# Snowboard branding project!



## pagordon (Sep 20, 2013)

Hey peoples,

I know this subject has been covered before, but I could do with your help..

I'm a Design Student doing my BA at Uni, and I've decided to do a branding project on snowboards. The Idea is to come up with a name and logo, then design the graphics for the top sheet and base of a few boards. A lot of work, but if I can pull it off it should look pretty sweet!

So this is where I need some help from you, I need a name which is catchy and down with the kids, so if you can suggest any names you think might work please throw em' out there..


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## Bparmz (Sep 7, 2011)

Read this, then come back. Not quite a surver, but same idea.

http://www.snowboardingforum.com/we...embers/51207-posting-surveys-advertising.html


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## pagordon (Sep 20, 2013)

Man, that's brutal. I apologise for not knowing the rules to the forum game!
Although I can understand people not being deliriously enthused about answering, but I had no idea it was such a popular topic which had resulted in it becoming a nuisance!

It's true I'm new to writing in forums and blogging, and I don't want to unleash the wrath of the snowboarding community, so where should I introduce myself?


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## Jed (May 11, 2011)

pagordon said:


> Man, that's brutal. I apologise for not knowing the rules to the forum game!
> Although I can understand people not being deliriously enthused about answering, but I had no idea it was such a popular topic which had resulted in it becoming a nuisance!
> 
> It's true I'm new to writing in forums and blogging, and I don't want to unleash the wrath of the snowboarding community, so where should I introduce myself?


Just record a quick video on your webcam telling people who you are, what you'd like, say please and upload it to youtube, then link/embed it in this thread.

People are usually pretty helpful if any survey/contest/homework questions get posted with an actual video intro.

On another note, I remember a forum I used to frequent long ago used to have a similar rule except instead of a video intro, they required boobs with the forum name written over them in sharpie, so I think we're pretty lax in comparison


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## neni (Dec 24, 2012)

Just for further encouragement: this guy followed the rules and got pretty good response http://www.snowboardingforum.com/snowboarding-general-chat/80114-freestyle-online-survey-1.html
while she did not quite so well: http://www.snowboardingforum.com/general-travel-forum/84953-need-help-product-design-idea-1.html (although the thread was entertaining for the rest )

Edit: Donutz, maybe it's worth to add these two as examples to the survey rules...?


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## pagordon (Sep 20, 2013)

Ha, OK point taken! I'll rustle up something later on when I'm away from mocking eyes of my classmates. It'd be awesome if I were to get half the response that Julian got for her survey, which I haven't made (initially I thought a few people might throw a few ideas around). Clearly jumped into the Lions den here without reading the rules properly.


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## SnowDragon (Apr 23, 2012)

No worries. You wouldn't be the first.

Thankfully you didn't start arguing about how stupid the rules are.
Post your vid and you'll find you'll probably get alot of responses.


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## IdahoFreshies (Jul 9, 2011)

neni said:


> Just for further encouragement: this guy followed the rules and got pretty good response http://www.snowboardingforum.com/snowboarding-general-chat/80114-freestyle-online-survey-1.html
> while she did not quite so well: http://www.snowboardingforum.com/general-travel-forum/84953-need-help-product-design-idea-1.html (although the thread was entertaining for the rest )
> 
> Edit: Donutz, maybe it's worth to add these two as examples to the survey rules...?


DAM! That was just over the summer! Just read all of that...bitch was straight up dumb. In those instances I only hope that the person is actually some guy just trolling, because I don't want to believe that someone could actually be that god dam retarded.


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## neni (Dec 24, 2012)

IdahoFreshies said:


> DAM! That was just over the summer! Just read all of that...bitch was straight up dumb. In those instances I only hope that the person is actually some guy just trolling, because I don't want to believe that someone could actually be that god dam retarded.


You missed a good show :laugh: some of her most colorful foul mouthed vocab enriching posts have been deleted. For sure an individual that appears at the most left (or right) tail of whatever distribution. Hopefully.


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## IdahoFreshies (Jul 9, 2011)

neni said:


> You missed a good show :laugh: some of her most colorful foul mouthed vocab enriching posts have been deleted. For sure an individual that appears at the most left (or right) tail of whatever distribution. Hopefully.


Classic.

