By: Zion-Alexander
Staff Writer
For Shirley Zhang-Hamlin, vice president of creative for the Atlanta Hawks, design isn’t just about visuals; it’s about heart. “It is about taking a moment to capture the players’ personalities as people,” she says. “It’s about inviting fans to share in that excitement and shining a spotlight on what makes each of them unique.”
Passionate, driven and something of a self-described “free bird,” Zhang-Hamlin carries the weighty but exhilarating responsibility of shaping how the Hawks are seen around the world. From sponsor collaborations and marketing campaigns to arena graphics and community events, every element that touches the public eye passes through her creative lens. “It’s not a nine-to-five job,” she admits. “You’re on everybody else’s time but your own.”
With more than 60 sponsors to coordinate, nonstop media announcements and the ever-present drive to fill seats and fuel fan enthusiasm, her world moves fast. Yet she speaks of it with gratitude and a smile. “When you see how all these details work together to create lasting memories for the fans, that’s the reward.”
That joy in connecting design to emotion began early. As a child, Zhang-Hamlin was endlessly curious, “trouble,” she jokes, for never accepting things as they were. “I was always uncovering the whys and trying to improve the design,” she recalls. That creative restlessness would eventually lead her to the Savannah College of Art and Design, where she found both discipline and community. “The great qualities of a designer are to think beyond yourself, to think beyond your bubble,” she says. Her education, surrounded by a globally diverse student body, taught her to see design through a wider cultural lens, one that continues to inform her work today.
Before stepping into the sports world, Zhang-Hamlin built a strong design career with major retail brands like OshKosh B’Gosh and Carter’s, where her reliability and leadership earned respect and recognition. A former colleague later recommended her for an opening with the Atlanta Hawks, a suggestion she initially laughed off. “I never dreamt of working for sports or entertainment,” she says. “It just wasn’t in my peripheral.”
Still, when the opportunity arose, she took a leap of faith. “It’s easy to feel underqualified,” she says. “But there’s nothing I’m afraid of that I can’t learn. What I do know is that it’s better to have the opportunity than to never have the opportunity.” That mindset, the willingness to bet on herself, carried her into a role where her creativity could truly take flight.
Her favorite day of the year is media day, when the Hawks gather for an intensive one-day shoot that generates all the images and video used across the season’s campaigns. “It’s my favorite because it’s a chance to capture the players’ personalities,” she says. “To make content they can be proud of, because it really represents who they are.”
Zhang-Hamlin’s work underscores the balance between entertainment and authenticity. “As a brand, you can either love a team because they’re winning, or you can love the team because you fell in love with these people and what the brand is about.” For her, the true magic of sports design lies in building that second kind of love, one rooted in human connection.
Despite her title and success, she remains grounded. “I just want to be a good human and be additive to the world and to the people that engage with me,” she says. “That is the most valuable thing.”
For someone who once couldn’t sit still in the face of “how things are,” Shirley Zhang-Hamlin has found her place shaping how the world sees one of the NBA’s most dynamic teams, and in doing so, she’s designed something far greater than a brand. She’s designed belonging.
This article appeared in the 2026 edition of the Creative Economy Journal. See more from the Journal here.
