Zen combined traditional online retail with real-life activations at notable events—like ComplexCon—emphasizing the storytelling behind each product and aiming to engage audiences across both digital and physical spaces.
Through strategic brand partnerships, exclusive product drops, and a strong focus on community-driven events, Zen sought to create a unique niche in sneaker culture by providing a media and e-commerce platform. While in-person engagement was a key aspect, e-commerce remained the foundation of Zen's approach. I was happy to contribute to this vision, providing editorial and web design that helped launch the site and support the platform’s mission to merge storytelling with e-commerce.
We’re enabling our users to actually play a role in the site itself and not just make it a catalog where people can click pictures.
• Karim Wazani, General Manager
Even when briefs are straightforward, it is the designer's responsibility to research the market or industry they are designing for. Being unfamiliar with sneaker culture, my research involved a deep dive into not just the sneaker aesthetic, but also the broader culture and context behind it.
The research stage consisted of compiling visual ideas via mood boards, listening to popular music acts in the Streetwear scene like Nipsey Hussle, looking at modern graf art, diving into blogs like Highsnobiety, learning the lingo—just a deep creative exploration.
I found that sneaker culture is equal parts hip-hop, punk-rock and heavy metal, with a healthy obsession with authenticity. A conglomeration of contradictions and dichotomies that create an uncompromising, edgy, fiercely individualistic look with one foot firmly set on the streets, and the other in high fashion. Aloof in demeanor, but highly irreverent. The looks centered around comfort pieces like sneakers and sweatpants, but driven by exclusivity and bordering on couture.
Landing Page design for Zen partnership with Complex for Complexcon
