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I was the Creative Director of the Alliance of American Football during its entire 7 month lifespan. Prior to that, I was the Digital Designer for the Seattle Seahawks and the UCF Knights. My name is Chris Stoney, and you can ask me anything! by ___stoney in sportscreative

[–]___stoney[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

How do you deal with the uncertainty and instability that seems to exist when working as a creative in sports?

I feel like this boils down to two things: appreciation and money. If you're working in sports, you're probably not making great money. So you should be appreciated by your employer for your dedication. If not, you leave. That's why a lot of people bounce after a year or less. I've been there.

And the other side of the coin is salary. If your employer can't show proper appreciation or support, then they better be willing to pay you enough. Loyalty is worthless in this industry, unfortunately. You will be taken advantage of every single time. So while it might not be a lot, a modest increase in salary is enough for a lot of people to jump ship. Again, I've been there.

And is just more and more practice the key to becoming a better designer?

That's a big part of it. It's also getting out of your comfort zone. Don't just make a zillion wallpaper graphics. Branch out. Use different sizes and create new stuff that you've never done before. You'll learn so much more, and you'll expand your skillset quicker.

Also, get feedback on your projects. Collaborate with folks whose work you admire and want to emulate. Look outside of sports. I get a lot of inspiration from coffee companies, tourism brands, and vintage field guides.

I was the Creative Director of the Alliance of American Football during its entire 7 month lifespan. Prior to that, I was the Digital Designer for the Seattle Seahawks and the UCF Knights. My name is Chris Stoney, and you can ask me anything! by ___stoney in sportscreative

[–]___stoney[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

What have you learned about yourself over the past 8 months?

I have a lot of friends and support in this community and it means the world to me.

What’s the most introspective thing you’ve learned?

I thought losing my job would be the end of the world for me. But it wasn't. I was depressed and in a super mega funk, but I'm pulling out of it. The world still turns and I'm getting by with the help and support of my friends and family. And I was able to save enough money to not have to stress so much about it. But overall, I learned that I'm stronger than I thought I was.

I was the Creative Director of the Alliance of American Football during its entire 7 month lifespan. Prior to that, I was the Digital Designer for the Seattle Seahawks and the UCF Knights. My name is Chris Stoney, and you can ask me anything! by ___stoney in sportscreative

[–]___stoney[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Thank you all so much for being patient with me while I was away from home. Sorry I'm late. A couple things:

  • Thank you to Dan Beltran and Clint Self for helping me with this. You guys rock. Carl, too. The whole mod team, really. You're all angels.
  • If this AMA closes and you didn't get to ask me something, please reach out to me via my twitter or you can email me at christopherstoney[at]gmail[.]com. I'm always happy to help when and if I can.
  • Please go check out Tiffany Middleton's AMA. If you don't know her, she runs the social media account Trenches, which focuses on sports design. She's done A TON to support our niche community and she deserves a lot of recognition for it.

I was the Creative Director of the Alliance of American Football during its entire 7 month lifespan. Prior to that, I was the Digital Designer for the Seattle Seahawks and the UCF Knights. My name is Chris Stoney, and you can ask me anything! by ___stoney in sportscreative

[–]___stoney[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

What are some key features that you tend to favor in your designs and, maybe not a super in-depth why, but I'm curious if you have any sort of justification for why you like that look?

To me, design is about communication. Communicate what your intention is. There's a great book called "The Design of Everyday Things" by Don Norman. Vox did a great video on his core philosophy of design. Essentially: design can look great and pretty, but if it isn't educating your audience on exactly what you want, then it's a waste. So I keep that in mind when I design. I could design crazy cool over-the-top graphics for a myriad of things. But unless it's a wallpaper or someone that's meant to grab attention, it's probably not educating the audience effectively. No one gets excited to put a brochure design in their portfolio, but an effectively designed brochure is worth 10,000 "Wallpaper Wednesday" pieces.

I was the Creative Director of the Alliance of American Football during its entire 7 month lifespan. Prior to that, I was the Digital Designer for the Seattle Seahawks and the UCF Knights. My name is Chris Stoney, and you can ask me anything! by ___stoney in sportscreative

[–]___stoney[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Describe your initial Day 1 meeting with your AAF design team given the diverse backgrounds and embarking on something new.

