Role: Experiential Designer and Lead Creative at Studio Messa

Location: RMIT A'Beckett Urban Square, Melbourne

Brief: Design and produce a street-level Nike x Judah Tribe activation during the Australian Open, built around a fastest-serve-wins competition mechanic. Raw, DIY, and authentic, bringing tennis to a new generation through the lens of Judah Tribe.

Key Responsibilities:

• Collaborated with Nike's appointed creative director, leading all spatial design, visual creative direction, and on-site styling from brief through to execution.
• Translated the DIY ethos of Judah Tribe's world into a built environment, balancing two distinct brand voices without diluting either.
• Directed the hero tennis court design, including graphic language, branding system, and competition zone layout.
• Designed the exterior facade branding, applying a sponsor-style ticker system in black, white, and neon green to establish arrival energy from the street.
• Directed the retail pop-up environment, styled around a branded pantech truck with lo-fi furnishings.
• Oversaw art direction across all additional touchpoints including speaker stacks, oversized inflatables, and custom props.

Outcome: Delivered a one-day street activation at RMIT's A'Beckett Urban Square during AO finals weekend, drawing approximately 900 people across five hours. The event brought a genuinely new audience into the Nike AO ecosystem, anchored by a knockout serve competition with separate men's and women's finals each carrying a $2,500 cash prize, and created an environment where Judah Tribe's cultural credibility and Nike's energy could coexist without either losing its edge.