more you do and the more results you produce, the more directly you are rewarded and promoted." In Japan at that time, there may have been a tendency for working through the night not to be rewarded fairly, but compared to that, Canada was much easier. Just by demonstrating the management skills that I had been strictly taught in Japan, I was praised for being "so punctual" (punctual). There, the standard is to work 8 hours and never work any more than that.

Of course, the environment is more competitive in big cities, but overseas studios, for better or worse, have almost no awareness of "nurturing talent." Unlike in Japan, there isn't a culture of carefully training people from the bottom up; only those who produce results get promoted, and those who don't are ruthlessly let go. It's just like the harsh world of professional sports. I think that kind of survival environment suited my sharp mentality at the time.

Bruce Mau Design was undergoing a period of transformation, especially at that time. The new CEO adopted the rigorous management methods of the prestigious New York studio " 2x4, " and brought in a large number of top-tier designers and directors to Toronto, deliberately creating an environment where competition was fostered within the studio. It was a completely flat, hierarchical environment where everyone from interns to senior directors contributed ideas on equal footing, and the person who came up with the idea picked by the client became the owner of the project—a true survival system. I was thoroughly trained there. I had a high success rate with my ideas in internal competitions, and I ended up taking on so much work that my boss once told me, "Don't take on too much work!" (laughs). Looking back now, I think it was the best kind of "training" I could have hoped for.

Asics and Netflix as the origins of global branding.

From among the many projects you've worked on, could you tell us about a particularly memorable project that formed the foundation of your design philosophy?

Nishida:I've worked on many projects, but if I had to choose two that were the source of my thinking in my career, they would be the global rebranding of ASICS and the visual system development project for Netflix. I think these two projects had a huge influence on my approach to large-scale global projects like the FIFA World Cup 2026.

First, in chronological order, this was the ASICS project. This was when I was still at Bruce Mau Design, about 10 years ago. ASICS was already a fantastic global brand representing Japan at the time, but they made a major decision to further enhance their competitiveness in overseas markets by refreshing their visual identity and rebranding to world standards and proceeding with full-scale global expansion. So, they pitched to design companies all over the world to choose a design company to partner with, and ultimately Bruce Mau Design was selected.

The scale of this project fundamentally changed my concept of design. We rebuilt everything about the brand from scratch, from the store's spatial design and shoe packaging to the overall branding logo and website. Absolutely everything. And the most interesting and educational aspect of this job was that it didn't end with creating and delivering brand guidelines (a set of regulations).

I had absolutely no prior experience thinking about things from the perspective of design for the smooth operation of international business. Ideas that had previously been confined to the scope of restaurant logos or product packaging were used for the first time on a global scale. Learning firsthand about that dynamism has been a truly invaluable experience.

What challenges did they solve in the other Netflix project?

Nishida: I was involved in the Netflix project when I was at Bruce Mau Design, working on their rebranding, and it continued to be an important and influential project even after I launched Public Address. There's a prestigious branding company in New York called " Gretel, " and they created Netflix's visual identity. It's that stacking system with overlapping red lines. It was highly praised in the creative industry at the time and became a big topic of conversation. However, although it's a wonderful visual identity, it seems that some ingenuity was needed to practically implement it in the field when it came to managing the vast amount of content on a daily basis.

The design quality is high. However, when it comes to deploying diverse works from around the world across various media, it became clear that there was a need to add rules optimized for the speed of operation, as well as the flexibility required by those on the ground.

So, instead of simply refining the existing design, I proposed specific operational procedures that looked to the future, focusing on "what kind of creative toolkit Netflix will need" as it goes on to produce and distribute its own original content globally.

We didn't touch Netflix's iconic main logo at all. Netflix also wanted to keep it as it was, as it's an absolute part of the brand's heritage, so we decided to stick with it. What we thoroughly redesigned, however, was the flexible "visual system" itself—the regulations for the fonts surrounding the logo, the rules for combining color palettes that can be flexibly changed for each piece of content, and how to select and discard graphic elements so that they function beautifully on all screen sizes.

At first glance, it might seem like a very mundane, behind-the-scenes job, but it was a wonderful project that allowed me to personally understand just how meticulous communication design is necessary for the smooth operation of a company's global operations.

