Jordan Brand Design
Setting a visual language that holds up at every scale.
Role
Art Director, Jordan Global Brand Design
Category
Brand Design
Scope
Visual direction and creative toolkits for global launches
Timing
2016–2017
Parnters & Collaborators
Daniel Sannwald (Photography)
Future Deluxe (Motion)
Axiom (Retail)
As art director at Jordan Brand, I set the visual language for global campaigns, including Air Jordan XXXI "Black Cat” and “Pure Platinum” releases, and the Jordan Formula 23. The work started with a bold idea and was carried through typography, color, composition, and scale into toolkits that teams applied across digital, retail, activation, and out-of-home. My focus was craft: a distinctive, premium look first, then the system that made it repeatable.
Why it mattered
A campaign lives or dies on how it looks and feels in the moments people actually meet it: a homepage hero, a store window, a billboard. A global brand also has many teams producing work at once, so the visual language has to hold up in formats and contexts the original designer never sees.
That takes taste and a system together. Taste decides what the idea is, the system makes sure that choice survives contact with many hands. As current tools and technology make it easier to produce more work, deciding what’s worth making and how it should look and feel matters more than ever. Judgment helps teams and their tools make work that still feels intentional.
That takes taste and a system together. Taste decides what the idea is, the system makes sure that choice survives contact with many hands. As current tools and technology make it easier to produce more work, deciding what’s worth making and how it should look and feel matters more than ever. Judgment helps teams and their tools make work that still feels intentional.
Visuals & Explorations
Air Jordan XXXI, Black Cat
Air Jordan XXXI Low, Pure Platinum
Jordan Formula 23
What I learned and what’s next
- Craft is what makes a system worth scaling. Rules keep a campaign coherent, but the look is what makes it recognizable and premium.
- Restraint travels. A small set of type and color choices held up across many teams and formats.
Currently
Open to senior and staff product design roles, especially design systems and tooling.
Open to senior and staff product design roles, especially design systems and tooling.
About this work
Some details and figures have been omitted or generalized for confidentiality. I’m happy to chat more in conversation!
Some details and figures have been omitted or generalized for confidentiality. I’m happy to chat more in conversation!