Love this place


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## pagordon (Sep 20, 2013)

*Intro vid*

OK, sorry I've been away from the thread for a few days!
So.. I've finally made a intro video! I'm sorry its a bit shit (I've never made one of them before)

SF Intro on Vimeo

Commence the mocking..
But seriously, let me know if any of you have any ideas!

Thanks, Paul


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## SnowDragon (Apr 23, 2012)

Hey Paul.

A little tough to hear you at times volume wise, and for those of us on the American side of the pond, the accent along with the low volume made it a challenge at times, but still good.

Thanks for following up and meeting the forum requirements.

My thoughts:

Establish an identifiable logo for the brand.
Something that will become recognizable not only on the boards, but on websites, print, and video. You'll see this on many brands out there and they have become recognizable just from the logo - which in many cases does include the brand name.

Possibly consider a theme for the brand as a whole. GNU comes to mind here. Their theme is "Weird". Their board graphics flow from this theme, along with their brand identity. Check their website.

I'd try and avoid a long brand name. "Dinosaurs Will Die" may be clever, but when you throw in a board name after that, it becomes too long. Short and innovative is better imo.

Board graphic themes. Arbor's natural wood line and Lib Tech's artist series come to mind here. Varied topsheet colours and designs are great, but if you can unite them somehow, it helps to identify your brand a little better I think.

Finally, avoid vulgar or potentially offensive board graphics (Lobster comes to mind). It's not only weirded out teen boys that snowboard and get a thrill out of naked women or expletives written across their board who buy boards. As you will find on this forum, many of us are older, or parents, or both. We won't buy that shit usually, so why shrink your potential market with stupid graphics?

Good luck.


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## wrathfuldeity (Oct 5, 2007)

*vid intro done!*

Paul,
Thanks for the intro..legit with the hiding out....in the bathroom "REEEVERB"...

BUT where's the bloody uni bird coming out of the loo adjusting her creams and pants?

I could not make out the approach...(word?)...the comment just before "gritty". 

I don't have any ideas at this point. But I think an under-servered/under represented part of the market is to the "extreme adventure gals" between the ages of 20-40. I realize there might not be much of a current market and their income might be less than guys. However they are the big influence to younger women and thus the role models for developing longer-range market. The women's surf market has picked up on this but not really the boarding/skiing/dh biking...and at least for around here I personally know 20+ women in that age range that are doing more extreme stuff than I would attempt at my geezerly age.


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## BurtonAvenger (Aug 14, 2007)

Paul,
First off thank you for making the video as mockery grows old even if it remains humorous for us.

Not going to critique the video since I know what you're asking.

If you look at brands like Ride, Burton, K2, Forum, etc. etc. what do they have in common?

A central iconic image i.e. the Burton B/13, The ride Big R, K2 with the K2, and the Forum F. This is something that gives familiarity to a potential customer, it also makes branding POP, merchandise, and marketing easier. Every brand that is worth a damn has something like this to make it visually and easily recognizable. 

A centralized theme across the whole product line is also important. K2 has Seek and Enjoy, Gnu is Weird, Zion is Zany, etc. etc. A good example is what Rome is doing with their We Believe campaign right now. What it does is resonates with the user on a level they can relate to.

If you want to check out what Rome is doing check out this link How To: Create Legitimate Social Engagement | justincafiero.com and peak around Justin's site some more. Good info in there.


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## pagordon (Sep 20, 2013)

Thanks everyone for your sound advice!! I knew this would be a great place for inspiration!

It wasn't in the girls toilet! just an empty class at uni. I don't think doing that vid was a good enough reason to excuse sexual deviancy, although would've made it a lot more entertaining!

Like a real amateur, you could see I was reading from a script in the vid, and along side the nerves I mumble as well, so I thought I'd just copy in what the script said!:

Hi my name is Paul, I live in Canterbury in England. I’d say I’m an intermediate boarder, I’ve done three seasons so far, two at Mt Hutt in New Zealand in 2007, 2008 and one at Les Deux Alpes in France in 2011.

My current board is a Forum Scallywag, which I’ve actually just broken when I last went out earlier in the year, so I need to get another!

I’m currently doing a Bachelor of Arts degree in graphic design in my third year, so for my final year project I am looking to do a branding project for a snowboarding company. I’d like to come up with my own brand identity for it then eventually later in the year create the vinyl graphics for a few boards and try and get one printed up with my designs for y end of year show.

