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As a football fan, I know only too well the raw emotion the game can evoke and understand the want for fans to interact with the club and be accessible to as much information as possible. This includes checking fixture lists, buying match tickets, reading match reports and learning about any injury news. With ever improving broadband speeds, video content is being used more, and ubiquitous social media channels also can now be better integrated into websites.

I decided to create a concept site for Tottenham Hotspur in which I wanted to show my own processes of web design. Typically in a large scale project I would hope to be part of a large team consisting of project managers, creative directors, UX designers and other designers. However for this self imposed project I decided to wear all hats to come up with my own vision. I created something I feel is visually more appealing, and visually rich.

PLEASE NOTE: This is a purely conceptual project for my own enjoyment.

Click on the images to see the full image.

The textured, distressed and saturated look to the images give an authentic feel. Absolutely inspirational work.

Check out more of his work here:

http://drawsgood.tumblr.com
http://www.drawsgood.com/
http://www.behance.net/drawsgood
http://www.flickr.com/photos/13728239@N08/

http://www.behance.net/?content=projects&search=piotr+tarka

http://cargocollective.com/tarka

I only feature incredible artists which inspire me, and Greg Abbott is most definately one. I love his illustration style, and I’m not the only one, as his bulging client list of Pyknic, Babycakes and INK Clothing proves.

His unique playful style is definately worth checking out, and I for one am absolutely desperate to work with him at some point in the future. So Greg, look out for future projects! (I’ll start saving!).

Check out more of his work here…

http://www.gregabbott.co.uk

http://www.flickr.com/photos/iamgregabbott

Nike websites are notoriously known for producing cutting edge, wonderful design, and quite often the jumpman stuff is at the forefront of  rich content on the web.

This simple concept is elegant in its execution and wonderfully put together by Blast Radius and Academy. The site itself shows the evolution of the Jordan sneaker from ’85 to present. This iconic sneaker may not have always been my personal favourite but no one can deny its popularity in the sneaker world. You can use the scrubber to move along the timeline and you will see the sneaker beautifully animate and be drawn as a blueprint.

Check it out! http://www.nike.com/jumpman23/evolution85

One of my greatest memories as a Spurs fan has to be of Gareth Bale’s single hand destruction of Inter Milan this season in the Champions League.

This animated piece is beautifully hand drawn, with occassions where the figures are represented by a few flicks of a brush, or a rough squiggle, yet it perfectly captures the moment. An absolutely brilliant bit of animation (and what a great player! COYS!)

See the entire movie here.

This isn’t usually a football (soccer) blog, but today hey Indy pays homage to one of my personal all time sporting heroes, the great Ronaldo Luís Nazário de Lima, who sadly today announces his official retirement from the game.

A truly blessed footballer, with the most remarkable football story which in short ranged from prodigy, superstar, anguish, pain, adversity, triumph to legend.

A story which began at Cruzeiro, where a boy discovered by the great Jairzinho tore up the Campeonato as a buck toothed teenage wonder. Stories began to emerge around the world of this new soon-to-be global superstar who was the next in a long line of “the next Pele”. As Romario and Brazil triumphed in the 1994 World Cup, the young Ronaldo was seen to be celebrating as part of an unused member of the Seleção.

A move to bring him to PSV was to follow soon after where Ronaldo annihilated the Dutch Eredivisie and a genuine global superstar was born. Zagallo finally unleashed him on the international scene as a 17 year old soon after the World Cup. By this time, the whole world had awoken to the rising stock of the boy from Rio.

Barcelona was the next stop for Ronie, where he arguably had his finest season ever, showing the whole world that this could perhaps be the greatest player the world has ever seen. With goals such as this one against Compostela, we heard superlatives from his then coach Sir Bobby Robson:

You can’t find a player like Ronaldo andwhere in the world. He is so sensational, the he knows when to shoot or pass. He can drop back 40 yards, with the ball and go off on runs taking a whole defences on his own.
- Sir Bobby Robson 1996

He stayed with the Blaugrana for only a year, after contract disputes and he was welcomed by the adoring fans of Internazionale after Massimo Moratti was able to secure his services. Again, he demonstrated his breathtaking ability, and was dubbed by the italian press as “Il phenomeno”. He lead Inter to UEFA cup success and almost single handedly took on the might of a legendary Juve team consisting of the great Zidane, Del Piero and Davids.

