The story of a key visual that became iconic in the world of football.

The most highly anticipated announcement in the history of Juventus.

July 10, 2018: Real Madrid’s website has just reported that Cristiano Ronaldo is no longer a player at the thirteen time, European championship winning club (here you can see his farewall letter). Everyone in the world is anxiously waiting for Juventus’ official press release, confirming the rumours that had consumed the football world for weeks now.

Now, it was my moment: No big deal; I just had to create a graphic to accompany the official presentation of the most iconic player of the moment, with the whole football world watching, and nail it. All without trivializing the magnitude and importance of this transfer. Challenge accepted.

My approach was this: keep it simple, and let the name speak for itself. There’s only one ‘Cristiano’ in the football world (and arguably, the entire world) and in case it wasn’t clear enough, the stylized ‘CRIS7IANO’ would serve to clarify that fact. No photo necessary, either—just the iconic, post-goal celebration victory stance.

And we’re live! Juventus.com officially announces the news, putting an end to the rumours. Network crashed, home page crashed, plus an impossible and unprecedented amount of traffic on both Juventus.com and store.juventus.com. CR7’s transfer had officially broke the internet.

And just when I thought I could take a moment’s rest, my latest creation started popping up everywhere, on our official sites and unofficial fanpages, the sleek typography and silhouette graphic adapted to other footballers and celebrities alike. Unexpectedly and unintentionally, I had gone viral.

Fun fact: the same day that the top football team in Italy and the top football team in the world were announcing the transfer of the century, I had left my mark on both official websites: my graphics featured on juventus.com and on realmadrid.com, photos from the convocation of my master’s in sports marketing at Bernabéu Stadium the night before.