AJ Athletic

As Visual Designer for AJ Athletic, I lead design and creative initiatives for the brand. Working as part of a five-person team, I developed the company’s comprehensive visual identity, encompassing the logo suite, color palette, social assets, apparel branding, and e-commerce presence. I designed and built the website, and I continue to collaborate with the founder to create the full apparel line. Since launching in September 2025, I’ve directed all creative output for the brand, ensuring a cohesive identity across digital, product, and marketing touchpoints.

Branding

UX

Visual Design

Overview

My Role: Visual Designer

AJ Athletic is a mission-driven athletic apparel startup connected to AJ Tennis Academy International, which runs tennis camps for underserved youth worldwide. With 20% of all profits supporting the academy, the company needed a strong creative foundation to communicate its dual focus on performance apparel and social impact. My role was to build a brand identity that could resonate in the competitive athletic wear market while also reflecting its philanthropic mission. By unifying branding, digital presence, and product design, I helped establish AJ Athletic as both a lifestyle brand and a force for community impact.


Case Study
Context & Challenge

When starting to build the AJ Athletic brand and digital presence, I was focused on ensuring that the brand performs on two fronts:

  • Competitive performance: Positioning in the saturated athletic-apparel market (men’s and women's shirts, shorts, polos, tees, accessories).

  • Meaningful mission: Communicating the social-impact story of youth development (the 3Cs: Curiosity, Concern, Confidence) behind AJTAI.

The core challenge: craft a versatile visual identity and brand experience that can appeal to performance-wear customers and mission-driven consumers, while uniting digital, product, and brand ecosystems.


My Role & Scope

As the company's visual designer, I developed the brand’s creative ecosystem across:

  • Logo suite (primary mark + garment logo)

  • Color palette and brand typography

  • Social media assets and marketing graphics

  • Apparel branding (men’s and women’s shirts, shorts, skirts, polos, tees) plus accessories (towels, socks, hats)

  • Shopify website build and UX design

  • Ongoing creative partnerships with the founder for seasonal line development

I developed all of this autonomously, reporting directly to the founder, and continue to lead the creative output post-launch.


My Approach

Branding narrative

I anchored the identity in a story: the beloved Newfoundland dog “Kiwi” who belonged to Justin (AJTAI co-founder) became a symbol of loyalty, resilience, and curiosity. The logo draws inspiration from Kiwi’s silhouette and the tennis academy’s global outreach. This narrative allowed the brand to feel personal, grounded, and distinct from generic athletic wear.

Design system

  • Primary logo: Bold, modern, and athletic. High-impact for digital and large formats.

  • Garment mark (secondary logo above): Simplified, flexible version designed to perform on apparel labels, accessories, embroidered hats.

  • Color palette: Combines performance-oriented darks and energizing accent tones.

  • Typography: Crisp sans-serif headline type with angled accents and movement lines to convey motion, confidence, and athleticism.

  • Social/marketing assets: Creating templates that join lifestyle imagery (global youth, tennis ethos) with product shots so that every asset reinforces both performance and mission.


Website & UX

I designed and built the Shopify site with a focus on clarity and story-driven purchase pathways:

  • Homepage hero with the mission angle (20% donation to AJTAI)

  • Product pages featuring performance specs and mission-story blurbs

  • “Our story” page with AJTAI background, Kiwi inspiration, and visuals of youth development

  • Blog/impact section to regularly update customers on how proceeds were used, reinforcing the social value of purchase

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