"Good design begins with honesty, asks tough questions, comes from collaboration and from trusting your intuition."
Freeman Thomas
"Good design begins with honesty, asks tough questions, comes from collaboration and from trusting your intuition."
Freeman Thomas
"Good design begins with honesty, asks tough questions, comes from collaboration and from trusting your intuition."
Freeman Thomas
"Good design begins with honesty, asks tough questions, comes from collaboration and from trusting your intuition."
Freeman Thomas
"Good design begins with honesty, asks tough questions, comes from collaboration and from trusting your intuition."
Freeman Thomas
The Academy
Men's clothing boutique and lifestyle brand
The brick-and-mortar boutique is located in downtown Long Beach and has long been a cornerstone of the local Arts District. Over the course of 10 years the Academy sought to introduce beautifully crafted products to the community, focused on locally made and unique staples for the everyday man.
The Academy explores a range of lifestyle products based on the interest of its founder, Sam. There is a wealth of care and thought put into each product... but to truly know the whole story you'll have to explore the space in person, and really, just talk to Sam.
One of the funny things about the Academy is how it can seem so forward-thinking and yet you find yourself engaging with practices of the past. Sam IS the Academy, to know this brand is to know him.
My role here over the years was to keep things moving forward. When working with someone like Sam with so many ideas it's so important to bring an element of consistency. How do we bring these ideas to life? how do we keep things moving? My skillset with graphics and my sense of organization helped develop the Academy's product line.
Glass Bottle
The Academy could have resold any given water bottle. It could have sourced expensive high-quality water and sold it for 3x the market price if it had beautiful enough packaging. It also could have designed and manufactured a clever and trendy reusable plastic water bottle and called it a “green solution”. But neither of these things would be consistent with The Academy’s branding or philosophy, which put simply is ‘to be authentic’.
This logo represents water as the fundamental building blocks that make up our world.
There is a reason why wine and beer are bottled in glass, it preserves the flavor and offers a quality taste. Water, as a fundamental necessity and natural right, deserves to be treated with as much respect.
Another reason to love glass is it's truly the most sustainable solution. made of abundant natural material and ultimately safe for the environment. This is an obvious and necessary consideration when catering to customers who value foresight and participates in an active outdoors lifestyle. For them and for us, "green" is the only solution.
Fir Honey
Sourced from the mountainous regions of the SanJoaquin Valley, it’s the r trees that give the honey such a unique flavor. Aphids that extract and feed on the sap from the trees leave behind the honeydew that is responsible for this amazing product. is world-class honey is 100% raw and will last a lifetime. Enjoy its rich complex flavor and lustrous caramel-like texture.
The academy carefully packages the honey in Italian-made glass jars sealed with a classic spring-loaded lock. e wide mouth of the jar makes the honey easy to spoon out and minimizes mess. I sourced these jars and designed the label and tag.
The label is a laser-cut leather piece that elevates the packaging and symbolizes the quality of the product. The tag explains the details of the honey and attaches with a rainbow thread, the signature of The Academy.
THIN WALLET
This super-thin wallet is designed to be made using only a single piece of leather. This clever pattern is an elegant reimagining of a timeless piece.
Croatia
Iris
Egypt
Blue Lotus
Kuwait
Arfaj
The cards slide in from the sides as opposed to the top, the natural grip of leather keeps them in place and the narrow pockets encourage a minimalist lifestyle.
The oils from the human hand polish the leather, and so over time the leather wears and conforms uniquely to the user and it's contents- like a favorite pair of jeans.
