Creative Designer
LAGOS
A concept from my "What If AyoTheVillain Designed For" series, where I imagine a Wizkid x Nike footwear collab.
category
Art Direction
type
Creative Designer
Deliverable
Footwear Concept, Product Renders
This is part of my personal series, "What If AyoTheVillain Designed For," where I take a brand or artist I love and imagine what I would make if they handed me the keys. This entry is a Wizkid x Nike footwear concept. None of it is real, it is a design exercise, but the goal is to treat it as seriously as a paid brief and see how far the idea can go.
Treating a daydream like a real brief
A self-set challenge: design a Starboy x Nike sneaker like the deal was already signed.
I started where any real collab would, with the person. Wizkid's whole Starboy identity is effortless, global and a little untouchable, so the design had to feel premium without trying too hard. From there it was about marrying that energy with Nike's design language and letting the silhouette do the talking.
I pushed it through proper renders and detail shots so it reads like a real product, not a mood board, because the point of the series is to make the "what if" feel inevitable.
A concept that looks signed off
The result is a footwear concept that holds up as a believable Starboy x Nike drop, finished to the point where the only thing missing is the contract. More than the shoe itself, it is proof of how I think: take an idea most people would leave as a tweet and actually build it.
Why I make work nobody asked for
Concept work like this is where I stay sharp and get to play without a client's guardrails. It keeps my eye fresh, it shows how I would handle a brand at this level before anyone hands me one, and honestly it is just fun. The "What If" series is me betting on myself out loud.
