Makers of Sport® Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

There is perhaps no better way to end Makers of Sport's podcast then to provide what may be the most inspiring story in its history.

Ali Rahmoun—3-D Designer, Creative Director, and Founder of Sports Templates, a digital asset company whose products are used by #smsports creatives in the NBA, NFL, NHL, and more—joined the show in 2021 to share his inspiring story.

A native of Syria, Ali discovered the Internet in a war-torn, Isis-occupied country and began teaching himself graphic and web design as a teenager there. Initially, he fell in love with interacive Flash websites and frequented the niche platforms millennial creatives often found ourselves on during that time such as DeviantArt, Dribbble, and Behance.

Overcoming many hardships, including once having to power his computer via a truck battery due power outages from war so he could meet the deadline of a client, Ali developed a strong instinct to learn under intense circumstances and persevere. His eventual passion for creative entrepreneurship eventually led to him creating Sports Templates, an online marketplace creating and selling 3-D assets as Photoshop templates such as uniforms, athletics courts and fields, sports equipment, digital apparel, and other items.

Listen along as we discuss Ali's story, content marketing, the state of design tools, the importance of learning how to learn, 3-D's future in this new era of design, and much more.

Mentions Include:

• Sports Templates Website
• Sports Templates on Twitter
• Sports Templates on IG
• "Show Your Work: 10 Ways to Share Your Creativity and Get Discovered" by Austin Kleon
• Ash Thorp
• Adam's Tinker Hatfield toy
• Blender 3d Software
• Ali's Basketball NFT project
• Ali's A.I. Logo Project

Thanks again to Ali Rahmoun for coming aboard the show. Be sure to checkout his website in order to take advantage of holiday deals that Sports Templates is offering. Also follow Sports Templates on Instagram and Twitter, and checkout his upcoming logo A.I. project launching soon.

As of now, there is no next guest on the podcast. Hosting and producing this show has been a tremendous blessing and I've been able to meet many amazing people and lifelong friends. For now, the show must end due to numerous life cirumstances and other priorities. Maybe this is for forever, maybe not. I truly don't know. But, I do plan to keep tweeting and hope to evolve MoS into something that is still useful for the sports design community as it has done so much for me both personally and professionally. I sincerely thank you for the support over the years.

If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and/or write a review of the show on  Podcasts and be sure to follow host @TAdamMartin and Makers of Sport® on Twitter & Instagram.

Jessie Kavana (aka JKav) is a Senior Graphic Designer at BSE Global, the company that owns the Brooklyn Nets, NY Liberty, Nets GC and more. She joined the show to discuss her career and evolution as a creative.

A native New Yorker with a passion for hoops and a dream to work in sports marketing for the New York Knicks, Jess began her journey at Skidmore College as a college basketball player.

Stints in college athletics and ESPN would finally lead Jess to settle down in Brooklyn to work for the 'all black everything' Nets. It has been in there where Jkav has really found a home and has caught her stride as an in-house sports designer.

Along with previously discussing her career path, we discuss how Jess has gained trust with her leaders and ownership group and it has allowed for her to take on some high-profile projects within the organization such as working on uniforms with Nike, designing the player entryway, and more.

Jkav touches on how the Covid-19 shutdowns led her to experiment with a new discipline: illustration. We discuss how she used the quarantines to push herself and evolve her creative skillset.

Lastly, we discuss Jessie's re-awakened past hobby of sneaker painting and customization. Sneaker painting is having its moment in sports culture and Jessie has been able to take this hobby and leverage it to work with professional athletes as a side hustle.

Listen along as JKav shares her story.

Mentions Include:

• JKav Portfolio
• JKav on Twitter
• JKav on IG
• Learfield IMG College
• ESPN Stats Twitter
• Ep. 24: Chin Wang, Sr. CD at ESPN
• Carol Boyl, ESPN CD
• Lucas Nickerson, MNF CD at ESPN
• Ep. 73: Tim O'Shaughnessy, College Football CD at ESPN
• Ep. 5: Steve Vollmer, Jr., (Current) Creative Director, Tampa Bay Bucs
• @BamBamBam99
• Disney series illustrations

My next guest is Ali Rahmoun, Founder and Creative Director of SportsTemplates, a company that provides 3d content and templates to the sports industry. Ali can be found on Instagram & Twitter.

Sign up for the email newsletter for updates, discounts on future products and exclusive content for subscribers.

You can also show your support and keep the podcast sponsor free by joining the member community or purchasing merchandise from the Makers of Sport® shop.

Additionally, if you enjoyed this episode, please rate and/or write a review of the show on  Podcasts and be sure to follow host @TAdamMartin and Makers of Sport® on Twitter & Instagram.

