Artist Spotlight: Jon Palmieri

What started as designing paint schemes in NASCAR video games as a kid eventually led to Jon Palmieri landing a role at the very same company — helping to revamp the look of NASCAR’s social media attitude and even designing, quite literally, a look at the future of the sport, before moving to become Manager of Design and Print at TRICON Garage.

1️⃣ How did you get started designing?

It all started with pencil and paper on the floor in my living room while watching NASCAR races with my Dad on Sundays. Eventually, it moved into the digital space sometime in the mid 2000’s when I became more tech savvy.

EA Sports’ NASCAR 09 was a huge game changer for me. The custom car paint booth feature really motivated me to learn how to use Paint.Net and eventually Photoshop. For me, it was always to conquer and move on to the next big project. Once I was able to make really complex schemes and develop my eye for little details, I wanted to make so much more. That included concept game covers, graphic t-shirt style art, layouts for haulers, Cup cars, Nationwide [NASCAR Xfinity Series] cars, helmets, etc.

When I knew this was what I wanted to do with my life, I went back to school and started looking for ways to get into the sport. I noticed Instagram was becoming a hot spot to share artwork and photography, so I made an account and started sharing my work there.

Harris Lue was one of the first people I met through Instagram. He was an early supporter of what I was trying to do and we became fast friends bonding over our passion for the sport. Harris fought very hard to get me in the door at NASCAR and I’ve always been deeply thankful for that friendship.

2️⃣ Where do you turn to for inspiration?

That’s a million-dollar question. I’m always looking on Twitter to see if someone’s moving the needle or creating something that’s exciting to me. Someone is going to raise the bar every day for what I think is great design, and I always want to be the next one to do it. It’s been helpful to search outside of the racing realm and catch different trends or styles by designers I’m less familiar with that open up new ideas for the next project. There’s some great stuff being created by MLB and NHL teams that’s found a home in my inspo folder on my desktop.

Looking at old paint schemes, illustrations, print ads, media, commercials, races, etc. seems to light a fire in me, too. Anything can strike inspiration and it’s great to tap into some history or find some perspective for a project to really make it work. Nostalgia is a powerful tool in the arsenal, but it’s a tool best used with restraint and with intention.

3️⃣ What project of yours are you most proud of and why?

I created a series of illustrated “posters” for NASCAR socials during 2023 for the NASCAR 75 campaign that highlighted various moments from the year. I believe we ended up making six of them. There’s one that highlighted Kyle Busch bringing the No. 8 car back to victory lane at Talladega that juxtaposed him with the Dale [Earnhardt] Jr. Budweiser No. 8 that spawned a lot of debate on social media. Some accused us of engagement or rage baiting the fans. Even Jeff Gluck weighed in thinking we were doing that. In reality, we were just creating a piece that we were all excited about.

We did one with Ricky Stenhouse among past Daytona 500 winners, Kyle Busch and Dale Jr. at Talladega, William Byron winning in the Jeff Gordon throwback, the Ryan Blaney Coke 600 win, Kyle Larson and Terry Labonte Southern 500, and a Ryan Blaney Championship one to cap off the year. It was a lot of work but the results were worth it to me. I still see them floating around social media.

4️⃣ What’s your ‘trademark’ style that helps you stand out from other designers?

I truly don’t think I have one in particular that’s notable. If there is one, it’s evident on some of my illustrated work that’s appeared on NASCAR socials and on merchandise. I’ve always referenced a lot of Sam Bass’ work and looked for ways to touch on some of the pieces he did that I liked while making it feel like my own. It’s the retro/modern simplified art from those pieces that I feel like I’m best known for.

If anything, I’m a chameleon by trade from being in worlds with style guides and brand limitations. I have to push the limits of the box I’m put in. Mimicking a style or making something that can complement one that already exists is my strongest suit.

5️⃣ You had the opportunity to design what was the world’s first look at a NASCAR EV last summer.  What was that process like — from being called on to design an incredibly confidential project, all the way to the final reveal?

The funny thing about the EV project is that it found me. My former boss at NASCAR, Caroline Fogle, tapped me in to make some edits on already existing designs. That was how I learned the NASCAR Creative Design team was involved with the project. I was brought in late in the process and that ultimately made it pretty easy to keep everything under wraps and tight-lipped.