While it may appear that the designs are freely created, we actually established a loose common system where only the fonts and color palettes were unified, providing the necessary tools so that Netflix could take the initiative in developing the project. I strongly feel that all of these experiences and accumulated knowledge culminated in the branding for the FIFA World Cup 2026, which I will discuss next.

The design of the FIFA World Cup 2026 and the rapidly advancing wave of digital branding

Could you please elaborate on the "main concept" of the brand identity for the FIFA World Cup 2026 and the digital strategy behind it?

Nishida: The FIFA World Cup 2026 project officially began in the summer of 2022. The concept that emerged from that process was "building a future brand asset that is digital-first yet also encompasses a physical presence."

The wave of digitalization in North America is progressing at an astonishing pace. With the spread of design tools like Figma and the advancement of AI, lifestyles themselves are becoming centered around smartphones and various monitor screens. While Japan still retains a strong culture of "physical design," such as paper media and brick-and-mortar stores, in North America bookstores are being replaced by digital bookstores, and shopping is transforming into online shopping.

Back in 2022, our thinking was that by 2026, four years after the Games were held, the world would be far more digitized, and people's visual experiences would have almost entirely shifted to screens. That's why we needed to create assets that could withstand the global standards of 2026 and allow for seamless movement within the digital space.

At the 2022 Qatar World Cup, a giant balloon-shaped trophy was inflated on the pitch before each match. However, for the 2026 World Cup, we predict that many of these stadium displays will be replaced by digital augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) experiences. To achieve this, branding itself must also change its form.

For example, when the logo featuring the number "26" was unveiled to the world, many people thought it was simply a trophy photo pasted onto the number in Photoshop. However, it is actually a meticulously designed three-dimensional asset. The real World Cup trophy, FIFA's most sacred asset, was completely rescanned and recreated from scratch in the digital space as "3D data" that allows for perfect control over everything from color to gloss and reflection.

This is because we suggested that the brand of this tournament should be used not only in the physical stadium, but also on smartphones around the world, on streaming screens, and in all kinds of digital games and metaverse spaces with which we may collaborate in the future. While the general public cannot touch the real trophy, with digitized 3D data, anyone can intuitively access previously unseen features of the trophy through their smartphone screen, such as "what does the back look like?" or "what is engraved on the other side or bottom?" We needed to consider both the functionality of the print and the reality of the digital experience when developing the brand, so the requirements for the design system became significantly more complex and intricate.

The font also left a very distinctive impression. I wonder if this was also developed to enhance digital branding?

Nishida: To support this ambitious concept, we completely co-developed an original typeface (font) specifically for the brand from scratch. We collaborated with Pangram Pangram, a world-renowned font foundry based in Montreal.

This font possesses a geometric and modern beauty inspired by the lines of a soccer field and the elements of "circles and squares," and it resonates with the 26 logo fonts used. However, what's important is that it maximizes the functionality of a "variable typeface" (a font that can change shape) to suit the digital environment. You can enjoy the expression of characters smoothly animating in terms of thickness, slant, and width on the screen. The reason for developing this font in the first place was to solve a practical and important problem.

The reason is that this World Cup will be held in 16 cities across 3 countries, but the length of each city's name varies considerably. So, when creating the logo and city lockups, we arrived at variable fonts as a practical, dynamic option that matched the concept.

Unraveling the design lineage from the FIFA Women's World Cup 2023 and the FIFA Club World Cup 2025

The bold design structure of the FIFA World Cup 2026 felt like it had a loose connection to the creative work that Public Address has done on previous FIFA projects.

Nishida: The design for the FIFA World Cup 2026 is not a one-off creation, but rather a continuation of a series of projects we have worked on with FIFA, including the FIFA Women's World Cup 2023 (hereinafter referred to as the Women's World Cup 2023) and the FIFA Club World Cup 2025 (hereinafter referred to as the Club World Cup 2025).

First, a clear example is the 2023 Women's World Cup (co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand). Looking back at past FIFA World Cups, we can see that they have adopted a method of packing the unique colors and cultural motifs of the host country into an illustration modeled after the shape of the trophy, and this has been a great commercial success.

However, after years of repeating the same illustrated approach for every tournament, that style of expression had become completely saturated in the market. In other words, all the tournament logos looked the same, making it visually impossible to distinguish between them. That's why we decided to put forward a fundamental suggestion on the pitch.