“Fear is good, you can feed on it and it makes you work harder to be good and be better. If you get too complacent and happy, that's where you get in trouble.”

A special episode from MLC Connect 2019 with two of the keynote speakers, Amy and Jen Hood of Hoodzpah Design of Southern California. Through their studio the duo have worked with companies ranging from small California businesses to major brands like Google and Target.

Jay F. Hicks, a digital strategist and content lead at Bayler University Athletics and also the host of Sports Creatives Podcast, joined me to co-host in the MLC media room in the Atlanta Braves' stadium.

Listen along as Jay and I chat with the Hood twins as they share how they began their company,imposter syndrome, how they developed soft skills and emotional intelligence, managing imposter syndrome, how they collaborate seamlessly with one with another and more.

Mentions Include:

• Hoodzpah Design
• Hoodzpah Design on Twitter
• Hoodzpah Design on Instagram
• Jay F. Hicks on Twitter

My next guest is Peter Robert Casey aka PRC. Peter is the Vice Chairman at SLAM Magazine and is a digital marketer, tech startup founder and CEO of JDS Sports, a venture capital fund for sports-related companies.

Sign up for the email newsletter for updates, discounts on future products and exclusive content for subscribers.

You can also show your support for the podcast by joining the community and keeping it sponsor-free.

Did you enjoy this episode? Then please rate and/or write a review of the show on iTunes. Also, be sure to follow show host, @TAdamMartin and @MakersofSport.

"Those guys (Huckberry, Cool Hunting, Uncrate)are out there waiting for us to make stuff...waiting for the next thing to come around where they can say 'hey look at this cool new thing'. That's out there for us as designers."

Ben Jenkins, founder and creative director of Warstic Wooden Bat Company joins the show. Ben is a former Minor League baseball player. He is also the founder of a strategic design and branding firm in Dallas, Texas, Onefastbuffalo.

Ben comes aboard to talk about his new sports product venture, Warstic Bat Co., a manufacturer of high quality wood baseball bats that has received critical acclaim and has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, ESPN The Magazine, GQ, Huckberry, Uncrate and more. He has also collaborated with women's handbag company, COACH, on custom wooden bats.

We discuss how he got started in graphic design, why he left the MiLB, the growth of Onefastbuffalo, the reason he scaled back from half-a-million dollar web projects and the eventual founding of Warstic.

Ben also touches on how working a 3-day week and travel can lead to being a better designer.

Mentions include:

Warstic Bat Co.

Onefastbuffalo

Aaron Draplin, Draplin Design Co.

Best Made Co.

Wall Street Journal

ESPN the Magazine

GQ

Huckberry

Uncrate

My next guest is Adam Clement, Team Sports Creative Director at Under Armour. Adam has worked on uniform designs for many athletic teams in pro and college sports including the Auburn Tigers, South Carolina Gamecocks, Texas Tech Red Raiders and the recently released Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

This week, Rodney Richardson joins me on the podcast. Rodney is the founder and creative director of Rare Design, a boutique creative agency that does design and branding work for some of the biggest names in sports – including the Portland Timbers, New Orleans Pelicans, Charlotte Hornets and more.

Rodney shares the story of his career beginning as a smalltown boy working at a 3 person design shop in Hattiesburg, Mississippi to Nike and finally back to Hattiesburg to the start of his design agency.

The two discuss the passion, culture and shared beliefs in sports. Rodney also gives us a sneak peak in to his branding process.

We even have a question from Twitter this week – something we hope to do more of in the future.

Mentions include:

New Orleans Pelicans

Charlotte Hornets rebranding

Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer book

My next guest is Ben Jenkins, founder of design firm Onefastbuffalo and Warstic Wooden Bat Company.

“You have somebody’s attention for a millisecond and if they can’t identify or attribute something to your brand then your branding has failed…people don’t give these things thought, they just absorb it subconsciously."

Darrin Crescenzi, Design Director of Innovation at Interbrand, and former Senior Designer in Nike Brand Design's Global Brand Initiatives Team joins Adam this week to talk about his time at Nike as well as the importance of branding. The two have a deep discussion about how vital a knowledge of business and strategy are in regards to reaching the highest levels of design.

You may be familiar with some of Darrin's work such as the Lebron James identity and the 2012 Team USA Basketball uniforms. Darrin also had a hand in collaborating with the next guest (Rare Design) with Brand Jordan on the new Charlotte Hornets identity.

Darrin has been recognized as one of the Art Directors Club Young Guns as well as one of Fast Company's most creative people in business.

Mentions include:

Paul Rand

Jacob Wilkinson, Nike

Heather Amuny-Day, Nike

Scott Denton-Cardew

Nike ID Studio NYC

Todd Van Horne, VP Creative Director, Nike baseball and football

Prophet

Interbrand

Stewart Iwasawki, Nike

Oregon State rebranding

AIGA: The future of design studios

Darrin can be found on twitter, behance and his own portoflio site.

