2023 Men’s & Women’s Final Four Limited Edition Basketballs
The task was to create a limited edition basketball for the men’s and women’s Final Four tournaments in Houston and Dallas.
For Houston’s Final Four - Julia was inspired by patches on astronauts’ spacesuits at the Houston Space Center. She created custom basketball-space-Houston patches and tiled them all over. Every patch has some nod to Houston, basketball, or the Final Four. There are even some Beyonce references for her hometown!
For Dallas’ Final Four - this was a similar approach, but tailored the patches to vintage Texas and the Bishop Arts neighborhood in Dallas.
Lastly, real patches were actually created and included in the product box with purchase. They were also sold at Wilson’s activation spaces in Houston and Dallas for the Final Four tournaments.
Role: Designer
Wilson Maker Series Basketball
This basketball was designed in an “anti-design” aesthetic for Wilson’s new Maker Series line - an assortment featuring original designs from Wilson designers with no guardrails. Julia’s goal was to create a tribute to the game of basketball’s history all centered around the game’s original 13 rules. There is a ton of information packed in, but you’ll find some symbols and shout-outs to those women and men who helped create the game. This ball serves as a memento of the roots that have helped the game grow to its current glory.
Role: Designer
2023 NBA All-Star Limited Edition Collector Basketball
This basketball was sold as a limited edition Collector ball at the 2023 NBA All-Star weekend in Salt Lake City, Utah. Inspired by the snow and salt elements that make up the land in Salt Lake City, this design celebrates these molecules that have created this urban landscape for All-Star athletes to showcase their talent. Drawn to the elements, Julia illustrated salt and snow while looking under a microscope to form a pattern. A few details include her own periodic table of elements housed in the outline of Utah on the side of the ball, paying tribute to the land elements of Salt Lake City. There is also a nod to the Wasatch mountain range in the inflate area. Lastly, the super talented Andrea Bergart converted this ball into a luxury handbag!
Role: Designer
Wilson WNBA Heir Basketball
The identity for this outdoor basketball was to be something bright, bold, and unexpected for the women’s game. Julia created this design in this unique paneling structure utilizing some WNBA brand colors and directions from the WNBA style guide.
Role: Designer
Wilson x WNBA 25th Anniversary Basketball
Julia designed a limited-edition, 25th Anniversary Wilson basketball and box packaging celebrating the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). Utilizing all of the team’s colors and WNBA league logos, this basketball was gifted to all members of this year’s Commissioner’s Cup championship team and 25 influential women in and around the sport. As an athlete herself, Julia was honored to design a bright product for an extremely vibrant league - a league which speaks up for women's and non-binary rights and paves the way for the world to see more of women's sports.
Role: Designer
Chicago Wilson Store Products
Creating a set of products for the city of Chicago, the grassroots of Wilson, was one of Julia’s first projects at Wilson. Inspired by the Chicago flag, she went in a cleaner direction for the basketball and volleyball, while she hand-drew the mini volleyball in a “graffiti” style. Chicago neighborhoods, a “312,” the red stars on the Chicago flag, and some recognizable Chicago landmarks are drawn on the mini volleyball.
Role: Designer
2022 Final Four Limited Edition Basketball Design
The objective of this project was to design a custom limited-edition game ball design for the Men’s Final Four tournament hosted in New Orleans. Inspired by the French Quarter in New Orleans, Julia designed a unique iron lace pattern featuring a number of basketball and New Orleans references. Symbols include final four brackets, Mardi Gras diamond shapes/beads, basketballs, a fleur de lis, jazz/music note references, waves to symbolize the city’s resilience to hurricanes, leaves to nod to Louisiana’s unique vegetation, and moon/stars for teams’ journey to the finals. Mostly all symbols are grouped into 4’s, as a nod to the last four teams in the tournament. Other pieces Julia added were New Orleans’ street sign shapes and utilizing her French minor for callouts on the ball. Due to supply chain shortages, this ball was only used for display purposes at the Men’s Final Four.
Role: Designer