The perspective is that perhaps the very idea of ​​building an identity based on the shape of the trophy has reached its limits. The trophy is ultimately a symbol awarded to the winner of the tournament. On the other hand, we discussed whether the bigger themes, such as the message of the tournament itself and the passion of the community of 32 teams, should be expressed using a different visual system, without being constrained by the shape of the trophy.

Given this background, the trophy was not used as the main motif in the branding for the 2023 Women's World Cup. However, FIFA also had a strong belief that it could not abandon the absolute heritage of the "World Cup Trophy" as an icon. Any football fan would instantly think, "Ah, it's the World Cup."

Therefore, the strategy we proposed for the FIFA World Cup 2026 was to use the "physical trophy" as is, and change the "surrounding system" for each tournament and host city. That's why the logo isn't an illustration, but rather a 3D model of the actual trophy sitting in the center as a fixed icon.

The advantage of this system is that it makes the distinction between tournaments clearer and easier for fans to distinguish. Personally, I think that while each tournament has its own unique identity, it allows the World Cups of each era to coexist beautifully on a common platform.

I understand that collaboration with artists was an important design element for the 2023 Women's World Cup.

Nishida: In creating the 2023 project, we collaborated closely with Aboriginal and Maori artists, the native inhabitants of Australia and New Zealand. As we thoroughly studied their unique art and historical culture, we discovered a commonality: their expressions often utilize "circles" and other primitive geometric shapes. Since the sport of soccer naturally uses a "round soccer ball," we represented the 32 teams from around the world as 32 geometric squares, visually conveying the wish that they would come together to form one large soccer ball and celebrate the tournament. The light graphic background of the logo features delicately scattered traditional local patterns.

This is a bit of a behind-the-scenes story, but we drew and tested hundreds of sketches to decide on the design for the soccer ball logo (laughs). In the end, we came to the conclusion that "this classic combination of pentagons and hexagons is the most easily recognizable, so that everyone can instantly recognize it as a soccer ball," and that's how we settled on this shape.

At the time, I had just joined Public Address, so my team members and I were still figuring out how to work together, and I faced a series of very tough challenges in a different culture and environment. So, to be honest, I can't help but feel a sense of regret that I could have done better. Of course, there are aspects I'm satisfied with, but I always have that kind of self-reflection in every project.

FIFAThe fusion of digital and physical in the Club World Cup 2025

How did the philosophy of "starting with a real trophy and changing the world around it" evolve by the 2025 Club World Cup?

Nishida:The 2025 Club World Cup was a project that directly challenged and further evolved that idea. The overall theme was a challenge to express things that are only possible through digitalization: "How much minute information can we pack into a logo?"

The design concept for the "physical trophy," which is the symbol of that tournament, was originally based on the "..." that NASA carried aboard the Voyager spacecraft.Golden Record (Gold Disc)That's the idea. Inspired by that, the rich history and rules of football were translated into multiple languages, and a vast amount of information was etched (engraved) onto the surface of the trophy. The intricate details of that three-dimensional product were then directly translated into a digital "3D logo." We challenged the possibilities unique to digital technology, demonstrating that even the most minute information can be perfectly represented on a high-definition digital screen.

Of course, with output considerations in mind, we not only exported 3D data, but also prepared a flattened 2D version for media that cannot be represented in 3D. As a visual system, we proposed a variable system that starts with abstract representations when the event is still far away, and gradually develops into a realistic 3D image as the event approaches.

In fact, we designed the FIFA World Cup 2026 and the Club World Cup 2025 in chronological order, immediately following the 2023 Women's World Cup. You can see how the minimalist and functional brand identity, with a realistic 3D trophy standing as a symbol in front of the simple number "26" for 2026, is connected to the design concepts of the other two tournaments.

The core of the proposal is "to defy expectations" and "to clarify blind spots."

Based on your experience so far, could you tell us what you consider to be the "most important thing" at the core of your role as a creative director?

Nishida: The biggest reason Public Address can work with so many global companies is that we consistently "pleasantly exceed client expectations" and "visually clarify the 'blind spots' in their businesses that they themselves are unaware of."

