Client
Croatian Football Federation
“You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow. This opportunity comes once in a lifetime, yo.” While we do appreciate what our friend Eminem is trying to say, we’re proud to say that we got not one but two opportunities to design the Croatian national football team’s website. And boy did we embrace both of them.
Our cooperation with Croatian Football Federation dates back to 2013 when they trusted us with overhauling their entire visual identity. Not an easy feat by all means. The traditional Croatian red and white squares have been omnipresent and widely recognized in the world of football ever since Croatia became an independent state.
Croatian national football team is more than just a sports team. For millions of Croatian football fans they’ve become an icon they identify with, a world renowned team that punches well above its weight and brings joy to all generations.
Chapter One
So where did we start? From the beginning of course. First we spruced up the HNS badge and gave it some new shine and depth, while keeping its traditional and well known shape intact. With that done, it was time for the real deal.
Our graphic design team crafted a stunning new brand identity that pays homage to tradition while setting its sights firmly on the future. We built detailed branding guidelines to prepare the HNS brand for every possible challenge in the years to come.
With such firm foundation blocks in place, we designed a state-of-the-art responsive website offering unprecedented amount of information about the national football team, its players and the football federation in general.
The website lasted more than eight successful years, following the Croatian team through some of the best moments of its rich history, including the three world cups (2014, 2018 and 2022) and two European Championships (2016 and 2020).
But as all good websites eventually reach the end of their life cycle and need to be refreshed, such was the fate of the HNS website as well. As it became obvious that the website could not match the ambitions of the team and federation anymore, it was time for…
Chapter Two
Fast forward eight years from the launch of the first website and we sat down again with the Croatian Football Federation with a new, very simple goal in sight — to create HNS.Family, the best football team website in the world.
Not just the best in visual terms and user experience, but also in the sheer amount of information it provides to its visitors. The plan was so outrageously ambitious, gigantic and overwhelming that it took more than a year to design and develop, but once it was done it was all worth the time.
From daily news, media and information about the Croatian football team, its players and staff, to detailed statistics of all Croatian football competitions and teams dating back almost a hundred years, articles from the rich history of Croatian football, the Federation’s charity work and much, much more. Unprecedented access to Croatian football in general, all in one place.
And above it all, an overarching idea about the Croatian football family, the HNS.Family. Oh yeah, we designed the logo for that too, as featured on the brand new 2024 Croatia jersey.
And we didn’t stop there.
With the Qatar World Cup just around the corner at the time, we overhauled the design of HNS social media posts, including match results, team rosters, quotes from players and coaches and many more. But the best part was yet to come. When the Croatian national team won the bronze medal at the World Cup, we designed the celebration bus that was used in the parade when the team came back to Croatia and celebrated with hundreds of thousands of fans.
Even though most of our work was done, our collaboration with HNS continues to this day. In 2024 we hooked up again for International Women’s Day, for purposes of the “Women have a place in football” campaign, promoting women’s role in today’s football.
Prologue
Although at times it looked like we would never get it done on time, we are incredibly proud to have shared and been part of this incredible journey, to create a website that will follow this great football team through its challenges in the next decade.
And who knows, if the opportunity knocks the third time, we might just take it again. Sorry, Eminem…
