DAZN — the world’s leading global sports streaming platform — has reshaped how fans consume live sports. Built by fans, for fans, the brand is committed to making world-class athletic competition accessible anytime, anywhere, on virtually any connected device. From smart TVs and gaming consoles to tablets, smartphones, and streaming boxes, DAZN has engineered an ecosystem that brings the stadium, the ring, and the pitch directly into viewers’ hands. It’s a brand driven by energy, immediacy, and the global language of sport — which made it an absolute thrill for me to collaborate with them during their early U.S. expansion.

When DAZN established their headquarters at One World Trade in New York City — a space buzzing with the modern, confident, almost cinematic “coolness” that only a sports-first brand can pull off — I was brought in to help create social content that would introduce them to the U.S. market with impact. The assignment centered around one of the most anticipated events of the year: the December 7, 2019 heavyweight bout, marking DAZN’s major push into American sports culture.

My task was to concept and design a suite of Instagram-first social assets leading up to the fight. This included the hero fight poster and a range of fan-targeted boxer profiles tailored to DAZN’s unique visual system — bold, fast, modern, and unapologetically geared toward fight culture enthusiasts. Creating for Instagram in the context of sports is incredibly dynamic; every asset needs to feel like a moment, a pulse, an adrenaline spike. And I loved every second of it.

The fight itself — Andy Ruiz Jr. vs. Anthony Joshua II — wasn’t just any match; it was a heavyweight rematch with global attention. Ruiz had shocked the world by taking Joshua’s titles earlier in the year, and the rematch represented a seismic moment in modern boxing. I knew the creative needed to reflect that scale, capturing the urgency, rivalry, tension, and spectacle of the event.

During development, I noticed a critical gap in DAZN’s motion and branding toolkit for their U.S. fight launch: they didn’t have a transitional loading or holding animation that matched the brand’s elevated digital presence. Rather than treat it as a missed piece, I saw it as an opportunity to strengthen their ecosystem. I concepted and built a 3D Rubik-style animation of the DAZN logo, designed to be used as a loader, screensaver, phone takeover, branded transition, or interstitial element. It became a flexible signature asset that could bridge static and motion design — something that elevated the brand’s presence in ways they didn’t initially expect.

The final suite — from the fight poster to the fan-centric profile graphics to the animated 3D loader — helped introduce DAZN to the U.S. market in a way that felt premium, global, and unmistakably sports-driven. It combined everything I love about working in sports and entertainment: the immediacy, the passion of the fan base, the storytelling around athletes, and the electric thrill of designing for moments that millions of people anticipate.