Florida State Wants You to Help Design Their Athletics Tee

It's a big deal to wear the jersey.

Why? I think it comes down to being one of the few lucky enough to wear a uniform with your school's name on it - dead center, in front of the world. As a student-athlete, you are a representative of your school -- not just of today but of the past (alums) and the future (recruits). It's a lot of responsibility and it makes an impact on you.

But how can a university make this into a bigger deal for their student body, alumni, and fans? Florida State University developed a way for everyone to play a role.

It all starts on the Florida State Athletics Page, shown below.

Im going to zoom in on that right-hand column of touts, here.




We'll turn our attention to "You Design, We'll Decide." Clicking in takes us here, to the magic. As you will see below, this is your chance to submit a design for the FSU all-sport promotional shirt. (You still have almost a full week to go -- so design away once you finish this read!)

The steps are laid out clearly - download a template, design away, sign a release, and submit.

I'll be interested in following this, because it opens the door for fans to have a voice in how the athletics department presents itself to the world.

But how could this be better? First, I think we need context - emotional context. What do I mean by that? What is the "all-sport promotional tee?" Do the players wear these? Do they sell them? What have they looked like in the past? What if FSU went deeper -- asking players and coaches to provide a brief for what they'd love to see in a shirt. If you're a diehard FSU fan, there's not much more cool than getting a brief from your coach (or players) and then setting out to solve it!!!

Secondly, FSU should make the assets available. Make it easier to design for you by providing high res logos, images, colors, fonts -- anything you can do to allow designers to not have to search around for tools.

Finally, I'd love to see a plan for unveiling these. Maybe it will be at media day - where the designer will be a VIP? Or maybe at the first football game? Giving access to the team(s) for the best designer adds a dimension only FSU can deliver!!!

Great stuff today, with more coming later in the week. Feel free to follow along via Facebook (here) or Twitter (I'm @andypawlowski, here)

Thanks.

Andy

NBA Best Practices: Cleveland Cavs Let Fans Design Program Cover

As we sit in the NCAA Offseason, it's time to shift our attention to the NBA. We'll cover best practices from each of the 30 squads over the next 6 weeks. I hope you enjoy.

How can you leverage digital to make fans more involved in the overall game day experience? That's a question that helps us make digital even more critical to building our brand. The Cleveland Cavaliers show us a nice example.

Hit the Cavs home page and note the button in the lower left-hand corner (I'll zoom in below)...

Fans are given the chance to design the cover of their in-game program. There's no cash prize, but the Cavs will "make sure everyone in the arena knows it was you who designed the cover." If you're an aspiring designer, especially in this economy, what a huge opportunity. And the Cavs, no doubt get a whole lot of free design inspiration. Check this for yourself, here.

I love the idea of bringing fans into the process of designing your program. It makes an emotional connection between designer and team. And it gives you fresh perspective. It's simple to execute, and it offers exposure for a designer in a time (with jobs tough to come by) that this is extra valuable.

Cool idea!

Come back tomorrow as we check out another best practice from the NBA. And as always, you can follow me on Twitter (I'm @pawlow34) or on Facebook (Digital Hoops Blast).

Thanks!

Andy