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Joshua, 35, plays at
the Collegedale courts
in Tennessee and has
won 5.0 gold in his last
three outings. He studied
Marketing Systems at Dalton State College with an eye on
joining the bass pro fishing tour. One of his college projects
required some light graphic design, so he began working
with Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator and never looked
back. After winning five online logo contests, he’s become a
self-taught professional in the digital environment space.
“I try to think creatively as a daily practice,” he says. “I
see posters and billboards and reimagine the words, colors
and images.” Logo design is probably his favorite design
discipline. “It’s a process,” Joshua explains. “The first step
is research and discovery. I look for key words to transform
into something tangible to express what the customer
actually does.”
Joshua focuses on three main areas of graphic design—
logo design, paddle graphics and high-end retouching. He
designs the apparel at Eleven O South clothing company
and the new Paddletek paddle graphics. He designed
the US Open paddle for the second year in a row and has
created logos and paddle graphics for Dave Weinbach,
Kyle Yates, and Christine McGrath. His list of work in
the pickleball world includes designs for Selkirk, TMPR
Sports, and Paddletek, along with work for various pros,
organizations and clubs. He is also the designer and
founder of Pickleball Lifestyle Brand clothing.
As pickleball becomes mainstream, and established
companies jump in, the future of paddle graphics will
become more the product of in-house designers in those
companies. The product will appear more professional
and have a serious look. “People think that if it looks good,
it must play well,” Joshua says. “In a recent introductory
clinic, players were given a choice of paddles from a box.
Every player chose the brand with purposeful graphics.
This was very telling.”
Young players like Joshua Cook are transforming
the game of pickleball into a recognized sport, and he’s
bringing his trend-setting talents to pickleball both on and
off the court. •
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MARCH/APRIL 2019 |
MAGAZINE
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