A lot could be said about Nike, possibly one of the most powerful brands on the planet. It’s ubiquitous logo. It’s brand-wide design sensibility. The Jordan years. The China question (Yao Ming? Yi Jianlian?). On and on. But it’s probably best that we break it into easily digestible chunks over a period of time. So, in keeping with that, let’s toss out the first chunk…

NikeiD is brilliant. Nike created the NikeiD sub-brand around the business model of tweaking production capabilities so that the company can spit out “one-off” shoes that have been customized by the consumer. The engine that drives this is the NikeiD website created by interactive powerhouse agency RG/A. And it is gorgeous. Actually, it’s downright addictive. Start with a shoe style and the site allows you to pick from a pallet of available colors and materials for everything from the leather upper, to the sole, to the inner lining and even the swoosh. Anything from completely monochrome to ‘clown shoe inspired’. But as soon as you build one pair you want to go back and see how it looks if you just tweak that color there… or the tongue color… or to see how this color combo looks on another style….

And then just like that the evening is gone. But it’s super fun. And the prices are low enough that the voices in your head are screaming ‘Buy Them Now!’ And not to mention the fact that comparing two, three or four different versions of a shoe is tough. You love them all so much for different reasons and their your creations and you just can’t delete them and loose their genius forever but you can’t buy all these shoes! You came to this site to buy one pair! Not four! Well, if you got two pair that wouldn’t be so bad. How can you not cause they look so cool! And you designed them! And then somewhere in China the workers at the NikeiD factory say “Ka-ching!”

A genius formula by Nike. Not only do they drive that swoosh deeper into the consumers hearts by allowing them to form a personal connection with the product but they manage to sell more shoes to the sneaker freaks that already have too many pair in the first place. Recently added to the NikeiD site was a football (soccer) section where you can design your own ‘team’ (hello multiple sales!) shoes as well as your jerseys. It allows you to enter your team’s name to be put on the jersey and a number for the back. The spot where this concept falls short, unfortunately, is that it also allows you to customize your ‘crest’ symbol for the front just under your team name. You can select from a small number of silhouettes of cobras, lion heads, etc. to be put in a few different frames which end up looking a little ‘cartoony’ compared with the design esthetic of the rest of the product. Also, the iD system only allows up to eight letters for your custom name, which is not that many. So, for instance, guys living in a certain city in England that are forming a club team and wanting to pay homage to their towns’ world famous football team are out of luck here. Their jerseys would end up saying ‘MANCHEST’… which is either a little awkward, stating the obvious, or both. But if this new section is any indication of where NikeiD is headed it is definitely a good thing. Hopefully it will someday allow a greater latitude of name and crest customization, as well as positioning options for the jerseys.

The biggest misstep, though, is where the NikeiD brand crosses into the physical. Along with the launch of the new NikeiD website, Nike opened a handful of NikeiD Design Labs in fashionable hotspots around the world. One such location opened here in New York at 255 Elizabeth Street in the NoLita neighborhood. The idea of a custom ‘design lab’ is not a problem. Nor are the Design Labs themselves. Designed by LED Design, the spaces are great examples of a luxurious, well-appointed retail space (a description of the Design Lab experience can be found on Josh Rubin’s great Cool Hunting blog here). No, the critique lies in the perennial disconnect companies have when their brand is rendered through a multiplicity of ‘design eyes’. The NikeiD Design Labs lack a conceptual cohesion with the NikeiD website, its’ true brand ‘home’, itself. Of course this is a small issue because the Design Labs are by invitation only so appointments there are for a select few, all who are most probably already brand devotees, but it is still an issue. Mainly because these space, and invitations to experience them, are ‘aspirational’ to the rest of the consuming public. So they should really be a true extension of the NikeiD brand experience. Even if a luxurious one. The photograph of the space tells the tale. Its white-on-white patterned walls, shag carpets and dark woods feel nothing like the website experience. The Design Lab feels like a cross between an art gallery and that gallerists’ well-appointed apartment. The NikeiD website poetically alludes to design inspiration from the heavens with its dark backgrounds broken by sun blazing through beautiful clouds. Not to mention an abundance of bold color palettes to choose from. Why not imbue the Design Lab with a myriad of color? Color upon color everywhere. Speaking to the idea of endless selection possibilities. And then cutting through that colorfully rich wonderland - a spot light. Shining down, from those same inspirational heavens, onto the shoe you have created…

Well, the space shouldn’t be critiqued too much. It is right there with the best of retail design. What is lamented here is Nike’s loss of conceptual thread. This may have been avoided if one design eye had overseen the rendering of the NikeiD brand from its virtual space to its physical space. This, of course, is very hard to do, as it crosses many design disciplines. But this is the problem that face so many brands today. How to stay true to the brand’s message in all of its many forms. Nike is a powerful brand, and it has weathered many storms. And this is hardly a tempest. But it is a thought to be considered…