I started Bruce’s Bespoke Brands to make interesting things, show the thinking behind them, and share something you can use in your own work.
Chapter one
2007 – 2014My first job was at McDonald’s when I was fifteen, then I waited tables at Ruby Tuesday. Somewhere in between shifts I opened Photoshop CS3 and taught myself the basics, one tutorial at a time.
At Becker College I studied Interactive Media with a graphic design concentration, made the Dean’s List, and joined the college marketing team designing admissions campaigns. I led an internship building a staff health and wellness program, and freelanced for local brands on the side.
Everything after this began with being curious enough to figure it out.
Chapter two
2014 – 2022I worked on app privacy and user experience across 115,000+ apps, which taught me how much care goes into small details most people never notice.
I also built Keynote training materials for the team, including one on LGBTQA+ history. In 2018 I finished my MS in Internet Marketing as valedictorian, while holding down the day job.
Details are how people feel looked after.
Chapter three
2019 – 2024I founded and ran two lifestyle brands on Shopify and Wix. I developed four cosmetic formulas, designed about 300 t-shirts, and bought the sublimation, cutting and printing equipment so I could learn every step by doing it.
Alongside that I took on design work for brands that trusted me with their look: packaging, awards and merchandise for OneBeat Dance Corp. across four brands; packaging, ads and social for Averr Aglow; and a lead graphic designer role at Eleve Health.
Chapter four
2022 – 2024I designed bespoke packaging for F1, Apple TV+, Amazon Prime and Disney+, managing budgets of up to $150,000. I produced the promo videos, built an influencer gift box for Netflix actors and VIPs, and ran the printing, lamination, foil and cutting equipment myself.
It was the first time my work arrived in someone’s hands as a moment, and I haven’t stopped chasing that feeling.
By the numbers
A few numbers from the road so far. They roll when you reach them.
years designing, from teaching myself to creative direction
apps worked on for privacy and user experience
the largest project budget I’ve managed
t-shirt designs for my own brands, give or take
titles, in order, on one 24×36 poster gift
years inside Apple, on app privacy and user experience
Figures come from my own portfolio and work history.
Chapter five
A few corners of the portfolio. Open any of them to see what’s inside.
I take a package from wireframe and layout through 3D and physical prototyping to fulfillment. The finishing is where it comes alive: hot stamp to soft-touch laminate, with raised icons so the label is something you feel as well as see.
Logos, brand identity and typography, built on bold design and colour harmony. One of my favourites is a 24×36 printed poster, an exit gift for a VIP, that lists the 600+ titles they worked on, in order.
Gift experiences and short-form video, from the brief to the final cut.
Nanodegrees in AI Product Management and Digital Project Management, and the practice that goes with them: business solutions with large language models, success metrics for an AI product, a translation product business case, and a data annotation plan.
Chapter six
When AI tools arrived I got curious about the thinking, not only the tools. Bespoke is the framework I built to turn an idea into clearer direction: stronger prompts, more purposeful references, and specific ways to judge what comes back.
The workbooks share useful applications of it. The full proprietary framework stays private, and I’ll keep talking about it as BBB grows.
The sealed framework
rules and principles behind everything I make. Written, tested against real work, and still growing. They only work together, so I share the results rather than the list.
Private by designAspect one · Direction
Most weak results begin with a vague request. Bespoke makes the direction clear before anything is made.
Aspect two · References
A reference is a teacher. The system makes sure each one is there for a reason.
Aspect three · Judgement
Taste can be practised. These rules give it something firm to push against.
Aspect four · Craft that ships
This is where Bespoke Glass came from. Looking good is not enough if it strains a phone.
Why it exists
The rules work in the background. What you notice is clearer, calmer, more consistent results.
A handful shown here. The rest stay private.
Tools make things faster. Taste decides whether they’re any good.
Chapter seven
Bespoke Glass is the look that came out of all of this: frosted, luminous surfaces where the colour seems to glow from inside, not painted on top. It isn’t one effect. It’s a whole pack, and here is what’s inside.
Atmospheric, Bespoke and Deep Glass. One setting changes the glass, the button and the edge light. Try it.
Type that catches the light and keeps moving.
Glowing rings that fill as work gets done.
Rain, mist and light that move across the surface.
Pictures sit behind the glass. Your words are always the top layer and always readable.
Glass is a stack of six layers
01 Sky02 Atmosphere03 Blur04 Bespoke Gel05 Edge & light06 Your contentHow it got here
The first versions were about getting the look right, a cosmic violet depth with a chrome edge, built for the Bearback and TRIBE apps.
