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.”
Connecting with sports lovers through bold designs. Source: Fiorella Granda.
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.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/C8XYlJbxKuU/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
Championing women’s sport, with help from Adobe Illustrator. Source: Fiorella Granda.
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.
