Background: Rising Sun Sport produces jerseys and apparel for high-profile sporting events around the nation. They contacted Paul Kiesche Design to create illustrations as background art on their jerseys for the Philadelphia, Annapolis, New Jersey, and Washington D.C. triathlons, amongst others.

What was the challenge that Rising Sun Sport presented you with?
Rising Sun Sport was contracted to produce jerseys for several triathlon events. The jerseys needed to carry a theme relating to the location of the triathlon; however, they also needed to be vibrant, colorful, and original. They wanted to move beyond the typical skyline or monument symbol.

How did you go about meeting that challenge?
We took the idea of iconic imagery a step further and went deeper into the location’s geography and history to produce illustrations which avoided clichés and yet were identifiable at the same time. The process started with background research and selecting powerful, memorable images for each city to create a local, recognizable feel; for example, the use of a lighthouse and sailboat to characterize the city of Annapolis. We pushed the subject matter beyond the average, obvious symbols for each location. The result was imagery that was both recognizable and more memorable. To finish it off we illustrated the imagery with curvy, colorful shapes to evoke movement.

What inspired you on the design of this project?
The triathlon and the city in which it is held offer great inspiration, with its strength, history, energy and scenery. The jerseys were produced to seamlessly integrate the artwork alongside the title and location of the event and with an eye to appealing to a wide audience in an enticing manner. The illustration was orchestrated to send your eye travelling around the design. In doing this, the design shows motion and fluidity, like the event itself. Fully illustrated, the work on the jerseys runs from front to back and from sleeve to sleeve with intertwining lines of design.

How was the design implemented?
Rough drafts of the sketch ideas were presented to Rising Sun Sport for feedback.  Once a design was finalized, we continued on to illustrate that design in vector format which is in turn easily formatted for printing.

How was the project received?  What were the results?
The jerseys debuted in six different city and state triathlons, including Philadelphia, New Jersey, Annapolis, and Washington, D.C. The fresh new illustrations generated great excitement for the events and concluded in increased sales of the jerseys. Illustrating for those triathlons has lead to illustrating for events such as the Boston Marathon and Bike New York. We are also happy to report that we will be illustrating the Philadelphia triathlon jersey in 2008, as well as others.