Ghost Crab Football is a fully developed collegiate athletics brand created for the fictional University of Pawleys Island (UPI), a coastal public university based in Pawleys Island, South Carolina. Inspired by the Atlantic Ghost Crab, a species native to the region’s shoreline, the identity was designed to authentically reflect its environment while blending coastal culture with a bold, modern college football aesthetic.

 

Developed as my senior thesis project for the Auburn University Graphic Design BFA program, I built a complete, launch-ready athletics system encompassing all branding and physical deliverables required for an inaugural football season. The project included fully designed home, away, and alternate uniform systems, social media graphics, collector posters, fan merchandise, game programs, staff apparel, and supporting marketing collateral. A four-page team website was also designed and optimized for both desktop and mobile formats to demonstrate real-world digital application. All uniforms and merchandise were created within NCAA and Sun Belt Conference guidelines, mirroring professional sports design workflows and production standards.

 

Working at a large scale across multiple mediums allowed me to develop a cohesive brand ecosystem while meeting structured presentation milestones and production deadlines. With no existing photography available, every visual asset required complex Photoshop compositing, blending imagery sourced from programs across the country with original Ghost Crab branding to create realistic, game-ready coverage for a program that does not exist. The process emphasized detail, consistency, and storytelling, resulting in a believable athletics identity built to function across digital, apparel, and fan experience platforms.

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Project created Senior year of college, 2024 for Senior Thesis Project for Auburn University Graphic Design BFA.