Client
Ordie Shack LLC
Year
2020–Present
My Role
Lead Designer & Creative Director
Deliverables
Brand Identity, Apparel Design, Shopify E-commerce, Photography, Social Media, Email Design
Background
The Client
Ordie Shack is a veteran-owned apparel brand born from personal experience. Founded by Jay Padilla, a U.S. Navy Aviation Ordnanceman who served from 2010 to 2014, the brand was created to honor the Aviation Ordnance community: the ordies who arm and maintain the weapons systems of Naval fighter aircraft. Often overlooked despite operating in some of the Navy's most dangerous environments, ordies are known for their grit, dark humor, and fierce pride in their rate.
Ordie Shack gives that community a voice: bold, unapologetic apparel, challenge coins, and gear built around shared experience, military culture, and old-school design sensibility rooted in graffiti, illustration, and streetwear.
Problem
The Challenge
Building a brand from nothing with no budget, no team, and no roadmap. Every decision (from the name to the color palette to the Shopify architecture to the first product) had to be made and executed by one person. The challenge wasn't just design; it was building a business, finding a niche audience, earning their trust, and delivering creative that felt authentic enough to resonate with people who can smell fake military content from a mile away.
The audience is deeply skeptical of brands that exploit military imagery without lived experience. Credibility had to be earned through every single design choice.
Contribution
My Role
Every single thing. Brand naming, logo design, brand identity system, apparel graphics, product development, Shopify store build, product photography, lifestyle photography, social media content strategy and execution, paid ad creative, email campaign design, and ongoing creative direction. This is the project that proves what I can do when there's no brief, no client, no guardrails, and no one to approve the work but me.
Execution
The Work
Deliverable 01
Brand Identity
Built the full Ordie Shack visual identity from scratch: logo, color system, typography, iconography, and brand voice. The identity draws from military patch culture, vintage aviation imagery, and bold streetwear aesthetics. Every element was designed to feel earned rather than manufactured, the kind of brand that looks like it came from inside the community, not from an agency looking in.
Deliverable 02
Apparel Graphics
Designed the full apparel line, including screen print-ready graphics for tees, hoodies, and headwear, as well as embroidered patch designs and challenge coin artwork. Graphics range from typography-forward lockups and arch systems to detailed character illustrations, all built as production-ready vector files with color separation awareness for screen print.
Deliverable 03
Shopify E-commerce & Photography
Built and designed the full Shopify storefront, including homepage layout, product page structure, and collection organization. Shot all product and lifestyle photography, directing and styling shoots to capture both the quality of the gear and the culture behind it.
Deliverable 04
Social Media & Email
Managed all social content across Instagram and Facebook, including organic posts, paid ad campaigns, and community engagement. Designed and deployed email campaigns for product launches, promotions, and community storytelling. Built the full content ecosystem from strategy through execution.
Design Rationale
The Thinking
The single most important design principle for Ordie Shack was authenticity. This audience (active duty, veterans, and military families) has seen too many brands try to cash in on military culture with generic camouflage graphics and generic patriotic slogans. The only way to earn their respect was to make everything feel like it came from someone who actually loaded ordnance on an F/A-18.
That meant referencing real rate culture, real inside jokes, real visual language from the flight deck. Good design served that. It was never the point on its own.
Results
The Outcome
Ordie Shack is proof that when the designer is also the audience, the work hits differently. Every product, post, and campaign was built with the kind of insider credibility that no agency brief can manufacture. The community responded to that.
100K+
Net sales generated since launch — $100,388.70 lifetime
68,810
Total sessions driven to the storefront lifetime
20.35%
Returning customer rate — nearly double the DTC apparel average
Additional Stats
1,850 orders fulfilled lifetime
Average order value: $55.95
Lifetime conversion rate: 1.99%
Gross sales: $106,318.78