I thought I’d try and ask you guys because you would be my target audience and if this there’s anyone I should be asking for my primary research is the boarding community like you!

So my question is if you guys have got any good ideas towards a brand name, what trends are in at the moment? I was thinking of going for more of an illustrative approach which will make it a bit more gritty and give it more of a hand made feel opposed to digital design.

So if you’ve got any ideas about names, colours, trends, any web-links I should check out please chuck your thoughts down here in the forum!

I hope you guys can help me out

Thanks


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## pagordon (Sep 20, 2013)

I'm going to narrow it down a bit!

What words spring to mind when you think of boarding?

If I come up with what I want the brand to stand for, then I can always refer to those core principles when deciding which direction and how the brand develops.

I saw these names on another forum:

Fline (first line)
Goomba
Peko Eko (peak and Eco)
Buttnaked
Basec (base and eco)
Roots (growth, heritage, music, and in Australia; sex)
Butler

I think I'm liking BASEC more and more..


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## SnowDragon (Apr 23, 2012)

pagordon said:


> What words spring to mind when you think of boarding?


Freedom.

Sitting in an office 5 days a week, Freedom comes to mind when I think of snowboarding.

Freedom Boards?
Well, I like it, and I think it could work.

Not big on these hybrid names you mentioned.
Too weird for me, and tough to create an image imo.

Names like Ride, Endeavour, Signal seem better suited to create a brand image I think.

Just my thoughts.


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## Jed (May 11, 2011)

pagordon said:


> So my question is if you guys have got any good ideas towards a brand name, what trends are in at the moment? I was thinking of going for more of an illustrative approach which will make it a bit more gritty and give it more of a hand made feel opposed to digital design.
> 
> So if you’ve got any ideas about names, colours, trends, any web-links I should check out please chuck your thoughts down here in the forum!
> 
> ...


First, awesome, very few people hear about the video rule and make one, so kudos to you.

As far as branding goes, I actually studied branding as part of my obsession with learning everything there is about marketing and so here are some things and also how they are reflected in snowboarding right now.

I assume you already know a lot of the first psychology behind most of each topic already and just want the 'how it relates to snowboarding' key themes, but my OCD makes me have to explain stuff in detail, so you can probably skip the first half of each section to jump to the snowboard related stuff.

*1) Hidden symbolism in names*

Think of companies like Amazon or Google, they may just be names, but they make the person unconsciously connect the brand to something else.

Amazon = huge amazing jungle
Google = insanely large number

So if you look at snowboarding you notice a lot of snowboard companies try to tie their name to something epic in snowboarding:

K2 = massive mountain
Pow Gloves = epic powder
Summit = top of a mountain
Ride = riding a snowboard

*2) Colors*

_Note: This whole 'color' section is probably way too far into marketing for you if you're just designing the logo/slogan etc., but I included it just in case you're doing any other materials for your project, such as info packs or websites._

With marketing these days, the best companies keep using specific colors for specific meanings to the consumer.

In particular, you may want to have an 'action' color. I'm not sure how far you're going with the branding, but if you're designing mock price tags or web sites or information packs, an action color is important to keep the same in all your branding and to not use for anything but that 'action'.

So you may pick orange as your action color, and that means you should limit your use of orange for the specific things you want a consumer to do to take action with your brand and it trains them to act a certain way when they see that color in your brand.

For example, in websites the smart designers right now design their email opt-ins and buy buttons to be the only areas on their website with that particular color because they train their audience to notice and see that color as something to pay attention to when they come across it.

It's like how we're all trained to look at blue underlined text as a clickable link on the internet.

It's similar with a brand, you want everything in the brand to have the same 'feel' and same general color scheme, although I'd guess you know this already if you're studying graphic design.

*3) Everything in branding aims at their big key 'something' in their niche*

All the best companies stand for something that their audience wants/craves for and it's important to make that known in the branding.

Eg - Apple = Simplistic, clean and highly user friendly products.

When was the last time you saw an iPad that had the most powerful processor or specs in their category? Never.

But the difference is they made the tablet so simple and user friendly that a child can pick up their first iPad and instantly know how to use it.

