Scoring for Social Good: Underline Studio’s Winning World Cup 2022 Posters

When passion, creativity, and altruism intersect on the field of design, the outcome is nothing less than a hat-trick of excellence. Underline Studio‘s “World Cup 2022 Posters” achieved excellence in creativity, social impact, and accolades. Scoring a Graphis Poster 2024 Platinum Award, the project, initiated by designer Fidel Peña, quickly caught George Brown College’s attention. But it’s more than just eye-catching; like a precise corner kick, it transitioned from a social media share to a full-scale exhibition, all while supporting the United Way in Toronto. This campaign demonstrates how design can unify passion for sport and social good. Continue reading to learn about this game-changing project.

World Cup 2022 Posters

By: Fidel Peña

I have long been a fan of soccer. I love the sport in so many ways but was never very good at playing it. When the last World Cup was about to start, I wanted to share my love of the sport with friends and colleagues. For fun, I designed a couple of posters of my favorite teams in the World Cup and shared them on social media.

Incredibly, Ana Rita Morais, the associate dean at the School of Design, George Brown College, saw the posters and asked if we would be interested in designing a series to be exhibited at the College. She had this fantastic idea of hosting a series of viewing parties during the World Cup and raising funds for the United Way here in Toronto. The School of Design covered all the costs while we donated our design time for this cause.

We designed the series with a simple premise. Choose a bold and interesting typeface to represent each country and contrast it with an image of one of their star players. Our goal was to make the type interact with the players so the typefaces would also become part of the game. This was our nod to recognizing that we may not be able to kick a ball properly but can participate in the game with typography and design.

It was as much fun to research extensively and select which typefaces would suit each team as it was to portray the players against the type. At the same time, we wanted to make the posters useful, so we added the calendar for the team’s games in the tournament’s first round.

Some of our favorite posters are the ones that we think capture the teams’ style of play the best – Argentina (champion), Canada, Mexico, Costa Rica, Netherlands, France, Senegal, Belgium, and Mexico. Or perhaps these are the teams that feature some of our favorite players – Who knows?

The posters were beautifully displayed in one of the galleries at the School of Design for their World Cup viewing parties. We were thrilled to have been part of this wonderful cause while designing one of our favorite projects of last year.

Learn more about Underline Studio here.

Discover more award-winning Poster 2024 entries here.