Nike challenged us to reclaim their retro running heritage and create a compelling voice within the Y2K trend -without the hype. Embrace the ordinary, the nostalgic, and the subtly iconic, connecting with Gen Z and Zalpha through irreverent anti-design and a celebration of the mundane.

Through a hyper-realized world where the ordinary is extraordinary, we crafted a creative direction that blends Nike’s Y2K aesthetic within Gen-Z’s ethos of quiet rebellion. Using minimal, stripped-down captures, we follow our protagonists as they move through everyday life, celebrating comfort and style in the most subtle of ways.

The campaign brought together a style guide harking back to early 2000s Nike China-a time of effortless self-expression—and a hero campaign featuring Jin Shijia, Lin Yuwei, and Ma Hailun. The result is a playful, subversive tribute to everyday moments where style and irony meet mundanity & magic.

Diving into the world of early 2000s pan-Asian editorial design, we took an anti-design approach and embraced a style that was all about the sell. Characterised by big imagery, over-explaining product experiences and features, this style disregarded some traditional design principles around hierarchy and balance by filling all the ad space available.