Christian Cardenas

I design brands, websites, and products for SaaS & Agencies | prev @triplewhale

[Christian Cardenas @Diverge]

Welcome to Cardenas Design Group. 🏴

The design partner for disruptors.

https://t.co/UKONG6DTzW

[Christian Cardenas @Diverge]

@teejkolesnik bro i love these things it requires some serious lockins

[Christian Cardenas @Diverge]

@stevosview bro it’s actually nuts to watch

[Christian Cardenas @Diverge]

Rebrand + Website for one of the most interesting sports I’ve come across. ♟️🥊

Meet United Chessboxing, the brand and team spearheading a sport that fuses the brains of chess with the brawn of boxing, led by the first American world champion, Matt Thomas.

The rules are simple: alternate between rounds of chess and boxing until someone wins by checkmate or knockout.

The Rise of Chessboxing
Born from a French comic by Enki Bilal, the sport became reality in 2003 when artist Iepe Rubingh hosted the first event in Berlin. It quickly spread across Europe and Asia before finding new life in the U.S. through pioneers like Kevin Vaugh-Carber and Matt “Matador” Thomas. Since then, the sport has grown globally, from the Mogul Chessboxing Championship to an exhibition at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.

I actually met Matt at Bonnaroo this year, and after nerding out over Old School RuneScape and our shared chess-filled childhoods, he told me the team was preparing for the World Championship in Serbia where they would compete against 50 other countries and 300 competitors. Once I heard that, I knew I wanted to help and the goals became clear:

Build an identity that helped United Chessboxing continue leading the sport while paying homage to both chess and boxing, and ensure Team USA went into the World Championship with an identity that matched their strength and spirit. 🎯

My favorite highlight? The Logo.
It’s simple and direct, showing the force of boxing through a fist within the body of a chess piece. Even if you don’t know the sport yet, you can instantly see the fusion of both disciplines in the mark.

The team had so much fun with this one because the industry/sport is just soooo unique.

And how did United/Team USA do at Worlds?
🥇 4x Golds
🥈 3x Silvers
🥉 2x Bronzes
🏆 2nd Overall

And to top it off, ESPN’s 60 Minutes aired a full segment last Sunday on the sport, the team, and their journey to Worlds.

Fun fact: I played competitive chess from like 5 years old to 15, so not only did I have a personal mission to make this SICK. That background helped us design subtle brand details that only chess players would catch, like how the arrow assets across the website reflect the movement patterns of specific chess pieces. 🤌

To learn more about this fascinating sport:
https://t.co/K8C9GqeoMR

[Christian Cardenas @Diverge]

I’ve spent 11 years learning that design isn’t about what you see, it’s about what you feel.

Tbh anyone can make something look good, but that's the ticket to play, not to win.

Great design isn’t measured by style. It’s measured by how successfully it inspires a feeling and turns it into action. ✅

Every shape, space, and texture you create builds emotion. Curiosity. Confidence. Trust. Desire. Belonging. When done right, design becomes something you feel before you even realize you’ve seen it.

That’s why I like to say the best designers aren’t artists. We’re translators.
Clients come to us with visions they’ve been dreaming about for years or even decades. Ideas they’ve nurtured, protected, refined, and built their identity around. And then they hand them to us.

For me, that moment, that handoff, is sacred. 🤝

We take something invisible, a fragmented idea or belief or mission, and make it not only seen and felt by their audience, but guides them to the specific outcome aligned with the brand’s goals.

If I had to summarize this 11-year lesson into one sentence:

Good design looks good, but great design feels good.

It’s where intuition, empathy, and craft all meet in the middle. ⚔️

…and yes, it also helps to work with designers who absolutely cook:)

[Christian Cardenas @Diverge]

If you were wondering how I hype up my team’s work. 😂

This clip is from the Founders Forum vlog I posted Friday, and one thing I’m trying to be very intentional about in my content is GASSING my team up.

Before branching off on my own, I spent the first decade of my design career working at various agencies, startups, and unicorns. The one universal truth I learned was that nothing lights up a designer (or any creative) like genuine appreciation and recognition. 🔦

But it has to be earned. Recognition loses its magic when it’s handed out for everything.

From experience, that kind of love (oxygen to the flame) invites creatives to fall deeper in love with their craft and more frequently enter a state of play when they create. 🎨

The result? Creatives pouring that love back into the work itself, dramatically increasing the quality of deliverables.

