Winner of the adidas Creator Studio project for Real Madrid, lifelong fan Jesus Serrano was flown out to Los Angeles to present his winning design to Zinedine Zidane and members of the Real Madrid team at their UCLA campus training base. We caught up with Jesus to talk about his winning design.
Through the Creator Studio platform, adidas were able to channel and celebrate a creatively collective game from fans across the glove. The competition allowed fans the chance to design the third kits for their favourite club for the 2017/18 season. The winners for each club were then chosen by an panel that consisted of some of each clubs most iconic players.
Jesus's winning sky blue design, which beat off hundreds of entries, takes inspiration from modern digital design, with a square graphic pattern in two corners breaking up the front of the shirt and representing the disruptive nature of the reigning European Champions.
Can you tell us how the process of creating your design and the inspiration behind it?
It was based on the 1996-97 Real Madrid third shirt which had similar graphics across the two corners of the front of the jersey. I wanted to something similar, but also something more simple that didn’t stand out so much with different tones of colour. I thought about doing a pixilated pattern with darker tones of blue so they would blend into the jersey more naturally.
How many different designs did you work on?
In total I submitted four different designs. Luckily my favourite design was the one adidas chose as the winner.
Can you tell us more about your process of getting involved in the Creator Studio?
A relative of mine actually saw the competition and told me about it knowing that I have a passion for designing football jerseys. To begin with adidas provided a base jersey template and a base colour to work from. You had different patterns to chose from as well as the possibility of adding new ones. In the end I designed a completely different pattern to the ones that were originally provided.
Do you have a favourite Real Madrid jersey?
Well, there are so many of course. The one from the 100th anniversary, I really liked that one because it was very clean and all white. I also really liked the home jersey from last season which of course will go down in history as it was such a successful season for the club.
How do you think designs of football jerseys have evolved over recent years?
The Real Madrid jerseys have always been very similar because they are obviously all white. But if you start to compare them all you can see the different design techniques used. Adidas develop and evolve the design every year and each year they improve.
How many jerseys do you have in your collection?
I started to collect football jerseys more seriously approximately 5-6 years ago when I noticed I had naturally built up a very big collection of Real Madrid jerseys. I began looking on the internet to find ones I didn’t have and now I have every Real Madrid jersey from the 1994-95 season to now.
How will you feel when you see the Real Madrid players wearing your jersey?
I don’t think I’ll believe it. I’m sure it will be a very strange feeling. I’ve always enjoyed designing football jerseys, so when I see Real Madrid playing in a jersey that I designed it will be a very strange sensation. I still have to think twice about it, because I can’t believe they will be wearing my jersey this season. Most of all, being able to be a part in the history of Real Madrid by designing a jersey is something really big that I will always remember.
The adidas Real Madrid 2017/18 third jersey is available here.
