FIDE World Championship: chess at its best

Services
- Visual Identity Design
- Naming & Verbal Identity
- Retail Design
- Signage Design
- UX/UI Design
- Communication
Industry
- Administration and Public Institutions
- Non-Profit Organizations and Foundations
- Sports, Entertainment and Events
Client

FIDE, International Chess Federation

The 2021 FIDE World Chess Championship is a biannual event that came at a unique moment, as new digital phenomena brought millions of new followers to this millenary mental sport.

Challenge

The visual expression
of the world’s biggest chess event

The FIDE Chess World Championship is the chess event that crosses the boundaries of regular fans and specialized media. After being postponed due to the pandemic in 2020, interest in the World Championship was at its peak.

Not only was it being held at the eagerly anticipated Dubai World Expo, but it came in the year of the definitive explosion of chess on Twitch and the streaming of Queen's Gambit on Netflix. Interest in chess was at an all-time high, so delivering a narrative and visual language worthy of a major event was key, but so was maintaining the intellect and sophistication of chess.

Cultural challenge

Understanding the diversity of a global body like FIDE was crucial to success.
Desk research

The teams got to grips with the challenge through interviews and in-depth research.
Creative workshops

The different profiles involved brought the stimuli to their area.

Solution

You are
your best moves:
the story of victory

In chess, every move leaves a trail: players write down every move and then analyze it in depth. This data collection means that the great games are written like music scores or specialized material and then studied.

In this way, each player's playing style is "codified" in his or her previous moves and from there it is theoretically possible to find a style that is predictable to a certain extent. "You are your best moves" aspires to be a sports branding statement with an insight based on the sophistication of chess. A call to be proud of each playing style – which is markedly different in the two World Cup contenders.

Simplifying

the complexity
of chess

We decided to work with the literality of the trail of the moves: with geometric shapes representative of the pattern that each piece traces on the board. These shapes are expressed in gold, as a color associated with the glory of winning the FIDE World Chess Championship.

In the background, the copy is placed with relevant data (dates, locations) or key messages, acting as a metaphorical board thanks to the combination of black and white. The typography has been specially chosen for its balance between sophistication and forcefulness to synthesize the mix between sport and intellect that chess requires. Using all these ingredients, we could create applications in diverse sizes: from the intervention in the entire game space to details in the merchandising for the fans.

Solution

A website
for the world
to watch

In addition to the entire graphic identity, we created the web design that centralized all the games and live content from the world championship.

At this contact point, the movement of the graphic language becomes interactive and forms part of the experience of following the world’s biggest chest event.

Solution

A winning
identity

Besides the privilege of working for one of the most historic sporting events, Morillas' intervention in the FIDE World Chess Championship has earned us several awards: a Silver Award from the World Brand Design Society, and 3 awards and 1 Grand Prix for the CSS Design Awards website.

A clear example of how going for the extraordinary is always a winning move.