Football: Designing the Beautiful Game

288 pages
Text(s) by Matthew Barrett, Roxanne Bottomley, Nathan Buckle, Peter Carney, Gareth Christie, Reuben Dangoor, Statman Dave, Sam Handy, Jacques Herzog, Iqra Ismail, Miles Jacobson, Russell Jones, Trisha Lewis, Percy M. Young, Jacqui McAssey, Justin McGuirk, Camila Rojas, Martino Simcik Arese, Martin Tyler, Thomas Turner and Floor Wesseling
Edited by Eleanor Watson, James Bird
Designed by Shaz Madani Studio
Foreword by Tim Marlow
28 x 21 cm 
Language: English
Hardback 
Publisher: Design Museum
2022

This book – the first of its kind – explores the design story behind football, diving into how design has been used to push the game to its technical and emotional limits

From the master planning of the new Tottenham Hotspur stadium and the innovative materials used in today’s boots, to the graphic design of the Juventus team logo and the grassroots initiatives pushing back against the sport’s commercialisation, this book provides a rare insight into the people and processes that have made football what it is today.

More than 200 carefully curated photographs – of FIFA World Cup posters, fan culture from across Europe and South America, and cutting-edge kit and equipment – tell the story of a changing game, from the earliest days of men’s and women’s professional football to today’s era of e-sports and vast TV audiences.

Accompanying the Design Museum exhibition of the same title, this book features informed and sometimes provocative contributions from figures across the world of football and design, from analyst Statman Dave and broadcaster Martin Tyler, to architect Jacques Herzog and VP of design at adidas Sam Handy. The diverse perspectives in this catalogue reveal the extraordinary richness of the game’s design legacy, and cast new light on its future