Vancouver artist one of three creative minds behind official FIFA World Cup poster | Canada Voices

This summer’s FIFA World Cup is already a hit with Vancouver’s Carson Ting.

Ting is one of three artists behind the official World Cup poster, unveiled this week to mark 100 days to go before the June 11 kickoff of the 48-team tournament in Canada, Mexico and the U.S.

Ting, 50, collaborated with Mexico’s Minerva GM and American Hank Willis Thomas on the poster, the final piece of World Cup art. Organizers released 16 official host city posters last year, including ones for Vancouver and Toronto.

He says the World Cup project is a career highlight.

“I think this supersedes everything. It’s something that is truly global and I can talk to my friends in Tokyo or Hong Kong and they would know, without me explaining, what this is,” Ting said. “I would do a Nike activation here in Canada and people won’t know across the ocean. But now with this piece, it truly feels like a true global portfolio piece that crowns everything.”

The final poster is a collage-style composition with a player at its centre. Each of the three artists fill out the rest of the picture with colour from their country.

“The task was to find out how we could make it all work on one poster,” said Ting.

The three artists had regular video meetings while working on a live document and also met with FIFA in Miami on Oct. 1. Ting reckons the trio went through more than 1,000 design iterations over five to six months.

Ting said when the three artists eventually met face-to-face, it was like “old friends getting together.”

“Mostly because we had been working so closely with one another prior to meeting in Miami,” he said. “But with three artists, it was a potential disaster for egos, head-butting. But the chemistry was really beautiful and I think we’re going to be friends for life.”

The player icon idea was actually discarded midway through the design process, allowing them to explore other ideas. But they went back to the player as centrepiece.

“There was something about that player that we just couldn’t shake,” said Ting.

Ting packed his section with Canadiana like a moose, Mountie hat, Canada geese, Blue Jay and Maple Leaf.

“I squeezed way more initially, but through the development of distilling it down to the essence, this is what we ended up with,” he said.

Some icons weren’t available because of rights issues.

FIFA first reached out to Ting in early August, asking him whether he was interested in submitting a proposal.

“I was obviously over the moon,” he said. “It was a no-brainer for me … A huge, huge opportunity.”

Several weeks later, he learned he was on the shortlist. A video chat with five FIFA officials followed, with Ting subsequently getting the green light Aug. 29.

They wrapped up work on the poster in late February.

Ting started his career as an advertising art director in Toronto, working on campaigns for brands like Nike, Jordan, Sony, Lexus, and Science World. He moved to Vancouver in 2007 to pursue his own art, founding the Chairman Ting art and design studio and collaborating with marquee brands such as Nike, Microsoft, Starbucks, the NBA, Porsche, Mercedes-Benz, Adidas and Snoop Dogg’s 19 Crimes wine.

Ting was voted as one of the top five most creative people in Canada by Marketing Magazine in 2009.

He also serves on Capilano University’s advisory committee and teaches part-time at the IDEA School of Design, specializing in mural illustration and art direction.