JW.S ⌁ UA®

Y24

A High-level look of collaborative works.

Sound.XYZ

Developing a dynamic brand to help launch an innovative web3 music platform.

Scab Shop

Helping CTHDRL to brand a tattoo NFT project: Scab Shop.

Hangyaku V1

A deck of premium playing cards from combining an AI’s take on Japanese Ukiyo-e style art with modern design.

Aristide

Working with Mr. Aristide Benoist to design his '21 Folio site.

Ledger MP

Developing a branding concept for launching Ledgers new NFT marketplace.

RTFKT

I'm not yet able to discuss the scope of this project.

Arcteryx

Re-introducing a newer product category with more impact, and flagship products.

ISOKO

Expanding the brand's AD through interactive design + dev to launch a new lifestyle brand, ISOKO. More soon info soon.

Evinetta

Creating a poster series to accompany Ash Thorp and Carlos Pecino's new build + film, Evinetta.

Fila

Evolving the Fila brand while consolidating their fragmented global image via a flexible toolkit.

Basic

A broad collection of internal projects that I worked on for BASIC as an employee

JW.S

Using my own brand as an opportunity to highlight JW.S abilities as an end-to-end brand partner.

NØ–ISØ

Elevating, and hopefully inspiring creative authenticity.

Hello World

Creating some initial editorial layouts for a small film's pitch book.

Tavarua

A partnership in its infancy. Helping bring a small heart shaped island to the world.

Singer

Reusing a scrapped passion project for something productive (a 100% unofficial concept site).

DANC

A joint venture with long-time friend and shaper Dan Cobley to evolve and grow his business.

Apple

Developing art directions, and over-seeing production on sites to introduce new products/ services on dot com.

Google (23)

Developing the design direction for a future-vision project that had an emphasis on data organization and visualization.

GStore

Working as an embedded Design Director, I oversaw a team which was helping reinvent Google's global eComm experience.

Hatom

Developing various brand directions. More to come.. maybe?

Ramp

Working with Ramp to backfill various interactive design needs.

Netflix

Working with the Emerging Creative team to develop forward-thinking business solutions.

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00-1

Works

↳My work as an independent Creative Director + Designer

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Goods

↳Synthesizations of various skillsets in the form of products.

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DELTA

↳A divergent stream of my creative consciousness.

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Info

↳ More information about me, and my work.

00-5

Explore

↳ Wander through the work more organically

Cart

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J\V.S

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Home

Works

Projects

Sections

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Content

Re:Routing

Carving out some space

The athletic space, from a creative perspective, is very crowded because of Nike. Nike is the clear leader when it comes to high-quality product, across a wide-range of brands, styles, applications, etc. Because of their flexible, progressive-nature, and high-caliber of execution, it's kinda hard to not pull references that feel NIke-ish, or... aren't actual Nike examples.

Regardless, I tended to gravitate towards more simple art directions for this one that were a bit bolder in nature– focusing more on authenticity and rawness. This could be achieved through design that felt structure but ultimately improvised (as happens in sport), and photography styles that would be considered more 'filmic', with a slightly rawer feel via grain, higher contrast, expired film grades, and imperfect crops/compositions. I wanted it to feel like someone had a disposal camera, and they were chronicling their path to greatness.

UA has a bit of an underdog mentality that's all about putting in work. Creating an art direction that felt like it striped away the polish and focused on the realities of the journey over the result felt imperative. Nike doesn't ignore the journey, but it tends to skew more aspirational, which naturally edifies results that can feel un-relatable for people who intrinsically love the grind, camaraderie, and journey– regardless of where it takes them.

[ inspiration not currently available ]

Output

A trail to tears. A trail to tears. A trail to tears.

A big focus in the design work I wanted to convey was the idea of repetition. Repetition is everywhere in sports– from the reps in the gym, drills, quarters, seasons, etc. And while it sounds a bit on the nose, I felt there was ways to interject moments that broke the repetition as means to reflect improvisation– another key element of sport.

While I was pretty keen on the concept + direction I had concept... it didnt quite translate to execution. Given the short amount of time I had on this, I ended up having to leverage existing UA photography which felt very contrived and stale, and the design system I was working on still felt fragmented and unresolved by the time I had to jump off. This was pitch work, so perfection isn't expected.. but it for sure feels like a missed opportunity to make something unique in a crowded space.

While I believed in my concept, I was always encouraged to show range when doing these exercised, so I cranked out pretty clinical designs to cover my bases. I had hopes they'd be seen as the anti-hero and only reinforce the main direction.. backfired. Some bits of the more clinical designs were leveraged for the proposed direction that was then carried out by the team at BASIC (who did a really nice job executing that direction). It is however, trying to out Nike Nike... which has ended in tears for pretty much anyone who has tried. Good luck with that.

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Playing with repetition and rhythm as part of an RFP response. Done very quikcly

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Playing with repetition and rhythm as part of an RFP response. Done very quikcly

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An excerpt from a series of quick explorations on re-designing UnderArmours site.

