Erik Helmer’s Post

View profile for Erik Helmer, graphic

ex-Nike | Design-driven Leader | Physical Spaces | Branding | Art Direction | Creative Concepting | Graphic and Digital Design

You might have asked yourself, “I wonder what Erik’s up to lately?”. Probably not, but for the sake of this post, let’s go with it. Well, besides a lot of mountain biking (love my Ibis Ripley AF!), a little pickleball, some dabbling in making music and making videos, and lots of doodling, I decided to try my hand at print-on-demand e-commerce. I’ve been keeping a running list for years of random ideas for t-shirts and hats, so I decided to make it happen. After many YouTube tutorials, a few stumbles and lots of self-doubt, I made the leap! Thanks to those of you who weighed in on the naming; you helped me feel like this could happen, and confused the hell out of me with your choices. So, I ruminated a bit, worked on what the future offerings could be, played with lockups in Illustrator and considered what the URL options were. And ended up with: Offstreet Parking. It’s small now, but I will continue adding collections as ideas come together. In today’s crazy employment world, it’s helped me feel like I have at least a little control over something. Will my future be all-in on e-commerce? Probably not. But for now, it’s given me a creative outlet and things to learn (SEO is a bugger). Also, I hope the future leads to collaborations (here’s looking at you, Warby Parker), as I miss the energy of working with others, of tossing ideas out there and improving them through dialog/sketching/etc. Thanks for reading; I hope the day treats you well, and that one of your ideas lights a spark in you at some point.

Offstreet Parking

Offstreet Parking

offstreetparking.shop

Erik Helmer

ex-Nike | Design-driven Leader | Physical Spaces | Branding | Art Direction | Creative Concepting | Graphic and Digital Design

3mo

Thanks for the kind words, much appreciated! Just to be clear, I am still looking for a full-time job...

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Leit D.

Design + Urban Enablement Director, NIKE GPS EMEA

3mo

Way to pivot Erik! On another note, I’ll always regret letting go of my ibis Alibi when I moved to Europe. I’m pretty sure the color was called, “warm beer.”

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Phillip Bradfield

Creative thinker and doer.

3mo

This is cool. Dig the brand! Dude. I'm kinda doing the same. Not at the launch level yet tho. We should catch up one of these days... Been a minute!

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George Rogers

Creative Program Management & Operations | Inspiring Teams, Building Brands & Driving Impact | Ex Nike Innovation

2mo

There’s gold in there!

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Chuck Eichten

Strategic creative leader delivering brand voice to align with mission, purpose, people

2mo

Fantastic!! Classic Eric simple slightly wry humor and design. Love it

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Jennie Perlmutter

Senior Leader in Strategy, Design and Delivery of the Built Environment | Former Nike

3mo

LOVE this! Congrats on getting the site live and putting it out there. Ordering some merch now! 💪

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