I tightened the edges, the light and the colour so the glass felt like a material rather than a filter.
I pushed the blur and layered the starfield and atmosphere too far. On a real phone it strained the graphics chip, and a modal stopped working. Beautiful on a desktop, wrong for a pocket.
I stripped the atmosphere back, lowered the blur and removed what broke the modal. That pass became the floor, and it taught me the rules below: glass has to earn its cost.
For TRIBE on iPhone I moved from drawn effects to real native rendering, a Metal shader that gives the glass the feel of water on a surface.
Feel the trade-off
Where Bespoke Glass lives: rich, and light enough for a phone.
Chapter eight
Bespoke never stayed an idea. It sits upstream of everything I make: the rules, the glass and the way of working flow down into the products, and the products teach it something back.
Where the glass was pushed hardest, and where Wet Glass found its feel on iPhone.
First proving groundFollowed with the same glass and each update after it, carrying the lessons forward.
Followed with updatesPart of the same family, and on the list for the same treatment.
Up nextAbout Ray
Over 12 years of brand-experience work, combining storytelling, vision and problem-solving with AI. A creative leader moving into AI to build practical solutions that simplify how businesses run. Everything below is the detail behind the story above.
Career
Taught myself Photoshop. First job at 15 at McDonald's, then host to server at Ruby Tuesday.
BA in Interactive Media (Graphic Design) at Becker College. Class president and orientation leader, built a wellness program internship, worked as a marketing designer, ran admissions campaigns and freelanced for local brands.
Cross-functional work on app privacy and UX across 115,000+ apps, training visuals, an LGBTQA+ history Keynote, retail technician and visual merchandising roles. MS in Internet Marketing, Valedictorian, 2018.
Built product and e-commerce brands on Shopify, Wix and Gamma. Four cosmetic formulations, 300 t-shirt designs, sublimation, cutting and printing equipment.
Packaging and marketing for OneBeat Dance Corp. (4 brands), Averr Aglow, and Eleve Health as Lead Graphic Designer.
Bespoke packaging for clients including F1, Apple TV+, Amazon Prime and Disney+, with budgets up to $150,000. Promotional video, enterprise print and finishing, social content and AI image tools.
Launched BareBear with new branding on existing formulas, built a white-label brand and a turnkey custom merchandising service with domestic and international sourcing.
AI Product Manager Nanodegree (Udacity): PRDs and roadmaps for AI features, plus generative AI and LLM projects.
Just finished a Digital Project Management nanodegree and looking for a team to grow with.
Add value to a team and help it get strong results.
Education
Valedictorian
Dean's List
Udacity
Udacity
What I can do
Branding and logos, packaging, print and labels, motion graphics, and documents and decks. Daily tools: Photoshop, Illustrator, Keynote, Figma.
Final Cut Pro, Videoleap, UGC for Reels and TikTok, email and ads, and social content that grew awareness for 4+ brands.
Sublimation, hot foil, lamination and CAD cutting by hand, plus sourcing, product creation and six years running e-commerce on Shopify and Wix.
AI tools that speed up creative work, AI product management (Udacity nanodegree), and mobile app UX and QA from owning and reviewing iOS and Android apps.
Creative direction, presentations that make complex ideas land, and running in-person events.
How I work
Communication comes first. Teams do their best work when they feel heard, and eight years at Apple, including Worldwide Developer Relations, shaped how I lead.
Six years as founder and operator of two lifestyle brands, pairing strong visuals with strategy that drives engagement and revenue.
Chatbots and assistants that actually help, simple enough to use right away, and updated as the tools change.
AI & project management
Work completed across the AI Product Manager and Digital Project Management programs. Each opens as a PDF.
Free
Some of the AI work above is useful as a starting point for your own. These are open to everyone, no sign-up. Each is a PDF you can print or fill in.
Want these as fillable BBB workbooks with the same look as the rest of the shop? Tell me which ones.
Let’s talk
Just finished a Digital Project Management nanodegree and ready to add value.
Come on in
I built this place to make interesting things, show the thinking behind them, and hand you something useful. If anything here sparks an idea, I’d love to hear about it.
Start with the free workbook, send me a note through the contact form, or leave your email below and I’ll send new workbooks first.
This part of the site is still being finished. Two things are open right now: the free 83-page Cinematic Transformation Field Guide and the paid BBB AI Director Kit.