story

"Hi, my name is Arial Robinson. I am a senior multimedia journalism student at North Carolina A&T State University, and I'm the designer behind the NC A&T Dunk, aka the A&T new student center Dunk Low. Back in 2020, during the pandemic..."

"...when everybody was at home, I was creating a lot of work inspired by Nike. I got some eyes looking in on me. I was blessed enough to be gifted some Nike Blazers, a part of the Yardrunners campaign, so then I took those shoes and I did my own photo shoot. It caught the eyes of the people..."

"...behind the scenes, and so they brought me on for Yardrunners 2.0 doing creative direction, and then for Yardrunners 3.0, I was able to create a shoe. Coming into college, I had my own clothing brand. One of the A&T alum who became a professional football player..."

"...was the second person to support me solely off of Twitter. These people really care about what we're doing and they care about our ideas and giving us that platform and leverage to really hit the ground running and go. These are the North Carolina A&T State University Dunks..."

"...aka the A&T new student center Dunks. This shoe is a building turned into a shoe. The heart of the campus is the student center. There's a lot of rich history behind it. It's a place that has nurtured me and cultivated my skills. The grays represent the..."

"...cement because our stories, our legacies are cemented in history. On the laces and the tongue, you see this bright yellow, which symbolizes the infamous yellow staircase, which is located inside the building, and the inside, there's also a picture of the staircase that..."

"...I took with my camera. Behind it, it says, "From Greensboro with love," because the shoe is made with a lot of love. On the bottom, it's grass because there's this running joke that A&T always keeps the grass cut, which I can vouch for. I always seen them cutting the grass, and so it's just..."

"...a little funny thing, but it also just speaks to the ground and how this quite literally is a building from the bottom to the top. And then we have the 1891, because that's when our school was founded. I wanted people to be able to wear them outside of our school. I don't want this to just be a..."

"...story that only lives within the Greensboro community. I hope that my work inspires people to put themselves out there. A lot of times people hold onto things because they're afraid, but the lifespan of art..."

"...is not just a day. It's not just when you post it on social media and people give you a few likes. It's going to outlive you. So I hope that when people see this project or when they see me, that they're inspired to not only put their ideas out there, but that they challenge themselves..."

"...to think outside of the box. I'm Arial, and this is Behind the Design of the NC A&T Dunk. Thanks for tuning in. Aggie pride!"

Behind the Design: Dunk Low 'North Carolina A&T'