Athletic Signature Shoe Concepts
Personal Projects
Aug. 2026 - Present
~3 days per design
Being a signature shoe designer for athletes, specifically NBA athletes, has been a dream job of mine ever since I knew it existed. Silhouette and upper pattern done in Adobe Illustrator, materials, colors, and poster done in Photoshop, small 3D model teaser on poster made with Meshy Ai. This is in-progress as I’m looking to create design concepts for 3 young star players on each NBA team.
If you see your favorite team among the logos just below, click it to jump to that section.
Dylan Harper
Key Design Choices:
Custom logo; “D” is a Harp, “H” are the strings
Eye stay piece follows the signature curve of a Harp instrument
Nike logo partially shrouded behind embroidered “strings” of the harp
Certain outsole design elements were inspired by Dylan Harper’s Nike GT Cut shoe
Victor Wembanyama, “The Alien”
Key Design Choices:
Midsole that extends above the upper and a high-top to support lateral movement
Alien eyes in nubuck as the main quarter deco overlay, heat-welded TPU stars in the eyes in the same shape as the spur on Spurs logo
3 lines of deco stitching encompassing the shoe, emulating Saturn’s rings
Wemby’s new signature logo embossed on the heel counter, as well as the uppermost eyelet
Stephon Castle
Key Design Choices:
Custom logo; Dragon of the Castle - “S” is the main body, “C” is the extenuation of the tail
Castle brick wall texture as welded TPU to microfiber upper and on outsole tread
Alligator embossed toe cap leather, emulating dragon scales
Light impression of dragon fire in the midsole mold
Darryn Peterson
Key Design Choices:
Custom logo; Initials “D” and “P” form the shape of a bucket, emulating his nickname, “Bucket Jones”
Crocs are his favorite shoe brand, so I morphed the Crocs Boat Shoe into a Basketball shoe
Classic Jazz colors, and color way inspired by his favorite cereal
Clashing upper materials of patent leather, suede, ripstop, and nylon; showcasing his fluid motion, and his grit.
Ace Bailey
Key Design Choices:
Custom logo; Ace of Spades, a spade represents the element of air and military power- historically, swords which are double edged and sharp, just like his game
His favorite off-court shoes are from Christian Louboutin, who use a lot of scaled exotic leathers, so I’ve implemented scales into his design
Back in his hometown of Chattanooga, TN, fishing for bass is his favorite hobby, so I made the mesh woven in a fish scale pattern, as well as the tread pattern
Bass colorway, classic Jazz colorway, and a Rutgers-inspired colorway
Upper consists of: canvas with imperfect stitch lines, fish scale mesh with canvas backing, sandwich mesh on tongue, woven nylon pull tabs & lace keep
Keyonte George
Austin Reeves
Walker Kessler
Cameron Carr
Cooper Flagg
Zaccharie Risacher
Dereck Lively II