About

Overview

To celebrate the intramural softball tournament, CBU Campus Recreation commissioned a unique giveaway: a custom-designed baseball card featuring Dr. Ronald L. Ellis, President of California Baptist University. Honoring over 30 years of dedicated leadership and lasting impact, Dr. Ellis was chosen as the honorary figure for this commemorative piece, blending school spirit with creative design.

Conceptualization

The project began with research into classic baseball card design and layout. Since Dr. Ellis had not participated in a traditional athletic media shoot, I approached the challenge of integrating his image creatively by placing him in the visual context of a CBU baseball player. To achieve this, I collaborated with the Athletics Department to source baseball imagery that could be seamlessly combined with Dr. Ellis’s likeness, effectively portraying him as a CBU athlete.

For the back of the card, I followed the traditional layout of player statistics but reimagined the content to reflect Dr. Ellis’s leadership. His educational background was featured prominently, followed by key university milestones, enrollment growth figures, and signature accomplishments under his presidency, all presented in a format that maintained the authentic feel of classic stat lines.

Results

After exploring multiple design directions, including options with and without the baseball uniform, Dr. Ellis immediately approved the version featuring him in full athletic gear. The final card was printed through CBU’s in-house production team and distributed at the intramural softball tournament. The response exceeded expectations. Students embraced the card with enthusiasm, and it quickly became a coveted item, running out within minutes. Many students held onto their cards through graduation, asking Dr. Ellis to autograph them as a keepsake as they crossed the graduation stage. The card’s popularity extended beyond the event and now sits framed on Dr. Ellis’s desk, serving as both a lighthearted tribute and a memorable conversation piece for campus visitors.