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Playing with repetition and rhythm as part of an RFP response. Done very quikcly

Additional Scraps

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Our creative world is both thriving and suffocating under its own weight and control mechanisms.

[ B → 001 // 003]
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Observations

At the moment, the creative world feels like it is simultaneously thriving and suffering under it’s own weight. With the advent of various creative platforms and social networks, we:

Gained access to near-infinite exposure and opportunity.

Can experience real-time creativity.

Gained access to those who create the work that inspires us most.

Can access the entire history of art (and the world) with a few keystrokes.

Can create and share things that exist on a more-level playing-field than ever.

As an unintended consequence of this level playing-field, potentially inspiring work regularly gets lost in the drone of our perpetual creation. To help elevate quality content, social platforms ingrained algorithms as an attempt to dictate substance. It’s a nice idea, but creativity is not binary. With the obvious limitations in algorithmic curation, there are plenty of people trying to make sense of it all through a variety of lenses, and motivations.

Understanding that navigating these filtration systems is a path to creative validation, people have begun focusing on the destination, not the journey. This shift has come with a sharp increase in blind trend-chasing and a general lack of authenticity in creative work. Many people feel an obligation to fall inline with current trends for fear of failure or rejection, even if it’s not where their passions lie. Instead of utilizing these amazing tools for personal growth, they feel pressured by them into conformity.

( B → 002 // 003)

AssertIONS

(01) Continual Growth

I believe that creativity lacks a destination and exists as a continual progression; there’s never a finish-line, and everything can always be better. If someone operates under the assumption that they have all the answers, they are doing themselves a great disservice by stunting their own creative growth. To that point, it’s important to continually broaden our horizons to gain a more thoughtful understand of the world around us– taking in the good with the bad. If we look for inspiration in familiar places, we’re bound to miss opportunities to innovate and progress– it can be hard to see beyond what’s already been done to find new or refined perspectives, techniques, or styles. I’ve also found it valuable to routinely challenge my interests and value systems to either validate or refute what I had held to be true. It’s a humbling, yet enlightening process, that others might find useful as well.
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(02) A REalm of Unknown

The realm of creativity is inherently devoid of absolutes. It’s fluid, and malleable to exist as whatever is most meaningful to you. It’s also confound with the unknown, and thats where it’s beauty lies. Nobody has a definitive answer for anything– no matter how loud they yell, or how big a stage they stand upon– it’s almost all entirely subjective at the end of the day. While I do have a lot of combined experience and exposure to what's out there, I'm still learning, growing and getting inspired all the same... so I don't pretend to be the ones who actually has answers.

(03) The Objectives

Basically, this is what I hope to do:

Be a source of unexpected inspiration

Broaden people’s creative horizons.

Champion creative individuality.

Subvert group-think/trend-chasing.

Breakdown the barriers between specializations.

Establish a network for collaboration across creative disciplines. (possible phase 2)

I'm planning to share work that I find interesting, insightful, or provocative in the hopes of catalyzing creative growth in myself and others. Everything is meant to be taken at face-value where it’s merit is determined by each individual. I'm offering context here, not answers.

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Synopsis

[ 01 — This isn't original ]

I'm not pretending to be the first to have these thoughts– some of them are pretty widely-held beliefs. As common as the sentiments might be, they aren't typically vocalized or actualized since critical (or even alternative) perspectives can be demonized and written-off as counter-productive... and that's just dumb. I understand that I skew to the contrarian side of the spectrum at times (partially why I feel the name is so fitting), but I do so with the goal to positively influence the creative community. I'm not anti-anything, I'm (cogently) finding my way like everyone else and trying to do my part to elevate the creative baseline. A rising tide lifts all boats.
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[ 02 — THis isn't for everyone ]

I know that this can’t be all things to everyone. It’s something great to achieve in theory, but attempting to do so invariably convolutes and undercuts any purpose that isn’t explicitly to please others. I have my own values that guide me (and subsequently this channel), and I want to place those at the forefront; even when they don’t resonate with others for any number of reasons. I also understand that this will be prone to personal biases in taste–which tend to be darker, progressive and more provocative– and that might not be appealing to everyone either.
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[ 03 — everyone is welcome ]

While it might not made for everyone, I definitely want to welcome everyone. Especially those with alternative perspectives to encourage constructive dialog around those differences– we need more of that now than ever it seems. You also don’t have to be a creator by profession for this to provide some value. Everyone is inherently creative in some capacity, and I hope to inspire and involve those individuals all the same.
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[ 04 — This is Automatic for me ]

Part of the reason I wanted to do this, was that I was already doing all of this on my own, but purely for my own benefit. When I design I collect inspiration on Pinterest. When I browse Instagram, I like and collect images that I find inspiring. When I listen to music, I make playlists. I felt these action were very helpful for me on my creative journey, and with a little extra work, I could formalize it for others' benefit as well.

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Collecting and elevating uniquely creative work to encourage further authenticity and collaboration.

( C → 001 // 002 :: Visual)

A general representation of the aesthetic, sampled from random pins in the pinterest board.