My next guest is Rodney Richardson of Rare Design. Rare Design is responsible for identity work for some of the most notable professional sports brand we know of today

Hans Anderson aka Bob Brainstorm joins Adam this week to talk augmented reality and the future of how we will experience sports. Hans is a Senior Concept Developer in the Emerging Technologies department at ESPN.

Hans and Adam discuss exciting new advancements in augmented reality, the importance of design in sports technology, the future of sports television, how Hans got his position at ESPN, and so much more.

For examples of augmented reality at ESPN, see this video.

Mentions include:

Hans Anderson on Behance

Google Glass

Virtual Pitch

Troika motion graphics rebrand for Sportscenter

Oculus Rift

Chris Kluwe: How Augmented Reality Will Change Sports (TED Talk)

New Sportscenter studio

Adobe Creative Suite Rebrand

Getty Images

Project Play

Core 77

Longhorn Network

Nike's Animated World Cup Short: Risk Everything

My next guest is Darrin Crescenzi. Darrin is NY based designer and art director currently serving as design director at Interbrand.

Previously, Darrin was a member of Nike’s Brand Design: Global Initiatives Team where he developed seasonal campaigns, visual identity and experience design, events and packaging for a variety of innovative products, athletes and sports moments. His most notable sports work is the design of Team USA’s 2012 London Olympics basketball uniforms, as well as the iconic LeBron James brand and the highly acclaimed launch of the Nike+ FuelBand.

More of Darrin's work can be seen at his website.

José Lopez, creative director of the Houston Rockets joins Adam this week to discuss his long persistent journey to the NBA.

José grew up both in Panama City, Panama as well as New Orleans, Louisiana. From a young age he wanted to work in sports and after stints at major advertising agencies and a few moves back and forth from the U.S. to Panama due to work visa issues, he finally landed his dream gig in Houston.

The two touch on the importance of making your own work and tailoring your portfolio to the sports industry if you are interested in working in sports.

"Find your passion, hone it and strive to be better every day"

Mentions include...

Publiquatro / Ogilvy (agency once owned by Foote Cone Belding, now owned by Ogilvy)

Siboney USA

Foote Cone Belding (FCB)

Dan Simon of Studio Simon

Adam's Montgomery County Indians branding

Steve Vollmer, Jr.

Todd Radom

Houston Rockets secondary logo

Houston Rockets alternate uniform

Steiner Sports

Charlotte Hornets new brand identity

The next guest is Hans Anderson, senior concept developer at ESPN. Hans will be joining Adam to discuss is work in the Emerging Technologies department at ESPN where his team is in charge of inventing new realtime and augmented reality technology.

José Lopez can be found on twitter and his work can be viewed at his Krop profile.

Graphic designer, Steve Vollmer, Jr., joined Adam this week to discuss his work at the National Football League's headquarters in NYC. Steve got his start in Wisconsin working on smaller sports-related projects before making the big move to The Big Apple.

Steve has had the opportunity to work on projects for the NFL Rookie Symposium, Super Bowl and more.

The two go in depth on their opinions about criticism of pro athletes and Steve gives us some insight into the day-to-day operations of the NFL creative department.

They also touch on the importance of networking and developing industry relationships.

You can find Steve at his website or follow him on twitter.

Mentions include:

Solomon Page Group

Grey Advertising

Leon Sandcastle

NFL Rookie Symposium

NFL Super Bowl 50 Logo

Next guest is Jose Lopez, creative director of the Houston Rockets.

"Baseball is the background of summer." - Todd Radom

Independent designer and sports visual historian Todd Radom joins Adam on episode 4 to discuss his 20+ year career designing for professional sports brands.

The two touch on the importance of sports brands in a global economy, as well as the lost art of the game program and ticket. What is happening to them in this digital age?

Todd also shares his passion for the visual aesthetics of baseball and why it is so much more prominent amongst mainstreams fans in that sport in relation to other professional sports.

Mentions include...

Mitchell and Ness

New York Yankees logo history

Brooklyn Cyclones

New York Jets by Pentagram

Big Ten logo (B1G) by Pentagram

Super Bowl by Landor

Interbrand

Swiss Design

Dan Simon of Studio Simon

Joe Bosack of Joe Bosack & Co. Interviewed in Episode 2.

Win Without Pitching

Montreal Expos Case Study by Todd Radom

MLB Camo Memorial Day Uniforms

Charlotte Hornetts Brand Identity by Rare Design

Follow Todd Radom on Twitter, Dribbble or check out his website.

Next guest is Steve Vollmer, in-house designer at the NFL headquarters in NYC.