As a life-long fan, it was a dream opportunity to join MLSE as a graphic designer for the Toronto Maple Leafs. This franchise carries a long and storied history, with a deep and devoted fanbase. From this history we are able to draw from, and create compelling narratives and storytelling for each season.
All of the work shown below are pieces that I primarily designed, but one of the great things about MLSE is the collaborative nature of the team. I have listed everyone I've had a chance to work with at the bottom of the page, and they all had a hand in creating this work as well.
Deliverables
Brand Design
Digital Design
Environmental Design
The return of fans to the arenas meant reestablishing the connection between the Leafs and Leafs Nation. The campaign for this season utilized fan photography, and images of crowds roaring side-by-side with action shots of Leafs players, to show how the fans and players fuel one another.
Building signage at Scotiabank Arena is one of the most important aspects of a Leafs season launch, because of how they contribute to creating an exciting and dramatic atmosphere for fans attending the games. I was able to create two pieces in the Scotiabank Arena Galleria, the large double-photo mural on the previous page, and this composition at Gate 1 that illustrates team togetherness over a map of the city, the street grid lines resembling the arteries and veins of Leafs Nation.
A wide assortment of social media templates are created and then handed off to a third-party studio at the start of each season. The following are templates that I created to contribute to our overall toolkit.
For the 2021-22 season, our team revamped the look and feel of the Leafs annual Next Gen Game. To coincide with new jerseys, the first reversible jerseys in NHL history, we introduced the concept of The Flipside. The idea of turning the expected notions of what hockey should be inside-out, using bold colours and typography with 3D avatars to bring a sense of fun and quirkiness to the game.
The jersey for the Heritage Classic game in Hamilton was inspired by the original Toronto Arenas franchise.I created marks using typography found on an Arenas team portrait, to connect present and future to the past.
As we entered the playoffs, our regular season look and feel was leveled-up through the use of chrome textures. Depth was added to established elements to give a more dramatic effect to our visuals.
The message for this season was all about movement and energy, carrying over momentum that was created in the preceding playoff. All of our imagery for the season conveyed motion in a variety of ways.
For the season’s toolkit, I created a background system with a ripple pattern that contains a halftone pattern using the Leaf shape. Different tones were provided to ensure that social media creative would have a variety of looks throughout the season.
Reverse Retro Trading Cards
The Leafs Reverse Retro jersey referenced the era of the 1960s. To coincide with the release of the jersey, I created a series of retro trading cards that evoke that era in design. The cards, when put together according to the checklist and flipped over, reveal a collage that shows historic moments from the 60s and the modern era.
For the 2023 Playoff, all of the imagery revolved around light trail photography of the players that were taken during marketing day at the start of the season. These images were blended together to show the players all moving towards one ultimate goal.
To create backgrounds for the 2023 Playoff toolkit, I cropped light trails from the player photography and isolated them, which resulted in abstract textures that could be used in different types of social content.
Creative Director: Kevin Mones
Art Director: Anthony Ruggiero (2021-22), Jason Jokahi (2022-23)
Fellow Designers: Justin Alejandro, Mose Desmoulins
