NBA Studio Posters — Delaney Wong

05 NBA DRAFT SHOW STUDIO POSTERS

2024

NBA Draft Show Studio Posters

PROJECT OVERVIEW:

In my role as a Content Design Intern at Bleacher Report, my first assignment was to collaborate on designs for wall artwork for one of the film studios. I worked with a Lead Designer and a Graphic Designer to design and illustrate two poster designs that were ultimately installed in the studio and featured in B/R’s 2024 NBA Draft Show.

TIMELINE:
June 2024
2 Weeks

ROLE:
Graphic Designer (Content/Brand Design team)

TOOLS:
Adobe Illustrator
Procreate

TEAM:
David Garcia
Tee Smith
Mario Reid

Project Brief:

Our team was tasked with designing wall artwork for the 2024 NBA Draft Show studio that would be visible on the wall behind the talent as well as on both sides of the TV monitor. The production team and our lead designers suggested more abstract and textural-based designs that leaned more heavily on references to basketball, the draft, and New York City (where the draft was taking place) as opposed to direct imagery. These pieces also needed to appear well on camera and be visually appealing but not distracting or overly commanding of attention.

Two of the six pieces were predetermined to lean heavily on content from the show’s brand package, but for the other four pieces, our team had the creative freedom to decide which style and direction we wanted to pursue. We started by collecting references and separating our findings into different buckets and categories based on style before coming back together as a group and deciding on a final few directions to run by our Art Director, Mark Dayao.

Initial Exploration and References:

Ideas for different draft and basketball-related textures, patterns, iconography, and silhouettes that would help the design feel tied together thematically:

Exploration of different monochromatic + accent color colorways that incorporated colors from the existing brand package:

The four style buckets that I brought to our first team meeting after kickoff:

The most fleshed out design idea that I had during this process was a geometric composition broken up by curved and straight intersecting lines and colorblocking. With this idea, I wanted to reference the multi-use sports courts that I and many others grew up playing on as a kid. I thought it would be fun to use the different basketball-related textures and patterns to populate the different defined geometric areas and also explore how these textures could be used as overlays and break the bounds of the grid definitions.

Initial Sketches:

Designing and Iterating:

Our team decided to move forward with a collage approach for a set of two posters that would be displayed on either sides of the main TV monitor and an illustrative grid approach for the other set of posters that would be displayed on both the primary and secondary walls. David, our Lead Designer, decided to take on the collage pieces, while Tee and I worked together on the illustrated ones by dividing the individual illustrations that we brainstormed together between the two of us. I then arranged all of the illustrations into two compositions with the required specs.

More illustration style and layout references:

Playing with grid layouts for the required specs:

Finalizing composition and building out different colorways:

I really liked the pop of color that the addition of the neon green from the brand package added to the design, but ultimately felt like it would be too distracting on the walls of the studio, especially when our team was explicitly instructed to make sure that the designs would read well on camera and behind talent.

Final Designs:

Plus, I got the awesome opportunity to help install my posters in-person at Bleacher Report’s New York studio!

Key Takeaways:

Designing within constraints helps clarify purpose: Working within the existing brand package and studio design constraints allowed me to sharpen my focus and ensure my work served a clear purpose. Every design choice was intentional—prioritizing legibility on-camera, aligning with Bleacher Report’s bold aesthetic, and ensuring visuals enhanced the production rather than distracting from it. These constraints helped guide my process and ultimately made the final designs stronger and more impactful.

Collaboration is key in the discovery phase: Collaborating closely with other designers during the discovery phase helped us establish a unified direction for the studio design. By combining ideas and perspectives, we were able to craft visuals that aligned with the creative vision, brand package, and the needs of a live production. This process reinforced the importance of shared ideation and clear communication in arriving at a cohesive design solution.

Hi! I’m Delaney.︎