Conversations at the intersection of sports, design and creativity

Episodes

Kristopher Bazen

Makers of Sport Podcast #13

October 6, 2014
Kristopher Bazen

"If I can contribute to the design world, something that might exist long after I'm gone, that's a win for me...Sports Fonts was a part of that".

Capone - sports font

Recon - sports font

Macho Man Randy Savage Illustration by Kris Bazen

Columbus Royals sports logo by Kris Bazen

Washington Wizards secondary sports logo

Memphis high school tigers sports logo by Kris Bazen

This week I'm speaking with typeface and logo designer, Kristopher Bazen. Kris is currently a senior apparel designer at J. America. He also recently founded Sports Font Foundry, an online store and typeface foundry targeting the sports industry.

From getting kicked out of high school to battling cancer, Kris has a very inspiring story of perseverance and overcoming obstacles in life to get where you want to be professionally and approaching your career from a different mindset. 

Before founding Sports Font Foundry, Kris spent time at ReebokAdidas - Sports Licensed Division and Old Hat Creative honing his branding and illustration skills.

In this interview, Kris shares advice for getting starting from scratch in the sports industry, diversifying your skillset, learning to sell good design to clients, the importance of sketching and more.

Kris also touches on his sports logo design process and custome typeface design process. 

We also take a question from twitter as @ScottdeFasselle: "If you had to start from scratch—no one knew you & you hadn't worked in the industry, how would you get started?"

Mentions include:

My next guest is John Trotter, founder and creative director of strategic sports branding agency, Forty Forty. John was a former designer at Nike and design director at Landor before founding his firm which works with brands such as the Washington Nationals, NFL Players Association, DC United, Keen Footwear and more.