Designing the Golden State Warriors’ Finale at Oracle Arena

For the Golden State Warriors’ last regular-season game ever at Oracle Arena, Adobe helped players and fans commemorate the team’s 47-year run in the heart of Oakland — and cheer their hearts out. As Fan Night sponsors, we worked with a dream team of local creatives to design free T-shirts and a nostalgic cheer card in the spirit of the big game.

We knew the T-shirts had to be special — just right to honor the Warriors’ exuberant community and everything that’s unique about Oakland. So we collaborated with the creatives at Oaklandish. Back in 2000, Oaklandish began as a public art project illuminating Oakland’s history and culture. Since then, they’ve evolved a clothing line that celebrates civic pride with a unique creative style.

According to Angela Tsay, Oaklandish CEO and creative director, the design team wanted the T-shirt to be an ode on the Oracle Arena from the perspective of diehard fans. “The photo we worked from was taken from the Coliseum… where fans congregate after really important wins and everyone’s just going crazy. There’s this sense of real joy and euphoria and there’s something so Oakland and East Bay about it.”

Adam Espino, one of the Oaklandish designers who worked on the T-shirt design, explained the process. It started with snapping the photo of Oracle Arena and bringing it into Adobe Photoshop. “I think Photoshop was a really great assistant on getting that edgy line work done to transfer to Illustrator.” In Illustrator, Adam used different filters and brushes to create an organic, hand-drawn feel. The final design also includes the Golden State Warriors’ famous turnaround slogan, “We believe.”

If you would like to purchase a Finale at Oracle T-shirt, please click here.

Stef Fontela, the creative director for the Golden State Warriors, talked more about the meaning behind this year’s Fan Night T-shirts: “It just felt like the right thing to do, to take the idea of celebrating Oracle as a beautiful space, this physical space that holds so many memories and moments that we all covet so much.”

Our own Adobe Creative Resident, Temi Coker, collaborated with the Warriors’ creative department to design commemorative cheer cards. The cards include a retrospective of all of the team’s past logos and images of beloved players from every decade at Oracle Arena, along with this season’s five starting players.

“It was surreal to see the cheer cards that I designed in the hands of so many people, I am still in shock. The most important thing for me is that this is historic, and I am grateful for the opportunity,” said Temi.

To give fans a peek behind the scenes, we also created a video about the creative process. Fans watched at Oracle Arena, and you can check it out below:

Adobe and the Golden State Warriors

This year marked Adobe’s third Fan Night sponsorship. Last year, Adobe Creative Resident Aundre Larrow created a T-shirt with moving quotes from interviews with loyal Warriors fans. And in 2017, sports portraitist Rob Zilla brought his unique style to a T-shirt featuring players, coaches, fans, and staffers.

Adobe also collaborates with the Golden State Warriors for the Peaceful Warriors Project — an anti-bullying initiative in local schools.