Design Contest for the SIIL National Team's Hockey Uniform
The Swiss International Institute Lausanne (SIIL) regularly provides students with opportunities to gain real-world practical experience as part of their studies. One notable example of integrating academic skills into large-scale international projects was a contest to design a game jersey for the institute’s hockey team.
Project Context and Objective
As part of the SIIL team’s preparations for an international hockey tournament in Switzerland, the institute was tasked with creating a unique set of game uniforms. Instead of hiring outside agencies, it was decided to launch an in-house competition among students.
Task for participants: Develop a modern design for a hockey jersey that strictly adheres to SIIL’s brand identity while also taking into account the technical requirements for manufacturing sports uniforms.
The project involved both students in relevant academic programs (“Web Design” and “Internet Marketing”) and students from other fields who wanted to put their skills to use in the field of visual communications.
Results and Practical Value
The competition allowed students to go through all the stages of working on a real international project:
- Work Based on the Brief: Participants followed the technical specifications and the brand's established guidelines.
- Style Adaptation: The students gained experience in transferring the institute’s digital identity to a specific physical medium.
- Making the Leap to the Offline Arena: The best design was approved, put into production, and became the official uniform the SIIL team wore on the ice during the European tournament.
All contest participants received commemorative prizes from the institute, and the creators of the best concepts added a strong international case study to their professional portfolios.
The Development of the SIIL Sports Community
In addition to the design contest, the initiative helped bring together students who play hockey professionally and are based in Europe. As a result of the campaign, a revamped institute hockey team was formed, which represented SIIL on the international stage.
The institute continues to expand its practice of involving students in internal and external commercial projects, reinforcing their theoretical knowledge with real-world case studies.