Jersey Archives is an Upper Deck product line of autographed limited edition jerseys highlighting athletes’ most amazing career moments. This was one of my favorite projects at Upper Deck. From coming up with the name to designing the jersey woven label, it was one of those projects where I was able to do everything I envisioned from beginning to end (and be happy with the final execution). Above showcases Michael Jordan’s 1987 Slam Dunk Championship jersey… with the old school mesh material and screen printed name and numbers. The goal of this project was to increase sales in the autographed jersey category. Traditionally, jerseys are sold as a framed or unframed product. We wanted to create high-end packaging that would increase the perceived value of the signed memorabilia. My concept not only achieved the marketing goals but it also created a packaging that became a keepsake and doubles as a display case. The cover of the box is constructed with a leather textured stock with silver decorative foil stamped on the front and spine. The inner box which houses the autographed jersey is a high-grade acetate material that can be removed from the top. The inside cover design commemorates the athlete’s specific moment that relates to the showcased jersey. My patented packaging design (20090139897) not only created a new product line and increase jersey sales but did so at a higher price point. To see an animation of the package design’s functionality click here (thanks to Scot Terry for the animation, he’s a great illustrator himself).

For Kobe Bryant’s firsts Jersey Archives project I designed a cool “hidden” graphic on the inside of the back cover. This project was aligned with the announcement of the Black Mamba’s jersey number change (from 8 to 24). This area is usually hidden with the jersey case but we thought it would make for a great surprise for the owners of this piece. Included in the graphic is a quote from Kobe explaining what the number 24 means to him.

Below are images of the first prototype.