Jas Bell on designing for the biggest icons in music and sports

The Brand Identity: At 16, Jas Bell got kicked out of school, showed up at a Kanye West tour stop in Florida with no tickets, and ended up on the N.E.R.D. bus after Pharrell spotted him at the back gate. That improvised education – watching world-building happen from the inside – set the trajectory for everything that followed. Bell has spent close to a decade as SZA’s Art Director & Design Lead, shaping the identity of the SOS album cycle and its sprawling merch. His reach now extends to work for Metro Boomin, the Super Bowl, NBA, WNBA and NWSL. He also runs Hazelwood, his own brand and creative platform. In this interview, the St.

Louis-born creative director discusses how friendship drives his best work, what luxury fashion has taught him about longevity, and why merch needs the same rigour as any other form of design. TBI Growing up in St. Louis, do you associate your first interests in design and visual culture with anything in particular? JB Yeah, I definitely do. St. Louis is an interesting place. We’ve come to build something that’s uniquely us, but we’re right there in the middle of the map, so we’re a melting pot of different interests and visual nods.

So, growing up, I felt like I got to see everything, because sometimes it felt like we were always on the outside looking in. (Laughs) We’re the ‘Gateway to the West,’ so that influence was there, but then there was this Southern charm that we incorporated as a city. A lot of that Southern influence comes from us sitting literally right on the Mississippi River, and all the early Black settlers who ended up calling St. Louis home for a new start. Not to mention the Northern influence we had as an industrial city.

Those early factories and industries were the heartbeat of the city. We’re known as a city with a rich Native American history as well, so taking all that into account, you can imagine the colours and ideas that float around in my mind sometimes. I feel lucky to have experienced such a diverse but unique place. It’s definitely shaped the way I look at design, culture, and life as a whole. TBI You’ve described your time touring with Pharrell as a kind of informal education.

What did those years on the road teach you about how music, fashion and design operate together at a global scale? JB So, interestingly enough, how I got there is a story in itself. I was only 16, had gotten kicked out of school (laughs), and was in a programme that allowed me to finish school at home. It was like homeschooling, but not really. My mom would drive once a week to get these work packets, and I would have to learn the course and finish the packet by the end of the week.

Insane that she even found something like that. But a friend and I at the time, we were like, super Star Trak, super Neptunes, BBC Ice Cream head-to-toe, everything, man. We were at every show, snuck in and backstage a lot of times. I’m surprised P’s security at the time didn’t strangle us. (Laughs) But man, P always let us rock. Like, always. I think he eventually got used to seeing us and started to call us ‘soldiers’ and ‘cloud hoppers.’ I think sometimes he was probably wondering why the f*** these kids ain’t in school.

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The article discusses a prominent figure in the design industry and highlights significant insights into brand strategy and visual identity, making it impactful and relevant, though the concepts of merging music, fashion, and design are becoming more common.