TRANZIT: Creative connections in Frankfurt and Zagreb

Football is one of the few cultural endeavours where a connection or bond can remain undeterred by distance. Since the game began, diasporas have found a way to celebrate the relationship they have with the place they call home, no matter how complicated it may be. TRANZIT is a project created with this spirit in mind. 

An independent project by the team behind RELESENCE, TRANZIT brings together a series of creative outputs that highlight Croatian football heritage. Anchored between Frankfurt and Zagreb, the team behind the project wanted to honour the movement and culture across both cities, and the wider Balkan region, by uniquely interpreting the visual language attached to football. 

“What began as a collaboration between two cities quickly became something bigger,” Anamaria Cvitković tells The Culture Division. “We realised that the project wasn’t really about Frankfurt or Croatia specifically, but about movement. Supporters travel, stories travel.”

The project leans heavily on bold, graphic designs that capture some of Croatian football’s biggest moments. A series of striking matchday posters, each commemorating historic results in Croatia’s national history, was the first phase. “People remember exactly where they were when they happened,” Anamaria says. “We liked the idea of treating them [the matches] almost like cultural artefacts.” The designs are on point. 

A sleek jersey, limited to just 100 pieces, was a natural way to progress the aims of the project, becoming an “object in transit” itself. With custom typography and a darker, more restrained visual reference than you might usually expect from Croatia’s red and white checkerboard identity, the jersey was released during the 2026 World Cup and was followed by a slower, more observational campaign. 

As Anamaria says, “the jersey became an extension of that same narrative, rather than a starting point.” Balkan Visit became a manifestation of the “object in transit” idea. A small photographic series made during travels across the Balkans this summer was a way of observing the everyday encounters into which football is weaved as a cultural point of reference. Unconstructed frames, made with movement in mind. 

Across all the phases of TRANZIT, against the backdrop of overly corporate campaigns, often detached from their original intention, it’s refreshing to see that a simple idea, crafted passionately and creatively, can still make an impact. 

We’re excited to see where TRANZIT moves to next. 

Poster Design: Kianeau Whelan
Custom Typography (Jersey): Marko Hrastovec
Photography: Tai Vu
Development: Patrik Stepanić
Creative Direction: Anamaria Cvitković
Project owner/Product designer: Tomislav Bijelonić