After All, There Is No Finish Line

by Nike (Editor), Geoff Manaugh, Sam Grawe

“No Finish Line” is Nike’s design vision for the next 50 years. Through exploratory, multilevel conversations encompassing both design and critical inputs to it — like sport research, technology and manufacturing — this research project celebrates 50 years of game-changing design and innovation in the service of athletes and sport. With a foreword by Nike’s Chief Design Officer and specu- lative fictions by Geoff Manaugh, the book features essays by Sam Grawe (author, “Nike: Better is Temporary”) describing five major shifts design may undergo in the coming decades as it evolves from product to platform, performance to promise, elite to everyone, sustainable to symbiotic, and static to sensorial.

Genres: Design, Nonfiction, Sports

192 pages, Paperback

Published February 13, 2023

Reviews

[Nathan Monaghan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bought this purely for the design & layout. And the title is cool.

[Rachel Loh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautiful design and layout. Unfortunately I bought this and didn’t realise it was just all about Nike. Not their fault but I got bored because of the above. It was pretty cool to learn about their design process and their designs for astronauts though.

[Allison · Rating 4 out of 5]

interesting. very technology focused which isn’t what I expected but I still enjoyed it

[Judea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nike is Nike for a reason

[Audrey Kalman · Rating 3 out of 5]

This had some pretty interesting details of Nike’s design philosophy, including about using algorithms, the importance of research on athletes and regular people, and sustainability.

A book by Nike that quotes Ray Eames does feel built for me.

“As far back as 1978, the iconic designer Ray Eames said, ‘We have a tremendous capacity for gathering and storing data; but our skills at modeling data - making it mean something - are way behind.’ As Eames understood so well, that technical groundwork must ultimately be in service of the end user. It has to add up to a tangible benefit: in this case, supporting happier and healthier human beings. One of the most fundamental truths the NSRL has found is when people move, their physical health improves, and their mental health improves with it.”

[Coleman Quinn · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book feels like most scene girls fever dream zine book.

Good insight to the future of Nike. Some really cool Easter eggs if things Nike is developing that may not be completely public knowledge.

If you work for Nike or are someone passionate about athletic clothing / shoes it’s worth a flip through it. If you enjoy fashion and the design behind it you may feel a bit more inspired about how Nike is pushing the agenda in their own way.

[Matt Chinn · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's about Nike pushing their agenda in their own way. Not really surprised on the content but was a fun, quick read. Props to whoever designed the layout - not your standard layout, more like a zine/magazine on the less text heavy pages.

[Miko Novakovic · Rating 5 out of 5]

Aesthetically pleasing and mildly thought provoking. As an architecture student I was blown away by their philosophy for design as well as the sub philosophies of sustainability vs symbiotic design, cohesion between designer and user, and overall exploration of the human condition.

[Cynthia · Rating 4 out of 5]

A glimpse into the not so distant future. The possibilities for a better world unfold in this book

[Michaela Danišik · Rating 4 out of 5]

The mind is the most overlooked part of an athlete’s training.

[Angus Henderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Has a zine vibe, the text is big and there's lots of cool imagery, so it's an easy read. If you're interested in design it's a loosely thought provoking book but not a particularly interesting read.

[Isabel Jordan]

mainly branding jargon but really cool visuals
super cool story on the engineer race setter - if i remember it properly

[Tiani Nelson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Found it informational about the new tech going on at Nike, but didn’t like the writing style to be honest. The visual design of the book was interesting though.

[Noah Blaine Clark · Rating 2 out of 5]

An imaginative, jarring look into Nike’s future-focused athlete theory and research.