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Highland students create a giant tifo for Charlotte FC soccer game

Once again, students at Highland School of Technology have been given an incredible opportunity to design a tifo for Charlotte FC.  This is the school’s second consecutive year participating in the assignment.  

Last year, students designed a tifo, which is a large visual display that is usually shown in a stadium, that depicted Charlotte FC soccer player Ben Bender lifting Queen Charlotte in a pose made famous in the “Dirty Dancing” movie.  It was one of the more popular tifos from the team’s inaugural season.

“This is another opportunity to showcase the students’ creativity and passion for both art and soccer,” said graphics teacher Maddie Boyles. “Students in the graphic design pathway spent weeks brainstorming ideas and sketching out their own designs.”

The students were given guidelines for their designs such as pop culture references or any puns that include the terms “queen” or “royalty.”  Additionally, it has to be family friendly and appropriate for all ages.  The tifo is 35 feet by 50 feet in size and painted on inherently flame-resistant polyfabric; the design is substantial and large enough to be visible from every angle of the stadium.  

One student designed a tifo inspired by singer Freddie Mercury of the rock band, Queen, holding a pigeon in one hand and a microphone in the other while having a foot on a soccer ball.  Another student came up with a drawing of the team’s mascot flying in the air against a cartoon image. 

Junior Kieran Wood depicted the queen on a motorcycle, using a play on words from the Prince song, “Purple Rain.”

“I enjoy graphic design because it allows me to express my ideas and passions,” said Wood. “As a soccer player myself, I was especially excited to put my design skills to use for our local Major League Soccer team.  It was a long and, at times, tedious process, but I’m proud of our final project.”

After weeks of hard work, the students submitted their designs and The Royal Family Tifos narrowed the 22 submissions down to four.  The judges were impressed with the quality and creativity of the designs, but ultimately had to choose only one to display at the game. The winning design was created by teacher Maddie Boyles.

“Though my design was chosen, all the students contributed edits and collaborated on what the final design should look like,” explained Boyles.  “The design is a play on words.  It depicts the evil queen in Snow White dipping red apples into Charlotte FC potion surrounded by a black cauldron.”

Highland’s tifo will be held up by the Charlotte FC supporters section prior to the kick off against New York City FC on Saturday, May 6.  The Charlotte-based soccer team has invited all 22 students and a couple of staff members to attend the game at no cost at Bank of America Stadium.