When it comes to the Portland Trail Blazers’ visual identity, Mario Milosevic (‘06) is arguably the team’s most valuable player. Over the past 15 years, Milosevic’s talents have contributed to the full gamut of graphic design and brand identity work for the national basketball team.
“Every year is something different, and I’ve been fortunate to be involved in so many things,” Milosevic says. “I love being able to creatively express myself and work with amazing people.”
Artistic hand in the game
Rising through the ranks to become the organization’s Art Director, Milosevic leads art direction and design for all aspects of the team’s company-wide print, digital collateral, and retail platforms. His skills have led identity design for everything from the Blazers team store and Phil Knight basketball tournament (PK80) to the launch of Blazer5 Gaming – an interactive e-sports team through the NBA 2K League.
In 2017, the Blazers took on a full rebrand with Milosevic at the visual helm. “The rebrand was a career highlight for me,” Milosevic says. “I learned so much about our fans’ passion for the team and the connection they felt with the players.”
The 2019 – 2020 season marks the Blazers 50th Anniversary, and Milosevic collaborated with internal creative teams on a special logo, uniform design, and retro take on the basketball court for the occasion. “Working on the anniversary’s identity has been really exciting. I’ve been able to draw from many stories, the team’s history, and lot of old photos.”
Milosevic’s own history with the Blazers began in 2005. While in his junior year of PSU’s graphic design program, he worked on a web design project for the Justin Eyerly scholarship established by the Blazers’ then president. Milosevic’s continued volunteer work on the website’s maintenance led to a Blazers’ internship and, upon graduation, he was offered a position as a fulltime graphic designer there.
Culture and camaraderie
Born in Bosnia, Milosevic’s family escaped the war in 1992 and lived as refugees in Serbia before coming to the U.S in 1997. “My father was a music professor, and I’ve always been close to that music culture,” Milosevic recalls. “I noticed Portland had 6,000 people from the former Yugoslavia but not much of its music.”
So Milosevic took the initiative and founded a Balkan concert promotion company in 2005 to bring the culture’s famous musicians and singers to Portland. “It really created community,” he says. “Despite the religious conflicts from that region, everyone came together here for the music and enjoyed the camaraderie.”
While music is still his hobby, Milosevic doesn’t view his daily routine as a job. “I love coming to work,” he asserts. “Honestly, I live and breathe the Blazers brand and culture – it’s all about the people I work with and the creative process that makes it exciting.”