Two years ago, I joined a Zoom call hosted by Brian Collins. He had invited the poet David Whyte to speak. David kept repeating: “Just beyond yourself, that’s where you need to be.” It didn’t resonate at first, but it stayed with me. With time, it became something more—a seed of an idea. I thought, what if this could be a Nike campaign? So I made it real.

As a brand designer working solo, I don't have the resources to bring everything to life exactly as I imagine. I searched visuals online to match the vision I had in mind. The goal was simple: make people believe Nike could have made this. But the challenge wasn’t execution. It was turning an internal, psychological battle into a visual system that felt bold, iconic, and true to Nike’s DNA. There was no external enemy so I needed to capture that idea of “against yourself.” Like a shadow. A reflection. A version of you in conflict. The hardest part? Making something visually simple, but conceptually deep, representing that idea of internal fight.

I quickly arrived at the concept: YOU VS YOU. I explored how typography could physically represent internal conflict. The answer came in the form itself: the Y and the U share a mirrored upper structure—almost like reflections. I leaned into that symmetry to visualize duality. From there, I extended the idea to the Nike swoosh, giving it a mirrored shadow. That contrast became the backbone of the entire visual system.

I used the bold orange from the Nike Run campaign by Porto Rocha and paired it with Nike’s iconic Futura Condensed. Familiar. Recognizable. Grounded. To support the story, I used stunning photography from various Wieden+Kennedy campaign. The result feels both fresh and deeply Nike.