1998 and the World Cup in France was where Ronaldo truly expressed his arrival to international stardom scoring the first of his record breaking world cup tally against Morocco in a 3-0 win. He was absolutely instrumental and the fulcrum of a Brazil side in which he was ably assisted by the likes of Bebeto, Dunga and Rivaldo. Unfortunately heartbreak was to follow as on the morning of the World Cup final against hosts France, he was said to have had convulsions which prompted Zagallo to remove him from his starting XI. Controversially, Ronaldo made himself available, but was a shadow of the great man as France and Zidane became world champions winning 3-0.

Ronaldo returned to Italy where he ruptured his knee ligaments for the very first time. An injury which basically effectively ended the career of the Ronaldo we once knew. A long rehabilitation ensued, and after a gruelling year of physio he was ready for his return against Lazio when the unthinkable happened just minutes into his comeback. He ruptured the same ligament once again. Anguish on his face echoed around the world, as football fans were once again deprived of his talents. With serious doubts about whether he could ever play again, Ronaldo showed an incredible amount of human will to finally come back with almost 2 years out of the game with the 2002 World Cup in Japan/Korea on the horizon.

Brazil had endured a terrible qualifying campaign shorn of Ronaldo and a lot of european based players during the qualifiers. They just about qualified, and were not really many people’s favourites for the crown. A recovering Ronaldo boosted the squad but no one was to expect what we saw. Ronaldo had re-invented himself as a goalscorer, a poacher. No longer did we see the Ronie who would drop deep and go at defences from the halfway line but instead someone who could lead the line and was simply lethal in front of goal. So lethal in fact, that it lead to him becoming the top scorer at the World Cup with 8 goals. In the final against Germany, Ronaldo’s fairytale was complete as he scored 2 goals to secure record breaking success for Brazil. A tale of true adversity, where he was able to overcome his demons from 4 years ago, and the unbelievable injuries.

A move to Real Madrid was to follow for the great man, as Real added him to the likes of Zinedine Zidane and Figo in their Galactico project. It was simply a joy to see the likes of Zidane and Ronaldo play in tandem week in week out… pure fantasy football. it may surprise many to know the the first Ronaldo to score a hat trick at Old Trafford was not Cristiano but infact the Brazilian legend.

His career was a little up and down at Real where he enjoyed winning La Liga but was eventually let go by Capello who was ripping up the galactico project and starting afresh. 2006 in Germany saw Ronaldo become the all time leading goalscorer in the World Cup as he added another 3 to his tally to overtake Gerd Muller.

Moves to Milan, where he suffered a heart breaking third knee ligament injury followed. Once more he recovered, yet at this point he was plagued with accusations of being over weight and unprofessional. How this is possible after what the man had been through was beyond me. Finally the great man chose to end his career at Corinthians back in Brazil.

What a journey. What a story. What a man. A man who achieved remarkable success despite all the adversity he suffered, in what will always be a truly inspiring story to me.

Ronaldo Luís Nazário de Lima. Thank you. Enjoy your retirement!

Years – Team – Apps – (Gls)
1993 Cruzeiro 14 (12)
1994–1996 PSV 46 (42)
1996–1997 Barcelona 37 (34)
1997–2002 Inter Milan 68 (49)
2002–2007 Real Madrid 127 (83)
2007–2008 AC Milan 20 (9)
2009–2011 Corinthians 31 (18)

Check out his wikipedia page for other stats.

The “Jigga man” has a brand new website to promote his upcoming anthology, The Hits Collection, volume 1, due for release on November 22, 2010. This stunning work of art is an entirely flash built website created by Agency Net. It tells the story of the legendary MC hailing from Marcy, New York, and is split into 4 different era’s, “The beginning”, “Marcy to Madison Square”, “Corporate Takeover”. and “I run the map”.

Music artists are clearly understanding the need for implementing a strong social media strategy to reach their audience and fan base, and this again is a terrific example of marketing music using technology. Recently Kanye West’s G.O.O.D. Fridays and Swizz Beatz Monster Mondays have released free downloads every week for their fans and they have certainly created a social frenzy. Kanye’s feature length video “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy” was a throwback to the old Michael Jackson videos and it fast became one of the most popular online searches.

Jay-Z’s website is a beautiful interactive experience and one which once more warrants the use of flash, which of course has more than its fair share of critics. The site is full of rich media, from music snippets from some of the rapper’s anthems, to incredible full bleed black and white shots of New York and incredibly well produced videos to introduce the respective eras.

The site also allows for Jay-Z’s fans to connect and post their favourite lyrics via Twitter. What a great way to connect and spread word of the new album.

Check it out here.