What is Queen Cake?
Founded in 2015, Queen Cake is a New Orleans-based women-matching ultimate club team that competes fiercely in the Southeast Region. Queen Cake embodies a growth mindset through a commitment to developing players, to investing in the New Orleans Ultimate community, and to our Core Values: Excellence, Trust, and Growth.
What is a “queen cake”?
A queen cake is the feminist rethinking of a king cake, a rich sweet pastry covered in icing and sprinkles and eaten in excess during Mardi Gras in New Orleans.
Photo: Queen Cake, Levee Baking Company
Branding, Rebranding, & Jersey Design
Original Logo
Upon joining Queen Cake in 2017, the team agreed with me that it was time to update the team logo and do away with the colonialist imagery of a monarchist queen.
First Logo Redesign
Shown below is my first attempt at redesigning the team logo. I was in the early stages of a graphic design post-bach degree and did not yet have a firm grasp on Adobe Illustrator (can you tell?). However, I felt a deep affection for the new concept: a rainbow doberge cake (shown right) that was meant to convey the queer, diverse, and welcoming community of our team.
Source: Debbie Does Doberge
In 2019, I submitted this new logo on a jersey design to Spin Ultimate to print. Conceptually, the design was strong, but the execution was subpar.
And that’s OK! We learn! We grow!
Second Logo Redesign
Never satisfied, I redesigned the QC logo AGAIN in 2019. This time, the lines and use of color were much more refined and dimensional.
Shown below: full rectangular lockup
Jersey Proofs
Below are proofs of two jersey designs I created for Queen Cake for the 2019 season.
Left: a fun jersey concept inspired by the iconic Stockton-Malone era Utah Jazz jerseys of the 90s. Spin Ultimate created a similar concept line called the Legacy Collection.
Right: tournament kit, full sublimation, reversible. See below for a gallery of images showing this jersey in action at the Southeast Club Women's Regional Championship in 2019.
Social Media & Graphic Design
In April of 2018, I started helping with Queen Cake’s annual fundraiser, Cakechella, by offering my design skills to help market the event. In 2020, I took over the team’s marketing full time. Below are some of the graphics that I’ve made for the team over the years.
