Fiorella Granda champions women’s sport through purpose-driven design

Image source: Fiorella Granda.

There are two sides to Fiorella Granda. There is Granda the artist, whose vibrant, retro-inspired designs have been featured by global brands like Asics, the NFL, and Uniqlo. And there is Granda the basketball player, whose love of the game runs as deep as her commitment to advocating for women’s sport. This duality comes through in all her work, which combines an artist’s sensibilities and creative flair with an athlete’s drive and hustle.

The designs that Granda creates for her clients using Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Express, and Photoshop are not just bright and bold, they also inspire people to get up and move, whether it’s lacing up a new pair of running shoes to train for a half marathon or meeting up with friends for a shoot-around at Toronto’s first outdoor WNBA basketball court, which Granda designed.

“I’ve played basketball my entire life, so when I started working as a designer, I knew I needed to stay in touch with that side of myself,” Granda says. “I must have been onto something because my career only took off once I started posting sports-related content that felt true to who I am.”

Respect the hustle

With a professional basketball player for a mother and an architect for a grandfather, the Peruvian-born Granda has sport and creativity in her blood. She also followed closely in her family’s footsteps, studying architecture at the University of Toronto and playing for the school’s varsity basketball team throughout her studies.

After graduating, Fiorella spent her days working for an architecture firm and nights taking on ad-hoc design projects. Within just two and a half years, she decided to go freelance and create art full-time, on her own terms. Just like as on the basketball court, she brought a hustler’s mentality to the task, proactively creating unsponsored illustrations to promote the products she loved, like Adidas Samba sneakers and Salomon hiking shoes, and posting them on her social feeds in hopes of getting noticed.

Granda’s hard work paid off, and by February of 2024 she had thousands of followers on Instagram. Her designs soon caught the attention of Adobe, which became one of her first major clients and invited Granda to showcase her Illustrator skills at flagship events like Adobe Summit and Adobe MAX. Granda says, “I used to be so scared to share my work for others to see, but you’ve got to shoot your shot. When doubt creeps in, I just repeat those words to myself and remember I have everything to gain and nothing to lose.”

Everyone watches women’s sports

Now, with clients like the NFL and WNBA, Granda has become a go-to designer for some of the world’s biggest and most influential professional sports leagues, as well as leading athletic fashion brands. The scale of these platforms is not lost on Granda, who uses every project as an opportunity to push the boundaries of design and create a positive impact, especially when it comes to telling stories about women’s sports.

That includes the poster below, for which Granda created original characters and typography using Adobe Illustrator. “Through design, I get to share my passion for sport with women around the world and hopefully inspire them to feel the same joy I do when I pick up a basketball or watch my favorite players in action,” she says.

Granda’s highest-profile project, and arguably her most impactful, is the outdoor basketball court she designed for the WNBA. When the world’s premiere women’s basketball league launched an open competition inviting artists in Toronto to share concepts for its first outdoor court in the city, Granda developed a stunning design that celebrates key milestones in WNBA history.

From above, keen observers can see imagery representing Penny Toler’s first WNBA basket, Los Angeles Sparks legend Lisa Leslie scoring the league’s first dunk, and Canadian WNBA player Kia Nurse, as well as other iconic players and league moments. As with all her designs, Granda used Adobe Illustrator to develop, color, and refine every aspect of her final creation.

From early project phases like concepting to later stages like adjusting colors, adding texture overlays, and creating custom typography, Illustrator helps Granda bring her bold visions to life through every stage of her design workflow. She is particularly fond of the Live Paint tool, which makes coloring objects feel more intuitive and natural. Granda also uses the Adobe AI-powered Mock-up function to easily create professional quality mock-ups of her work for clients.

In addition to Illustrator, Granda uses Adobe Express to create video thumbnails for her social profiles feeds, which grow in reach each day. She has also begun using the generative AI features in Photoshop to edit images. Photoshop used to be a complimentary solution for Granda, but with the release of new capabilities like Photoshop for iPhone and powerful Adobe Firefly features like Generative Expand, she now uses it for a quarter of her projects.

Find a reason to create

As a successful independent artist, Granda believes in sharing her expertise with other designers who want to turn their passion into a viable business. To that end, she regularly posts tutorials on her social handles to help her followers master Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Express, and Photoshop for themselves.

She also reminds them that technical skills can only take them so far. In keeping with her mission to push the boundaries of design for the greater good, Granda encourages every designer to create with intention and purpose, from the aesthetic choices they make in their illustrations to the message they convey through their brand partnerships.

Telling stories that resonate with people at an emotional level. Source: Fiorella Granda.

To learn more about Fiorella Granda and see her latest designs, visit her Instagram or her website.