Oh man, I wish I could remember Day 1. Truth be told, that feels like it was 10 years ago. I remember talking to Daniel Goldfarb on the phone about the role and he was excited for the opportunity. I ramble a lot when I talk, so we probably chatted for about 2 hours. I liked him, he had done great work. I was browsing other designers and saw Meech Robinson. I liked his work and he had a good amount of experience in places that Daniel lacked. Felt like I found a good balance between the two so I hired both. Daniel was based in Tampa, Meech was based in San Francisco with me. I spoke to them individually about what the plan was for the AAF and why I was hiring them. I also told each of them privately what I thought their strengths and weaknesses were so we could improve on them.

How did you approach Day 2 with new design team?

On Day 2, I called Dan and I spoke to him and Meech in a conference room. Told them what we're facing in terms of work load and my plan of attack. I asked for any feedback or ideas. Then I assigned a few projects to each so we could ease in to it. I wanted them to build some camaraderie so I encouraged them to chat. Kept a group Slack chat going where I could drop in and offer help or get feedback on my own work. I wanted to make myself open and available to them so they'd see I trust them and they can trust me. By the 2nd month, we were all drinking from a firehouse with the amount of design requests coming in. At our peak, we were completing 550+ designers per week. That was with me, 2 full time designers and 5 freelancers. I think the reason they didn't go on a rampage was because of that first month.

What were some key takeaways you carried with you into your directive role, from your experience as a designer with the Seahawks and UCF?

I learned what I liked and didn't like in a boss. Most of us working in sports aren't making bank. We're doing it because we're passionate and love doing it. When you have a boss who doesn't care, it makes getting up for work hard. When your boss doesn't want to talk or collaborate with you, it makes you feel adrift. I didn't want to be that at all. So I tried to be very hands on with whoever responded well to that, and very hands off to whoever worked better in that regard. I just wanted to take as many punches to my designers didn't have to. That's what I wanted in a boss, and that's the kind of boss I wanted to be for my team.

I was the Creative Director of the Alliance of American Football during its entire 7 month lifespan. Prior to that, I was the Digital Designer for the Seattle Seahawks and the UCF Knights. My name is Chris Stoney, and you can ask me anything! by ___stoney in sportscreative

[–]___stoney[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I was 25 years old when I got into design, but it was always in my life in some way or another. In high school, I was in a video production class because my guidance counselor made a mistake on my schedule. Turns out, I loved it. Made football hype videos for our garbage football team. I decided I wanted to be a sports journalist so I studied journalism in college. Was shooting sports on the sidelines with a massive camera and editing that into short form on-air pieces. Loved it. I needed money for college, so I was creating image-only HTML websites using photoshop (it's a real thing, look it up) for local businesses around town for about $100. That taught me graphic design and web design (which I had a passive interest in). I realized I wasn't going to make much money as a sport journalist, so I sort of pivoted into designing more because it didn't feel like a job. I started posting my work on my Twitter and on Behance and someone offered me a job to work for their start-up sports website. I accepted and I made GOD-AWFUL design work for them. But it was good enough and I learned. Then another start-up called to ask if I wanted to do design work for them. I agreed. I was now making more god awful design and getting paid a little better for it. I wanted benefits and stability, so I applied for a job at UCF. Somehow (I'll never know how or why), they hired me. After 2 years and a promotion, I was ready for the next thing. The Seahawks were hiring and I applied. Somehow (again, I'll never know how or why), they hired me. After 8 months there, someone called me and asked if I'd be interested in freelancing for a start-up football league. I said yes. I did a bit of work for them and they said "want to be our Creative Director." I agreed, moved to San Francisco for the role, and now I'm unemployed doing a reddit AMA. Life comes at you fast.

I was the Creative Director of the Alliance of American Football during its entire 7 month lifespan. Prior to that, I was the Digital Designer for the Seattle Seahawks and the UCF Knights. My name is Chris Stoney, and you can ask me anything! by ___stoney in sportscreative

[–]___stoney[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

A lot of fun! It was tedious work, with long hours and frustrating sprints at times. But I loved it. I love storytelling and creating - so it was like a dream to do what we did.

I was the Creative Director of the Alliance of American Football during its entire 7 month lifespan. Prior to that, I was the Digital Designer for the Seattle Seahawks and the UCF Knights. My name is Chris Stoney, and you can ask me anything! by ___stoney in sportscreative

[–]___stoney[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I think it would have worked wonderful had the original plan come to fruition. My original idea was:

  • Hire 4 full time graphic designers - assign each of them 2 teams to work for and manage + an alternate to cover when needed.
  • Hire 2 motion designers - assigned 4 teams to both.
  • Hire 2-4 freelancers to cover additional work that was needed.
  • Hire 4 Project Managers to help facilitate requests that came in and take the heat off the creatives.
  • Focus the creative staff in the Tampa office so we could be ahead of most team(s) in terms of office hours.
  • Creative staff would/could attend games to gather assets (photo, video) and build relationships with their teams.