There were so many projects to jump back and forth on with the daily workflow at NASCAR. It can be easy to forget a big one like that is even happening. Often you forget until you see it posted on social media. There was initially some struggle to blend the design goals from the ABB and NASCAR parties. However, that’s where Caroline brought me in to help get the project to the finish line. The final scheme ended up being a totally new concept utilizing a familiar stock car look that unified the NASCAR and ABB brands. It was an amazing feeling to have Caroline’s faith and full trust to lead the design for such an important partnership. It was a great internal team win for NCD and an even bigger win for the company.

6️⃣ NASCAR’s social media branding package for 2024 went under a significant rollout with its “graffiti” style. As a designer for the sanctioning body spanning many divisions, what was that process like, and what role did you play in helping to determine the style?

The genesis of what we created started in the summer of 2023. The diamond look for NASCAR 75 was brutal on file sizes and computer performance when building the graphics. It didn’t feel like a look we ever truly owned or had much say in so we were very motivated to take it in a different direction for 2024. The one word I’m sure my NCD teammates were tired of hearing me say was “attitude.” NASCAR needed an attitude, and we were determined to create a look that had one. I was hell-bent on the idea that we had to be loud, bold, and unapologetic on social media and anything that was directly fan-facing.

I don’t recall how we found the marker font, but it ended up becoming an absolute workhorse for assets. There were so many fun glyphs and little elements included as symbols. It made it easy to take off running and truly build a new style from scratch. That, in tandem with a new font family for regular copy on projects, made it all so feel fresh. It was expressive, bold, and fun. It ended up having a much farther reach than we anticipated as well. Almost every internal department at NASCAR wanted to be refreshed and updated with this new look. We spent all of November and December building new concepts for standings templates, winner graphics, quote graphics, video title cards, etc.

We typically choose a day to meet and bring everything to the table to see what works, what doesn’t work, and blend all of our ideas together. This is all done in close collaboration with the NASCAR Social team. It takes about a week to make the rounds for everyone to get eyes on it before we get approvals and start building out assets for Daytona. Once we get back after the new year, it’s a full-steam production effort to apply the look across all three national series. This typically ends up being nearly 1,000 unique graphics which includes every winner, stage winner, etc.

7️⃣ After nearly four years working for NASCAR, you began your time with TRICON Garage at the turn of the new year. What immediate benefits or challenges have you experienced taking the leap from a position at the sanctioning body versus a position at a top team?

It’s always a challenge to get acclimated to a job at a new company. Admittedly, it was hard to adjust to a slower work pace and smaller workload. I was so used to being overwhelmed with projects and working later on weekends that I felt like I was slacking when I got everything done with plenty of time to spare. NASCAR was very fast-paced because we worked on so many projects that were time-sensitive and reactionary to the live events. You take on a lot of stress you aren’t aware of, and shaking it from your system takes some time.

The biggest immediate benefit was being closer to the competition. I very much feel like a part of the team and that my role brings value to it. It’s great to be able to get up from my desk and walk the shop floor. Having everything that’s going to be on track that weekend just footsteps away is a great feeling. Especially if there’s a truck sitting on the floor wrapped in a new scheme you created. It’s the closest you can feel to a kid in a candy shop. It’s less corporate and there’s fewer layers of red tape on most projects. I’ve had much more time to explore new ideas with projects, work in the 3D space, and ultimately make some of my best work. That alone has been deeply rewarding.

8️⃣ If you had the chance to design a paint scheme for one driver, past or present, who is the driver and how would you design their car?

Dale Earnhardt is the immediate answer without hesitation. I’d love to have had a shot to design one of his iconic special paint schemes for The Winston. The iconic GM Goodwrench scheme is hard to top, but man … who wouldn’t want to try? I’ll have to come back to that later and see what I can come up with.

9️⃣ Share a design tip for people just getting started.

Receiving criticism and critiques is a good thing. Collaboration is a good thing. Both make you a much better artist. If you design in a bubble, you will never maximize your abilities.

Also, learn Adobe programs. Adobe is inevitable.

For more, follow Jon on Trading Paints and Instagram.