It's not simply about coming up with outlandish ideas to surprise people. Every brand and organization has its own unique challenges and contradictions, but there are always "blind spots" that are difficult for those involved in the business to see. Our studio excels at finding those blind spots from an objective, external perspective and proposing solutions through words and visuals.

Simply responding according to the framework of the RFP presented by the client often did not lead to solving the original problem. Rather, while clearly communicating the intention, we pointed out, "Isn't the real issue that needs to be clarified this blind spot?" and presented a system that could lead to long-term business expansion and growth. I believe it is this approach that leads to our proposals being chosen.

A fusion of global unity and local culture

What were the biggest challenges faced by such a massive international competition? And how were those challenges addressed through design?

Nishida:One of the biggest blind spots in branding major international competitions is the challenge of balancing "global (uniformity to global standards)" and "local (the unique culture of the host city)."

In the past, a "powerful logo with global prestige" might have sufficed for a tournament. However, nowadays, a brand won't take root in society, nor will it be a business success, unless it conveys the equal value of the people and culture of the host city that host the tournament and support the enormous infrastructure costs. This balance between global and local elements was implemented as a system on the pitch for the FIFA World Cup 2026.

Specifically, for the first time in the history of the Games, we created individual, independent branding for each of the 16 host cities. While minor changes, such as changing the image color, were made in past Games, we clearly differentiated the branding for this Games. We wanted the people of the 16 cities to feel proud that they were hosting the Games in their own towns.

To achieve this, we created a "color palette" and "unique graphic assets" that completely separate global and local elements. These were designed independently for each purpose, such as for the three co-hosting countries and the 16 host cities. This allows, for example, designers in host cities to create designs simply by following guidelines. Separately, we also prepared a palette specifically for FIFA services, ensuring that each party's design domain doesn't encroach on the others.

Furthermore, this separation concept is also effective from a business perspective. By having each host city own the rights to its own unique branding and graphic assets, it becomes possible to stimulate conversations with clients based on the city's unique graphic assets, such as "You can use a dedicated 3D logo and representation of the host city."

Looking back, I realize that our studio was chosen because we proposed a design system that maximized the unique originality and economic benefits of local cities without compromising the global, unified brand power.

Design and practice supported by "logic"

What are your thoughts on the differences between the "rationality" prevalent in the North American design scene, where Mr. Nishida spent many years, and Japanese creative culture?

Nishida:I believe the same is true in Japan in recent years, but in the global design scene in North America, logic always comes first. I rarely hear of designs being built on feeling and then adopted. One reason for this is that overseas agencies and companies have high employee turnover, making reproducibility essential. Another reason is that relying on personal feelings is considered risky when it comes to internal explanation obligations and developing business strategies.

If you proceed with a design based on a vague feeling like, "I chose this color and shape based on my own sensibilities," the person who takes over the project will be confused, wondering, "Why did my predecessor choose this font?" and the project will become unmanageable. That's why you must think about a logical "reason" for every design element that anyone can understand and agree with. If you understand the reason, you can accurately track the intention behind it later.

In that respect, I believe that being able to understand, just by looking at the design file, that "this was the problem, so the previous person chose this font and designed this color palette," much like a detective tracing the evidence one by one, is an essential skill for a great designer.

Looking at Japan's "deep culture" after returning home

It's been about a year since you returned to Japan. What are your thoughts on the changes in Japanese cities and the creative possibilities available today?

Nishida:When I returned to Japan after 19 years and visited the newly reborn Shimokitazawa, I was shocked by many things. The layout around the station had completely changed, and I got lost because I didn't even know which exit to take (laughs). But from an urban planning perspective, that redevelopment was undoubtedly a great success. There are lots of people there on weekends, and the energy of the young people who gather there is wonderful. Japan's unique vintage clothing culture and street indie culture are being carried on to the next stage by the younger generation without fading away, and are thriving.

Furthermore, I feel that interesting and unique street cultures are sprouting up in various places. Compared to the dry creative environment of North America, where digitalization has reached its limit and things tend to be confined to screens, Japan has a rich foundation for physical and emotional communication between people that can be found all over the city. It is because of this humane foundation that Japan is able to maintain a culture that is uniquely complex, deep, and profound compared to the rest of the world, and I have come to strongly realize this potential once again since returning home.