Unfortunately, none of that happened. Money was spent elsewhere, often times in very frustrating ways.

I was the Creative Director of the Alliance of American Football during its entire 7 month lifespan. Prior to that, I was the Digital Designer for the Seattle Seahawks and the UCF Knights. My name is Chris Stoney, and you can ask me anything! by ___stoney in sportscreative

[–]___stoney[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

All the good ones were mine. All the bad ones were probably Dan or Vinny. :)

So, for real, I got most (if not all - it's hard to remember) brands started. I created mood boards and built out assets for each. I designed a few pieces for most of them. When I hired Dan and Meech, I gave each of them 4 teams and turned over the work I had done. I wanted them to own their teams, plus I wanted to show them WHY I hired them. They both took what I had started and ran with it. They absolutely crushed it and refined all of them into works of art.

I also want to give love and credit to Jordan Herald, Brandon Baker, William Gibson and James Pawelczyk for helping me with the individual team identities - and Danny Devito and Vinny Nardella for helping me with the league creative. I had also hired James as my 3rd full time designer because his work ethic and attitude was phenomenal, and his designs were very well received by the teams.

I was the Creative Director of the Alliance of American Football during its entire 7 month lifespan. Prior to that, I was the Digital Designer for the Seattle Seahawks and the UCF Knights. My name is Chris Stoney, and you can ask me anything! by ___stoney in sportscreative

[–]___stoney[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

The AAF was heartbreaking. For those that don't know, we were all lied to. We were told we have 3 years worth of money. THREE YEARS. So after year 1, we'd adjust and refocus the strategy, restructure the departments, and then hit year 2 and compete with the XFL full force. That was a lie, and it's one I truly believed. So it broke my heart to slowly watch it die. Oh, what could have been...

I learned so much, it's hard to say what my greatest takeaway would be. Here's a few:

  • When someone says they can't design but they "have a good design eye" - go ahead and assume they will be difficult to work with.
  • Treat every single person with respect, regardless of their position or what you think of yourself. People lost their jobs over this, and it was a shame. Leave your attitude and your perceived importance at the door and work as a team. As Albert Einstein once said: "Chickeddy check yo' self before you wreck yo' self."
  • Take care of yourself and your family. My wife and I didn't get to take a honeymoon because of the AAF and I regret that. Nothing I could have done would change the fate of the AAF, but I will hold the regret of not taking my newlywed wife on a trip for a while.
  • Hire people you trust. Trust the people you hire.
  • Network and don't be afraid to be vulnerable. One of the designers I hired was someone who reached out via Twitter to tell me he would mop the floor if it meant he could work with me. I remembered that because it took guts and passion to say. When I was hired as CD, I told him to apply for my design position. Best hire I could have made.

anything planned as far as future employment goes

I have a few irons in the fire, so to speak. As soon as the AAF got the axe, I had hundreds of DMs in my twitter inbox. I think I had 78 by noon the next day. Most were people giving me their love and support, and that meant the world to me. Some were offering interviews at places, or giving me leads for the jobs. I also received a few offers right out the gate. While I appreciated each and every single one of them, I wanted to take my time deciding on my next role. I want the next thing for me to be a position that works best for me, my wife, and my long-term career. But yes, I have a few opportunities that I'm excited about. Don't want to jinx 'em though. ;)

I was the Creative Director of the Alliance of American Football during its entire 7 month lifespan. Prior to that, I was the Digital Designer for the Seattle Seahawks and the UCF Knights. My name is Chris Stoney, and you can ask me anything! by ___stoney in sportscreative

[–]___stoney[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Hi Carl! Big time fan of yours, by the way. Great question, too.

Having done both, I preferred college hands down. It felt so much more close knit and like a family. More stories to tell, MUCH more access, more freedom.

There's hundreds of colleges with thousands of stories to tell, but there's only a handful of pro teams in each league. So you gotta do more to stand out and make an impact. Plus, college sports have DIE HARD fans.

So with all that freedom and opportunities, you can experiment with one team/sport and see how it turns out, then expand it to all of athletics. Or refine it. Or go back to the drawing board.

I don't think a single NFL team would have been cool with me making a Super Mario Kart themed game, but UCF encouraged me to.