First on the list? A logo. A brand mark that would carry across everything. I wanted to keep the copy minimal and let the design speak for itself, but the logo had to be versatile—something that could scale down, be used in one color, and still work whether embroidered, laser-etched, or printed on different materials.

I designed a shield, built from the shapes and seam lines of a basketball. The two curved lines hugging the “23” were inspired by a laurel wreath—an ancient symbol of victory and honor. This logo design will represent the HOF for the GOAT? This was about creating the ultimate tribute for the ultimate player. It needs to be classic, timeless and just the feel of exceptional excellence. Something that you would see chiseled in marble.

Here’s the original logo mark with various customized versions: an inverted logo, the trading card logo and the catalog logo. The complete catalog is shown in the carousel at the top and a closer look of the gate fold to the right.

A while back Upper Deck bought a large portion of the United Center’s/Chicago Bull’s basketball court floor when the construction of a new stadium was under way. This was the floor during the last three-peat championship years. I was given the assignment to create product that integrated this historic game-used floor. My concept maximized the memorabilia yield and at a great pricepoint, the MJ HOF Box Set. We needed to engineer the box, the trading card, and the cut piece of game-used floor asap. Which meant the designs needed to be done in a hurry. After it some how all came together, it became one of my favorite pieces that I created for Jordan. Last time I checked, the card itself has gone up in value ten times over.

The most expensive piece we had listed in the catalog was also our largest.  An eight foot by eight foot floor section where the Bull’s logo was painted on the stadium floor. It was one of the first items to sell.