At the end of the day, I’m just building the fun environment and culture I wish I had as a designer at previous orgs. Taking pages from the good, ignoring tf out of the bad. 🤝

I still remember the few times I truly felt appreciated as a designer, and how much more fun I had with my teammates/managers because of it. (vs the product managers taking credit for themselves)

Btw, EW = NASTY WORK = GOOD 👨‍🍳

[Christian Cardenas @Diverge]

@Mason_Designs my guy appreciate you🥹

[Christian Cardenas @Diverge]

@rud_dudd appreciate u bro😭💙

[Christian Cardenas @Diverge]

Last week, I challenged myself to document/vlog my trip to NYC for FC's Founders Forum. (knowing how interesting my NY work trips can get)

I won't lie, holding out a camera and talking to it was a bit uncomfortable at first, but I quickly got into my groove when I decided to show up to the camera authentically, rather than trying to put up a persona for it.

My ultimate goal: Just have fun with it...

So here it is, an hour-long compilation of peak NYC moments and sidequests, both in my professional and personal life. 🤝

All feedback is welcome! 🖤

https://t.co/9cuQwZoT1K

[Christian Cardenas @Diverge]

@NoahShreve LFG!!!

[Christian Cardenas @Diverge]

@austriker27 bro i need this even if winters dont exist in florida😭

[Christian Cardenas @Diverge]

@teejkolesnik @yojimmykim the brother is fitttted 🤌

[Christian Cardenas @Diverge]

@thechrismeade 💀😭

[Christian Cardenas @Diverge]

Stripe got a new logo 👀 What do we think?

I honestly kinda love it:

- The S was a bit lifeless, didn't really tell a story
- The new mark is quite literally a stripe, and although it's simple, it ties back to a bigger portion of their identity, being that it is the dot in the "i" in the full wordmark
- A stripe fits well for their name, subject matter, and overall aesthetic
- This choice follows something I've always believed in: Logos shouldn't have to explain everything your business does or is. I love brands that intentionally use their logo/mark as a simpler northern star that points towards an overarching brand identity that tells the fuller story (a piece of a bigger cohesive puzzle)

I also did notice the purple is just slightly more saturated now (love it). 🤌

Sure, are they're doing the thing where brands are going simpler with their branding? Yes.

Do I think it works for them though? Yes:)

[Christian Cardenas @Diverge]

@TaylorHoliday @iamshackelford @yojimmykim incredible vibes all around 😂

[Christian Cardenas @Diverge]

@CoryDobbin all valid feedback!

[Christian Cardenas @Diverge]

@EggrolI the rangeee

[Christian Cardenas @Diverge]

@iamshackelford @garyvee let him cook!

[Christian Cardenas @Diverge]

@austriker27 the topo lines! 🔥

[Christian Cardenas @Diverge]

Founders Forum by @FoundersClubUS was an absolute success! 🔥

The feeling of seeing our design work live in person will never EVER fade. But what made this cooler was getting to truly see how impactful a community @thechrismeade and @AaronSpivak2 are building.

I'm sure those who were there would agree, but you could just feel the sense of community, the sense of belonging, the intention, the resonance from peer to peer. A lot of the folks there had been waiting a long time for those feelings in their founder journeys.

And just seeing the live and FLOURISHING embodiment of FC's mission statement (that we literally typed into the brand guidelines day 1) is so surreal. Like, imagine someone comes to you with a vision for their life-long dream/brand, and a year later, you see it come to life exactly or even better than they envisioned it...

Moments/weekends like that are what have kept me designing over the last decade. 🤌

To add to that:
- got to chop it up with past, present, and future clients
- got to sponsor an event for the first time (which was so cool and trippy seeing our logo on print collateral all over the venue)
- strengthened relationships with partners
- learned a ton from the incredible panelists
- straight up partied in a sauna?? @othership_us
- squadded up with the team/homies to see our lord and savior, John Summit
- embarked on a feral amount of nyc sidequests (basically double xp weekend)
- had incredible laughs and reflections with old friends

You really just can't beat that, and it's the reason I'm going to be more intentional at attending more. One, to make sure the print collateral came out as good as it did in Figma:) But most importantly, to see and feel with my own eyes how impactful our work could be. 🤝 (and seeing who it's really for just improves the work so so much)

So so proud of the CDG team for absolutely HAMMERING the event branding and collateral the last 3 months!! 🎯

Kinda vlogged the whole week too. I'll be posting that over the next few days, following a deep dive walkthrough of the Founders Club Branding. 🎥