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NextFan: Monetizing Athletes' NIL with Digital Collectibles

Through NextFan, athletes can earn money from their name, image, and likeness (NIL) by creating Digital Collectibles and building their brand on a global platform. Fans worldwide can enjoy exclusive content from NextFan athletes that is relevant to both the player and their fans. Mark Roah, the CEO of NextFan, approached Marc to design digital trading cards for college athletes, with the task of tailoring each card's concept and style to match the athlete's unique personality.

Scope of work

Research

Concept

Image Curation

Design & Layout

Illustration

Photo Manipulation

Photo Retouching

Software

Adobe Photoshop

Adobe Illustrator

Procreate

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An NFT sports card graphic design of MLB baseball player Denny Hocking. This is a retro comic book style design made up of 3 sections from top to bottom. The top section features Denny Hocking wrapped in an American flag and holding a trophy with a gold medal around his neck. Behind him are his two daughters, Penelope Hocking and Illiana Hocking. Denny is the only one in color. The next section features different action scenes of Denny Hocking playing baseball. The first scene shows him catching the ball as a player is sliding into base. The second scene shows Denny jumping to catch a ball. The third scene shows Denny hitting a home run. The last part of this design features the name Denny Hocking in big bold letters and a pile of dust kicking up behind it.
An NFT sports card graphic design for NextFan featuring Florida Gators college athlete, Anna Deleon. This is a vintage style postcard design that shows Anna posed with her back facing you. She is smiling and looking over her shoulder straight at the camera. She has a NextFan soccer ball between her right arm and hip. She is wearing a pony tail with a headband, blue with orange striped soccer jersey, blue athletic shorts, and knee high blue socks. She has the last name, Deleon and the number 20 on her jersey. She is posed against a turquoise green background with her name and jersey number in giant bold letters. Inside the letters, is a beautiful Florida sunset with palm trees in the background.
A profile banner design for NextFan. Designed by Marc Tenedora. Featuring college football player, Trevin Gradney. This design represents his football career for the Grizzlies. It is stylized in the style of a vintage state park poster. It features a four part composition. The first part features Trevin posed on the left of the screen. He is holding a large hammer over his shoulder and looking out onto the football field. He is wearing a white and red football uniform. The second part shows Trevin Gradney written out in the center of the banner. Next to it is the Griz logo and a tagline saying #27 | CB. The third part features Trevin at the starting line hunched over waiting for the break. A ghostly grizzly spirit animal seems to emitting from his back. The grizzly is roaring with rage. The last part is a background shot of the Grizzlies stadium.

Unleashing Athletes' Stories

Designing digital trading cards for college athletes with NextFan came with its challenges. Firstly, the card designs could not display any brand or school logos, which required photo retouching. Secondly, sourcing high-resolution photos of college athletes was difficult, so some designs were created with low-quality images and enhanced through editing techniques. Despite these challenges, great care was taken to showcase each athlete's unique personality on and off the field through thorough research of their online resources, highlights, and background. Unleashing each athlete's story was the ultimate goal.

A profile banner design for NextFan. Designed by Marc Tenedora. Featuring college soccer player Penelope Hocking. The banner features three parts to the composition. The first part is Penelope Hocking posing on the left with crossed arms and a big smile. She is a blonde athletic female with freckles. She is wearing a ponytail, thing blue headband, navy blue soccer jersey with the number 18 on it. The second part features the Penn State Jaguar logo and the name, Penelope Hocking written in bold white font. Below it is written, #18 | Forward. The last part of this design features ghosted action images of Penelope kicking the ball down the soccer field. One shows her screaming in victory after a win.
A NFT sports card design for Next Fan. Designed by Marc Tenedora. Featuring college softball athlete, Mac Barbara. This design is stylized as an ancient Aztec scroll since she plays softball for the San Diego Aztecs. It is made up of two parts. The first part features Mac Barbara posing tall and proud as she steps up to the home plate and gets ready to bat. She is staring intensely	 with a wooden bat in her right hand. She is a blonde caucasian woman. She is wearing a black batters helmet, Black and red baseball jersey with the number 31 on it, black under shirt with long sleeves, black baseball pants, white and red cleats and a wristband on her left arm. The second part of this design features an ancient Aztec styled symbol in the background. The symbol has Aztec writing mixed in with the words Mac Barbara and the number 31. It styled to look like it is printed on old parchment paper.

