Riot Games Europe: Malmö Finals

Setting the scene

Malmö. 11th September 2022. Crowds 15,000 strong are crammed into a stadium - excitement and anticipation fill the air. Fans have waited almost 3 years for this moment to arrive. The return of the LEC Finals as a live spectacle.

The approach

Screens 30 feet high hang above the arena, across them a giant digital sun mimicking the sunlight of the host city, who experienced 24-hour sunlight in the peak of summer.
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The optimistic energy of the endless Nordic summer sunlight, was what inspired our idea of ‘The Land of the Midnight Sun’, tenth in the series of event identities we’ve imagined for the LEC Finals over the past years, since creating the original LEC brand back in 2018.

Brand expression

The motion work on this project drove the entire identity for the finals. We built a 3D model of the sun and solar system to help embrace the midnight sun’s hazy atmosphere, creating moments of total illumination, and other moments where we are cast into eclipsed darkness.
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That hazy texture allowed us to create an optimistic festival feeling that brought the unshakable LEC community together, after a long time forced to participate in pandemic-induced online-only events. This was the perfect opportunity to celebrate the physicality of the finals event, an experience that could bridge both digital broadcast and in-stadium screens.

Data-centric elements like scores and stats, were inspired by space cartography, lending a technical layer to the system, and allowing us to introduce 'Space Mono' as a supporting typeface,. This was used to create diagrammatic furniture that held our designs together.

Massive congrats to the entire LEC x DS team for making this happen, and hats off to @Rogue for absolutely smurfing with their 3-0 win!