IGN, GameSpot, TV Guide, Personal • 2014-Present
Apparel Design
Just like with branding, I’ve worked on a ton of different projects over the years, and a lot of them needed apparel, either for staff to wear or for fans to buy. I’ve always loved making shirts. This page is my range, from illustration to type-only designs.
Every shirt starts with the project and who it’s for. The test is always the same: would I wear this as a fan, and could it pass as something that isn’t screaming “video game merch”? I tried to make more than just black shirts, but clients kept asking for black. So I made sure every design still looked its best on it and pushed for more vibrant colors when the time called for it.
Key decision
Not “video game merch”. Shirts that just put the character on the front, or leaned on heavy type that was on the nose or corny, always read as gamer merch.
Results
75+ designs
75+ apparel designs since 2014, from type-only shirts to full illustration.
Ran the store
Ran IGN’s apparel store with the head of commerce, from design and sourcing to sale.
Every audience
Shirts for press events, podcast milestones, subscription boxes, intern programs, hack weeks and anniversaries, for staff, fans and subscribers.
Playing up the idea that E3 has now been taken over by Geoff Keighly, I wanted our staff shirt this year to be a fun goof on that while still being able to represent the GameSpot brand effectively. Keigh 3 was born soon after and this shirt was the result.
Final staff shirt design
GameSpot 2022
The first piece of apparel I ever made for IGN still remains one of my favorites. For the staff shirt that year the idea was to make a video game museum housing all the best power ups from years past and present. It was an early foray into simple illustration and taught me a lot about the process and execution
IGN staff wearing the shirt for E3 coverage
IGN 2014
For its inaugural year, the staff shirt for Summer of Gaming had to be something that would be memorable and represent a moment in time where IGN went for something big. I wanted the shirt to feel like it could be worn as a gaming piece or really just any piece of streetwear and I feel like the end result achieves that well
Staff shirt for SOG 2020
IGN 2020
With its 500th episode approaching, the hosts of Game Scoop wanted to do something special for the fans in attendance of the live show as well as those watching from home. “Omega Cops” was a longstanding anagram of “Game Scoop” and became one of the show’s most loved references. The crew themselves and its fans were the Omega Cops and with it I wanted to give them a shirt to remember their love for the show and for its anniversary
Omega Cops exclusive shirt
IGN 2018
For about a year IGN helped its UK division with a monthly subscription crate similar to the others at the time like Loot Crate or Birch Box or anything like them but this time for the gaming audience. With that came the need for a custom shirt in every box. This month’s shirt was “Rogues” and the motif I used was in reference to Rogue class types in RPGs and games but also to Rogue-lites and Rogue-likes as well.
IGN monthly box
IGN 2017
Again the team in the UK needed a custom shirt for the box this month and the theme just happened to be “Gods and Monsters” so I thought it would be nice to attempt a simple illustration of Kratos’ (from God of War) weaponry from those games, the Blades of Chaos. Again with the goal here being that the shirt doesn’t necessarily scream “I love video games” but instead could be more of an “if you know” reference point for fans to wear proudly
IGN monthly box
IGN 2017
Each year IGN hosts a group of interns on its Product and Engineering end. We gather about 6-8 students and bring them to San Francisco to experience what it’s like working in a real world media environment on real products
This year, however, was the first time we would be adding design and product management interns and with that we wanted to make the apparel a representation of those 3 elements working together.
Code Foo Apparel
IGN 2018
This was the year COVID hit and our plans eventually were cancelled for Code Foo since the in person element was very key to the experience for us and the participants. The planned merch for this year was gonna be special, we were going to upgrade our usual hoodies to be bomber jackets for our 10th iteration of the program. Sadly they were never produced but the design still remains a favorite of mine
Code Foo 10 bomber jacket, holographic alt
IGN 2020
Code Foo 10 bomber jacket
IGN 2020
Like most companies IGN has a week where all other projects are put aside and the Product/Engineering teams are allowed to create something new and unrestrained from normal practices. With that each year we would produce a shirt centered around the theme. This year we had 3 main points each project had to hit, revenue, innovation and brand loyalty.
IGN Hack Week
IGN 2016
NVC had many jokes and references over the years but one of its most recognizable was the way that its host would welcome fans to the show every week. We wanted to give our fans something they could rep NVC with and for once a shirt that wasn’t just black
NVC fan shirt
IGN 2018
Each year that IGN attended E3 we wanted it to feel like we were at the center of news coverage and really at the center of all games coverage during those times. With that came the idea for this year’s E3 shirt to be a constellation with the IGN brand as its center. It proved to be one of our most successful designs and went on to be sold later to fans of the site
Key decision
IGN at the center of the constellation. It sold in the official IGN store.
IGN E3 2018 staff shirt
IGN 2018
IGN’s 25th anniversary was fast approaching and with it we wanted to celebrate being around for so long as a media brand, especially when so many others in the space had unfortunately closed their doors. We had previously created our own mascot (dubbed “Iggy” by myself and its creator, a designer on my team) and for that year Iggy had been pixelated for a 16 bit adventure game we had produced with him
We had a line of apparel centered around him and this one in particular was a shirt for his “inventory.” Those inventory items were actually from our logo that we developed for the event itself but also applied well as a generic gaming inventory one might have
Iggy’s Inventory shirt
IGN 2021
Giant Bomb “Cyberbomb” Shirt
Giant Bomb was looking to launch a new line of apparel and wanted to do something that was a bit different than what previous offerings showed. I suggested we make something techy that could fit in an in game cyberpunk ad and this was the result to be printed
The Cyberbomb
Giant Bomb 2022
Another initiative Giant Bomb was looking to launch was to refresh the way people thought about the brand. To take it from not just being a gaming brand but something that could be a lifestyle brand as well. We had kicked around the shortening GNT BMB for a while and eventually it led to the creation of this sub logo for the shirt. This was another attempt at the “if you know it” type of designs for apparel
GNT BMB shirt
Giant Bomb 2022
For one of its longest running shows, IGN’s PlayStation dedicated podcast Beyond! (the sister to the Xbox focused Unlocked) was running its 700th episode and the staff wanted to make a shirt commemorating the event like we did with Game Scoop 500.
With this design I really wanted to go super minimal but still maintain that PS branding. The end result was something that felt core to the Beyond family and also a piece anyone could wear whether they were a gamer or not
700 exclusive shirt
IGN 2021
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