Designing Cohesive Digital Cards for Long Beach State Basketball

For my first assignment with the Long Beach State men's basketball team, I was tasked with creating a consistent design style for all athletes. After establishing a template, I paid close attention to details to ensure a uniform look and feel throughout each composition. However, a major challenge arose when deciding to showcase all athletes in their yellow uniform, as sourcing quality photos online was inconsistent. To maintain consistency with the team's style, a few players' jerseys were photo manipulated to match the rest of the team. Despite this challenge, the result was a cohesive look and feel across all designs.

A NFT sports card design for Next Fan. Designed by Marc Tenedora. Featuring Long Beach state men’s basketball athlete, Tone Hunter. It is a two part design stylized in a retro 90s style trading card composition. The first part features Tone Hunter sprint dribbling down the court. He is a black male with medium cut hair, small neck tattoo and tattoos on his left forearm. He is wearing a yellow and black trim jersey. He is also wearing a yellow t-shirt underneath his jersey. He has yellow basketball shorts on with white sneakers and high black socks. He is also wearing a white wristband on his left hand. The second part features the iconic Walter Pyramid basketball stadium in the background.
A NFT sports card design for Next Fan. Designed by Marc Tenedora. Featuring Long Beach state men’s basketball athlete, Tobias Rotegaard. It is a two part design stylized in a retro 90s style trading card composition. The first part features Tobias Rotegaard going for a layup towards the basketball hoop. His hand is extended and in action. He is a white male with blonde hair. He is wearing a yellow basketball jersey with white trim and the number 33 on it. He is also wearing a white headband. The second part features the iconic Walter Pyramid basketball stadium in the background.
A NFT sports card design for Next Fan. Designed by Marc Tenedora. Featuring Long Beach state men’s basketball athlete, AJ George. It is a two part design stylized in a retro 90s style trading card composition. The first part features AJ George shooting a 3 pointer. He is a black male with medium dread lock hair. He is wearing a yellow basketball jersey with the number 10 on it. Underneath his jersey is a black t-shirt. He is wearing black basketball shorts with yellow trim. In addition to wearing black and white sneakers and high white socks. Lastly, he is wearing a black puma wristband on his right hand. The second part features the iconic Walter Pyramid basketball stadium in the background.
A NFT sports card design for Next Fan. Designed by Marc Tenedora. Featuring Long Beach state men’s basketball athlete, Aboubacar Traore. It is a two part design stylized in a retro 90s style trading card composition. The first part features Aboubacar Traore jumping towards the hoop and going for a slam dunk. He is a black male with medium cut hair. He is wearing a long sleeve yellow athletic rash guard top with the number 25 on it. He is also wearing yellow and white trimmed basketball shorts. On his feet, he is wearing blue and white sneakers and white high knee socks. The second part features the iconic Walter Pyramid basketball stadium in the background.
A NFT sports card design for Next Fan. Designed by Marc Tenedora. Featuring Long Beach state men’s basketball athlete, Joel Murray. It is a two part design stylized in a retro 90s style trading card composition. The first part features Joel Murray running onto the court. He is a black male with short cut hair. He is wearing a yellow jersey with the number 11 on it. He is also wearing a yellow t-shirt underneath his jersey. He has yellow basketball shorts on and white sneakers with high white socks. The second part features the iconic Walter Pyramid basketball stadium in the background.

NextFan: Monetizing Athletes' NIL with Digital Collectibles

Through NextFan, athletes can earn money from their name, image, and likeness (NIL) by creating Digital Collectibles and building their brand on a global platform. Fans worldwide can enjoy exclusive content from NextFan athletes that is relevant to both the player and their fans. Mark Roah, the CEO of NextFan, approached Marc to design digital trading cards for college athletes, with the task of tailoring each card's concept and style to match the athlete's unique personality.

Conceptial Design

Music Video and Event Producer (Live and Studio)

Social Media Marketing Strategy

Research

Creative Director

Recording Artist

Brand Strategy

Marketing

Storyboarding

Software

Adobe Illustrator

Adobe After Effects

Adobe Premiere

Adobe Photoshop

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