Atlético Dallas is an emerging football club set to join the USL Championship in 2027, built on a deep connection to community, culture, and place in North Texas.
Working alongside ModestWorks and Moniker, who developed the brand identity, we were brought on to translate the brand’s visual language and strategic thinking into motion.
The challenge was to create a motion system that could bring a truly original identity to life, one that stood apart from the conventions of football branding. Rooted in mythology, shaped by the land, and driven by the energy of The World Game.
Our role was to take those foundations and build a motion language that felt as raw, fast, and emotionally charged as football itself, while creating a flexible system the club could grow with and develop over time.
Credits
Client — Atlético Dallas
Agency — ModestWorks
Agency — Moniker
Animation Studio — Never Sit Still
Music and Sound — Antonio Rosselli Del Turco
PRINCIPLES:
01 SPRINT
The pace of instinct, the body at full tilt. Movement is fast, shifting at speed between scale, colour, and form. It captures the heat of the game, and how quickly everything can change.
02 STRIKE
The precision of an attack on goal, or a snake’s striking bite. Animation is minimal, but precise. Elements start near where they finish, snapping into place with speed and accuracy.
03 TENSION
The moments of stillness. The stalking of prey, or the build before a penalty. Movement slows through fades and soft draw-ons, with space to hold and breathe. In balance, it builds tension.
BRAND IN MOTION:
ASSET LIBRARY:
The asset library is built around five core groups: Location, Ephemera, Nature, Animal, and 3D. Each brings a distinct layer to the brand, from real places and historical textures, to raw natural forces, close-up animal detail, and crafted graphic elements. Together, they form a flexible toolkit, designed to build mood, movement, and meaning across the brand.
TRANSITIONS:
The transition system is built around three core styles: Splice, Negative Flash, and Container Flash. Splice uses quick, snappy cuts to stitch assets together and drive pace. Negative Flash introduces bursts of intensity through scale and displacement, briefly disrupting the image. Container Flash layers cropped assets within shifting frames, building tension through composition and rhythm across each sequence.
MOTION TOOLKIT:
Motion for the logo, typography, and colour palette was defined, aligning everything with the high-energy style already established. Stripped back, direct, and charged with the fire of Atlético Dallas.
PROCESS:
LOOK DEVELOPMENT:
R&D played a key role in shaping the motion system. We cast the net wide, exploring a range of directions and testing how the brand could behave in motion. Through this process, the work began to shift, revealing an asset-led approach as the right direction for the brand.
A NOTE FROM OUR DIRECTOR:
MIKE TOSETTO
"We're grateful to have been brought on by ModestWorks and Moniker to bring this innovative and beautitully crafted brand to life in motion. As genuine fans of the world game, it was a real privilege to help define the motion for a club at the start of its journey."