Portfolio Review: James Taylor Re-Imagined Every World Cup Poster From 1930 to 2014

Image via Complex Original

"The design for the very first World Cup was arguably the most difficult. I opted to shun popular styles of the time for a vintage illustration, perhaps to suggest the naiveté of a brand new tournament without the burden of history."

"Italy played host to the second edition of the World Cup at the height of Mussolini's regime. Despite the political situation, it was a golden age for Italian graphic design. I was inspired by the Fascist and Futurist styles of the era, which infiltrated everything from political propaganda to pasta advertisements."

"This was a more overt Art Deco design, and unmistakably French. The Eiffel Tower was another playful element that defies the atmosphere in Europe at the time."

"This design came about after I noticed the football-related possibilities of the geometric shapes within the Brazilian flag. This was before Brazil had any World Cup pedigree to speak of, and before the team even wore yellow, so I deliberately eschewed all elements one might associate with subsequent Brazilian World Cup campaigns."

"It seemed natural to use the minimalist Swiss approach to graphic design that had begun to flourish in the mid-1950s. I chose a condensed sans-serif font, but not Helvetica—too obvious!"

"The black-and-white photography, flat color, and Bodoni typeface for the small print suggest I was perhaps subconsciously inspired by LP design of the period."

"As we enter the 1960s, so the designs become a little more avant-garde, and illustration gives way to photography. Here I have dispensed with hierarchy by giving all secondary information equal weight behind CHILE62."

"The historical relevance of this tournament has only grown in the ensuing 48 years, to the extent that, for most people in England, the number 66 has become synonymous with our sole World Cup triumph. Again I was looking to avoid cliché; "Swinging London" was the furthest thing from my mind. I liked the trend in the '60s of creating an abstract graphic shape out of letters, or in this case, numbers. I also used the quintessential London typeface Gill Sans."

"This was the first World Cup broadcast in color. Those lucky enough to own a color TV were treated to oversaturated, sun-drenched pitches beamed via satellite in glorious Technicolor. It was also the last tournament to feature the old Jules Rimet trophy, which Brazil was allowed to keep after winning it for a third time. I think I may have also subconsciously been inspired by the opening credits to Stanley Kubrick's Spartacus."

"A stylistic and meteorologically far cry from Mexico, WM74 was characterized by Total Football and heavy rain. The players may have sported long hair and sideburns, but there was some exceptionally spare graphic design in this period that I've hoped to evoke. The poster features the unmistakable roof design of the old Olympic Stadium in Munich, where Beckenbauer's West Germany won their second title."

"Perhaps no image is as closely tied to a World Cup as the scenes of ticker tape raining down from the stands of the Estadio Monumental in Buenos Aires during the home team's matches in 1978. There was really nothing more to add besides some retro scoreboard lettering and Trade Gothic Light small print. Who says the '70s weren't stylish?"

"The original '82 poster was designed by Joan Miró. Not wishing to compete with a Catalan master, I took a more lowbrow approach, positioning the flags of each of the 24 competing nations onto a traditional fan-shaped graphic—no doubt a useful accessory when watching World Cup football in the sweltering sunshine of Andalucía."

"Mexico became the first nation to host the World Cup twice, after the withdrawal of the original choice, Colombia. Like in 1970, the '86 tournament was characterized by great football played in brilliant sunshine. The Azteca stadium looms large like a Mayan temple, while the typefaces whisper "mid-eighties" without screaming it."

"Where style and football collide: only in a World Cup held in Italy could incorporate a fashion runway show into its opening ceremony. Inspired by the athletic statues at the Stadio dei Marmi in Rome, the poster is a visual interpretation of what happens when the world's greatest sporting event arrives in a land of such rich cultural and artistic heritage."

"Many were skeptical about a World Cup being held in the United States, but in the end the tournament proved a resounding success. This was another idea that was a tad corny, but I also felt it was appropriate, since Liberty is essentially welcoming the rest of the world. Special thanks to my wife who posed for this poster while hoisting a plastic toy World Cup aloft in her left hand."

"This design owes much to the typography experiments that became commonplace in magazines in the 1990s. I was interested in type becoming the design itself rather than being merely a means of conveying information. There was a lot of room for creativity at that time since the corporate culture we know today had yet to influence public design."

"When I was in high school, I created a woodcut of a Japanese street scene, which I printed using layers of red and black ink. I've always felt these were strong colors that immediately suggest the Far East. I've never been to Japan or Korea, but the colors and composition of the Asian characters were in part inspired by a photograph of a supermarket awning I took in Beijing a few years ago."

"Here is another fun idea that perhaps wouldn't get past the concept phase in reality. Football fans usually require little convincing to sample the local product without any extra encouragement from FIFA. The three beers could be interpreted as Germany's three previous World Cup successes alongside their target of number four."

"Many TV viewers found the incessant din of the Vuvuzela tarnished the last World Cup in South Africa. I chose to immortalize the plastic stadium horn as it remains the element most unique to that tournament. The lettering is inspired by hand-painted and stenciled signage."

"This year's tournament presented one of the biggest challenges. The poster had to convey the significance of a World Cup in Brazil without resorting to some of the tired clichés, which are so often foisted upon the country and its football: so no statue of Christ, no tall and tan and young and lovely girls of Ipanema, no samba carnivals, and barely any yellow. Instead, a leaping figure emerges from a forest green haze. It's clearly Pele, but he's out of focus, like a dream or distant memory. By presenting the player in this way, I wanted to suggest a sense of gravitas; he represents both a history of achievement and a burden of expectation on a younger generation."