Bobby C. Martin Jr. is known today as one of Founding Partners for the design company Champions Design. He founded Champions Design, which used to be known as OCD or the Original Champions of Design, alongside Jennifer Kinon. Martin attended both Virginia Commonwealth University from 1994 through 1999 and NYC School of Visual Arts from 2001 to 2003 where he earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts Communication Arts and Design degree and his Master of Fine Arts Design degree, respectively. During his time at NYC School of Visual Arts, Martin also worked as the Associate Art Director for Yahoo! Internet Life Magazine for a year before working on the Brand Integration Group for Ogilvy & Mather. Brian Collins, Chief Creative Officer for Ogilvy at the time, commented on Martin stating, “he delivered consistently smart, compelling work for many of our clients” (Linkedin). Martin left Ogilvy in 2005 after working with the company for 2 years and worked as the Design Director for Jazz at Lincoln Center, a performing arts nonprofit founded in 1987, for the following 3 years. He also worked as a Boardmember for AIGA/NY from May in 2006 until June of 2008 and also as an instructor at the NYC School of Visual Arts from January of 2007 until June of 2008. In 2008, Martin left those three groups to work for Nokia as the Senior Design Manager where he worked for the next 2 years and 2 months ending in August of 2010. Sometime in August of 2010, Martin founded the OCD alongside Jennifer Kinon. In September of 2012, Martin joined The Cooper Union as a Visiting Artist until May of 2015. He joined the Board for the Type Directors Club in New York from June 2015 until June of 2021. Martin also had taken up being a professor back in January of 2013 until December of 2021 at the New York School of Visual Arts. Today Martin continues to run Champions Design with Kinon but also took up a design position with Apple in January of 2022. Headquartered in one of the most heavily advertised cities in America, Bobby Martin has worked with many different companies through Champions Design including “Amazon, Apple, Dartmouth College, Girl Scouts, MTV, the National Basketball Association, and The Studio Museum in Harlem” (Champions Design). Martin, being a strong advocate for the Black Lives Matter movement, illustrated his first children’s book “Have I Ever Told You Black Lives Matter” alongside Shani King and published by Tilbury House. Martin has also created many designs for the movement that can be seen across his Twitter account. Bobby Martin has given many lectures available online from his various guest lectures at events to his featuring on podcasts. Martin was featured in the Eye Magazine’s 100th issue and in 2017, was named one of the most creative people in business by Fast Company. Through the company’s hard work, Champions Design was named in 2019 one of the top 30 most important companies in design. Martin’s list of awards includes awards from AIGA, Art Directors Club, Communication Arts, D&AD, and the TDC to name a few.

 

Bibliography:

ADC Annual Awards – Archive of past winners: The One clubbobby C. martin jr.: Champions design. Bobby C. Martin Jr. | Champions Design. (n.d.). Retrieved April 5, 2022, from https://www.oneclub.org/awards/adcawards/-judge/4518/bobby-c-martin-jr 

Bobby C. Martin Jr.. Champions Design. (n.d.). Retrieved April 5, 2022, from https://www.championsdesign.com/about/bobby-c-martin-jr 

Collins, B. (n.d.). Brian Collins | Linkedin. Linkedin. Retrieved April 5, 2022, from https://www.linkedin.com/in/briancollins3?trk=public_profile_recommendations

Haney-Lopez, I. (2015). Dog whistle politics: How coded racial appeals have reinvented racism and wrecked the middle class. Amazon. Retrieved April 5, 2022, from https://www.amazon.com/Have-Ever-Black-Lives-Matter/dp/0884488896 

Jazz at Lincoln Center | Linkedin. Linkedin. (n.d.). Retrieved April 5, 2022, from https://mp.linkedin.com/company/jazz-at-lincoln-center?trk=organization-update_share-update_update-text 

Martin, B. C. (2008, August). Bobby C. Martin Jr. Twitter. Retrieved April 5, 2022, from https://twitter.com/bobbycmartin 

Martin, B. C. (n.d.). Bobby C. Martin Jr. – Design – Apple | LinkedIn. Linkedin. Retrieved April 5, 2022, from https://www.linkedin.com/in/bobbycmartinjr