( C → 001 // 002)

Visual

INSPIRATION

(01) Inspiring individualistic growth.

The goal is to provide a source of unexpected visual inspiration by curating/collecting work that is uniquely creative. I believe meaningful inspiration comes from increased exposure to alternate perspectives, mediums, styles, etc, and I'm seeking out those disparate sources where the only predictable through-line is in their quality and authenticity. Everyone is inspired by others, who we ultimately use to forge our own creative voice/perspective/style/etc, and the more informed we are, the stronger our foundation to build upon.
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(02) the how

This curation is going to be done on all the visual social channels that I currently use, and that allow for any sort of curation– Pinterest and Instagram. After a lot of internal back-and-forth, I've opted to all curate each channel as I experience them. While I think it would be nice to uniformly increase exposure by cross-pollenating content across the channels, it undercuts the purpose of each's existence. What good is both a Pinterest and Instagram presence if all the content is the same? Each platform also has it's own hierarchy of content, and I'd like for each live within that vs trying to strong-arm it into something else.
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(03) the Aesthetic

As much as I like to bring in varying types of creative work, there undoubtedly will be an aesthetic through-line. I have my own biases that I try to downplay by including so many different kinds of work, but it will show. At a high-level, some of the common characteristics/themes I would expect to see through the work:

Emotive

Honest

Thoughtful

Bold

Progressive

Edgy

Relatable

( B → 002 // 002 :: Auditory)

A collection of playlist covers used to additionally promote artists. started as composites, now features artists work.

(C → 002 // 002)

Auditory

MUSE

For me, music and my creativity go hand-in-hand. I’m almost always listening to music in general, and it's 100% of the time when I'm working. I find it to be a muse that adapts with me and the type of thing I'm working on in the moment. When I want to get after it, I can put something up-tempo on, or if I'm doing more ideating I can shift to something more mellow/ambient, and so on.
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Just as I’ve come to appreciate all forms of design, I’ve also come to appreciate nearly all forms music. More recently, I had found myself with narrowing musical interests partially thanks to algorithmic curation on platforms like Spotify, and partially because I didn't know where to look any more. The extent of streaming platforms' catalog can be overwhelming, and unless you spend time at it, you're left with their playlists that tend to be very narrow in focus– either in genre or in a 'mood'. I want this playlist to be a curated jumping-off point for others to discover different types of music they wouldn’t otherwise been exposed to. Hip-hop, acoustic, oldies, classical, techno, motown– it’s all there to open new doors for people to get lost in.
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I'm looking at the playlist through the same lens as the visual curation– if it feels creatively authentic, and/or interesting, it has a place in the playlist regardless of genre. I undoubtedly have genres I know better or just favor over others, but I try to keep those biases in check and make it a priority to embrace things I don't typically listen to, but do enjoy. I've never thought of this playlist as something for continuous listening since the range spans most genres and moods, and I realize that lack of continuity might be off-putting. Maybe the playlist isn't for you, and that's all good.

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An ambitious unifying of creatives to collaborate across disciplines, primarily on passion projects.

( D → 001 // 001)

Broader

ambitions

(01) Communication

We enable communication between disciplines with the intent to minimize the barriers dividing creative niches. Many creative fields are siloed where casual communication across specializations isn’t encouraged, enabled, or ever really needed. This would be far from the first effort to try this, but I believe the cross-pollination of ideas is a core value to more enlightened creativity. Knowledge-sharing is a self-less act: a value that any successful collective is predicated upon.
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(02) Mentor Creatives

We have a home for up-coming creatives to further develop their perspectives by conversing with people who have already worked hard to define their own. Not in search of answers, but for information to better understand the world around them. One’s exposure and experiences play a huge role in refining their own creative voice, and I want to enable those who already show great promise, and help them actualize their potential.
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(03) sharing Insights

We make a concerted effort to share insights from our own creative experiences, and those we look to for inspiration. This is done explicitly through articles + interviews, and implicitly through the work we choose to feature. This is purely an act of knowledge sharing with the hopes of exposing people to more ideas we believe in. We will never mandate or use the word ‘should’– deductions are the responsibility of the individual. This is not thought-leadership, because you are your own leader.
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(04) Lets make cool things

We have ambitious ideas, but may not have possessed the means or understanding to properly realize them on our own. Collaboration can take many forms: kicking around ideas, getting meaningful feedback, or working together to create something. I'd love to prioritize creation in this effort, but I want people to utilize this network for whichever means they find most useful– there’s no expectation with admission. Within these bounds, I hope that bigger + broader ideas can become realities (both directly and indirectly)
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(05) Wanna make this work?

If this strikes a chord with you, I'd love to chat. I still very strongly believe in collaboration and a network of creatives for passion projects, I just need some help getting it off the ground as I'm a bit swamped with other pressing things at the moment (ie. getting independent studio hummin along)

LETS ChAT →

Instagram ↗

← NØ–ISØ social presences →

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Spotify ↗

Pinterest ↗

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