BGSU graphic design student thrives during NBA internship

Senior Blake Rupp landed a role as a summer graphic design assistant with the Cleveland Cavaliers  

This summer is far from the first time that Bowling Green State University senior Blake Rupp blended his artistic capabilities with professional basketball.

This time, however, Rupp is not creating sports graphics just for fun, he’s doing so professionally through a graphic design internship with the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers.

Rupp has aided the Cavs’ graphic design team by creating engaging, fan-focused content – such as graphics for their schedule, roster and game information – to update the team’s official social media pages during the NBA Summer League season, and he’s also designing merchandise that will coincide with the team’s City Edition uniform.

It was a fitting professional turn for Rupp, a graphic design major at BGSU who spent his middle school days gravitating toward the creation of sports edits, often featuring former stars of the Cavs like LeBron James and Kyrie Irving.

“There was an entire online community of mostly younger people making their own sports edits, and I didn’t even know at the time that what I was doing was graphic design,” Rupp said. “I was just playing with apps on my iPod Touch and importing pictures of Kyrie Irving and LeBron James and mashing edits. It definitely didn’t look good in the beginning, but I was, in a way, learning the foundations of making sports content.”

Hailing from Archbold, Ohio, Rupp has honed his skills as a student at BGSU, which has been named a top design school by Graphic Design USA three years in a row.

Additionally, the BGSU School of Art, which houses the graphic design program, has seen a significant recent investment, as an anonymous $5 million donation in 2024 established the new RING Center for Experiential Learning in Art and Design.

Graphic design students have a number of opportunities to showcase their work, including professional portfolio reviews as juniors and seniors – during which many of the reviewers are BGSU graphic design alumni – a practicum course for collaborative and community engagement, a Senior Design Show and multiple undergraduate exhibitions.

Rupp said the chance to learn from expert faculty and participate in School of Art exhibitions has allowed him to continuously develop his skills through regular feedback.

“In my first year, I had two pieces in the exhibition, then went back and had four more pieces the next year, and I think it was really validating getting feedback from my professors and being able to show my work at a big event,” Rupp said. “That experience is really unique to BGSU – in the School of Art and in graphic design, you have the chance to put your work on display, which was a big step for me.”

As a sophomore, Rupp was awarded the Todd Childers I Love Type award for an outstanding poster design, and used a 4000-level graphic design course assignment as a junior to reimagine an NBA team’s brand identity along with fellow students Gideon Kellenbarger and Owen Janos.

Graphic Design Chair and Professor Jenn Stucker said the project was so well thought-out that it came as no surprise that Rupp landed an internship with an NBA franchise.

“Their collaborative work was progressive, imaginative and unique,” Stucker said. “Along with great work, Blake is a hard-working, tenacious and curious designer that makes him a great addition to any team. The Cavs likely notice good talent when they see it.”

During his internship, Rupp has played a key role in keeping fans informed about Summer League, during which the team’s prospects and recent draft picks compete against other NBA teams.

The chance to contribute to an adventurous and high-profile group of graphic designers has been illuminating, Rupp said.

“Recently, the Cavs have really gone out of the box with their social media graphics and merchandise, which really attracted me to this internship,” Rupp said. “They had a really great team even before I joined them, and I really looked up to them for how they design and do things that other NBA teams don’t.”

A decade after designing sports graphics as a hobby, Rupp said the opportunity to create them as a career option has been thoroughly rewarding.

“They’ve given me full creative reign, and just the chance to meet with the art director and other graphic designers to present all the different versions of graphics I was making to hear what they preferred and how I can improve it has been so valuable,” he said. “They have put a lot of trust in me, which has been a very validating experience, and I am extremely grateful to spend my summer here.”