Draft:Alex Center

Review waiting, please be patient.

This may take 3 months or more, since drafts are reviewed in no specific order. There are 2,833 pending submissions waiting for review.

If the submission is accepted, then this page will be moved into the article space.
If the submission is declined, then the reason will be posted here.
In the meantime, you can continue to improve this submission by editing normally.

Where to get help

If you need help editing or submitting your draft, please ask us a question at the AfC Help Desk or get live help from experienced editors. These venues are only for help with editing and the submission process, not to get reviews.
If you need feedback on your draft, or if the review is taking a lot of time, you can try asking for help on the talk page of a relevant WikiProject. Some WikiProjects are more active than others so a speedy reply is not guaranteed.

How to improve a draft

Wikipedia:Contributing to Wikipedia – a basic overview on how to edit Wikipedia.
Help:Wikitext – how to use the markup
Help:Referencing for beginners – how to include references
Wikipedia:Article development – how to develop your article
Wikipedia:Writing better articles – how to improve your article
Wikipedia:Verifiability – make sure your article includes reliable third-party sources

You can also browse Wikipedia:Featured articles and Wikipedia:Good articles to find examples of Wikipedia's best writing on topics similar to your proposed article.

Improving your odds of a speedy review

To improve your odds of a faster review, tag your draft with relevant WikiProject tags using the button below. This will let reviewers know a new draft has been submitted in their area of interest. For instance, if you wrote about a female astronomer, you would want to add the Biography, Astronomy, and Women scientists tags.

Add tags to your draft

Editor resources

Find sources: Google (books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL
Easy tools: Citation bot (help) | Advanced: Fix bare URLs

Reviewer tools

Instructions · What links here · Alex Center (talk: + · bio) · (log) · Copyvios report · reFill · Citation Bot · (Search: Google, Bing, Wikipedia) · Submitted 5 months ago by Centersocial (talk: D · +) · Last edited 5 months ago by Centersocial

Introduction

Alex Center is an American designer, creative director, podcaster and founder of the Brooklyn based, award winning branding studio CENTER. He grew up in Oceanside, NY. Prior to opening his own studio, he spent over a decade working for The Coca- Cola Company. Much of his early career as Design Director was spent building the beverage brands vitaminwater, smartwater, and Powerade. In 2018 he founded CENTER, and has since gone on to build and partner with global brands such as United Sodas of America, Kin Euphorics, Simulate, Conbody, and New Balance. He has shared his story at numerous conferences, including Brand New and RGD Design Thinkers.

Early Life and Education

Center was born in 1984 in Oceanside, New York, where he grew up. He graduated from the University of Buffalo in 2006, where he received a BFA in Communication Design. Center began his career working in the Art & Design Department at Madison Square Garden, where he designed for both The New York Knicks and New York Rangers.

Career

Center started his career as an intern for the New York Knicks and New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden. In 2006, he was hired to be the first full time graphic designer at the beverage company Glaceau Energy Brands, where he designed for the brands vitaminwater and smartwater.

In 2007, Coca-Cola purchased Glaceau Energy Brands for 4.1 Billion dollars in the biggest beverage acquisition of all time ^[1]. After this acquisition, Center was the Design Director at The Coca-Cola Company from 2007 to 2017.

In 2013, he started sharing his story with speaking engagements with The Dieline, AIGA, HOW Design Live and as a guest on Debbie Millman's famous Design Matters podcast. In 2014, Alex was named a Person To Watch by GDUSA Magazine. In 2015, he became a columnist for HOW Magazine, writing about the expanding landscape of In-House design.

In 2017, left Coke to open his own branding and design studio CENTER. Today, Alex and his team are building and partnering with the iconic brands of tomorrow, such as Kin Euphorics, Conbody, Liquid Death, New Balance, Simulate, Good Light and United Sodas of America.

Talks and Conferences

In & Around Design: Alex Center - ADCC (2021)^[2]
Brand New Conference (2022) ^[3]
Toronto Design Thinkers (October 24th, 2018)
HOW Design Live - Boston (May 2nd, 2018)
Method + Madness Conference - AIGA Phoenix Design Week (October 29th, 2017)
Inside Job - AIGA Houston (November 4th, 2017) ^[4]
HOW Design Live - Chicago (May 3rd, 2017)
AIGA Orlando (Feb 4th, 2017)
The Dieline London (September 15-16th, 2016)
InSource In-House Perspectives 2 - NYC (Sept 29th, 2016)
AIGA Cincinnati (Sept 30th, 2016)
AIGA Design Camp - Minnesota (Oct 6th-9th, 2016)
GIANT Conference - Charlotte (Oct 18th, 2016)
HOW Design Live - Atlanta (May 22nd, 2016)
AIGA Charlotte (May 11th, 2016)
Dallas Society of Visual Communications (Oct 7th, 2015)
AIGA INtrospective CLEVELAND (Sep 18th, 2015)
AIGA @IN Philadelphia (Aug 15th, 2015)
HOW Design LIVE (May 5th, 2015)
AIGA INSIDE OUT CT (May 1st, 2015)
AIGA INitiative (Feb 12th, 2015)
The Dieline Summit Paris - Paris (Nov 16th, 2014)
The Pica Conference - Edmonton (May 8th, 2014)
HOW Design Live - SF (June 24th, 2013)
The Dieline Forum - LA (October 12th, 2012)

Personal Life

Center is married to Jacquelyn DeJesu Center, the founder and CEO of DEEJAYZOO, a femme-focused design and innovation company, and SHHHOWERCAP, a fashion forward reinvention of the showercap.

References

[Coca-cola_Company-1] The Coca-Cola Company Acquisition of Glaceau Brands

[In_&_Around_Design-2] In & Around Design 2021

[Brand_New_Conference_2022-3] Brand New Conference 2022

[Inside_Job_-_AIGA_Houston_2017-4] Inside Job - AIGA Houston 2017

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]