The key is notice their logo, website and design reflect that feeling too. Their logo is a simple apple with a bite taken out of it. Every apple product is simple and clean. Even their website is simple and clean too and always uses clean looking sans-serif fonts.

In snowboarding the common one a lot of companies try to position themselves as is the 'rebels' and 'underdogs' like the supposedly good old days of messy/gnarly snowboarding when snowboarders were still banned from resorts.

Or a while back Special Blend outerwear had the slogan 'First Chair. Last Call.' to stand for the guys that ride the first chairlift and are still shredding when last call is made at the end of the day.

Definitely don't copy the overused and cliche 'by rider for riders' nonsense, but you still want your brand's slogan/branding to stand for something important to snowboarders, something that resonates with them, whether it's epic powder days or shredding with your friends or the quiet simplicity of riding by yourself etc. etc.

*4) Logo*

Adding to what I already mentioned, the best logos reflect some symbolism they're trying to convey as I'm sure you know.

I'm sure someone in your design class may have brought up the Amazon Logo being the famous example of their arrow underneath the name making a smiling face while also pointing at the letters A and Z to stand for them having everything from a-z.

Or the Ex in FedEx's logo having an arrow formed in between the E and X.

In snowboard logos here are some trends in their design:

- Burton = arrow
- K2 = mountain
- Quiksilver = wave meets a snowcapped mountain

Overall, the whole powder/mountain/epic snowboard sessions motif seems to be the popular one I see a lot in snowboarding.

Oh and here's probably more of what you were looking for to help with the branding...

*Things I think of when I think snowboarding:*

- deep powder days
- sunny bluebird park days
- epic lines
- fresh tracks on a powder day
- the 'peaceful' sound of avalanche blasts echoing to signal the start of an epic day
- getting the first chairlift of the day
- getting the last chairlift of the day
- the epic adventure of riding with a group of friends
- the serenity of just riding by myself
- that feeling of flying when I hit a jump
- working towards and finally landing that one trick you were working so hard on
- overcoming the challenge and fear of an obstacle that scares you

Anyhow, that's what I could think of right now, hope that helps and good luck with your project.


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## wrathfuldeity (Oct 5, 2007)

Vintage Soul....or just vintage or soul...the idea of getting back to the roots, or riding purely for soul with out all the hype...just the passion of the soul...since sbing is a "relatively developed or mature sport"

having a simple line silhouette, nice carve with pow tail....is simple and pure, yet in a zen like calligraphy is a moving action...that has the hard jagged inmoveable mountain AND the flowing chi energy of the carve/pow tail/rider

logo with a simple line or silhouette of something like:
jagged profile line of a mountain in the background
a hard line in the middle ground indicating a carved track
and in the foreground a soft lighter fuzzier line indicating spray
which at the front is a silhouette of a rider

Jed's psych stuff is valuable and insightful....and just to add you want some thing for the market as he notes...but the trick is to get beyond/bypass? the psych stuff (cause that can get confusing) and get direct access to the soul...or get them to imagine them self or be the rider in the pic/logo. 

something like in the pic


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## SnowDragon (Apr 23, 2012)

wrathfuldeity said:


> Vintage Soul....or just vintage or soul...the idea of getting back to the roots, or riding purely for soul with out all the hype...just the passion of the soul...since sbing is a "relatively developed or mature sport"
> 
> having a simple line silhouette, nice carve with pow tail....is simple and pure, yet in a zen like calligraphy is a moving action...that has the hard jagged inmoveable mountain AND the flowing chi energy of the carve/pow tail/rider
> 
> ...


Wow, I'm very relaxed now.


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## Noreaster (Oct 7, 2012)

pagordon said:


> I'm going to narrow it down a bit!
> 
> What words spring to mind when you think of boarding?
> 
> ...


This is a college assignment, not a real company. Your objective is to get a good grade and a great piece for your portfolio, which is going to be shown to prospective employers who may not know a thing about snowboarding. In this part of the world college grads don't often get the honor to be interviewed face to face, they either provide the website link or drop their portfolios off for review, doubt it's any different on your side of the pond. So keep it simple, you may not have a chance to explain your deep thinking process behind a complex name. Go with the name that evokes mountain/movement/winter sport/snow/energy images to a non-snowboarder, like edge (metal edge), twenty below, first tracks, powder dog, invert, air to ground or something along those lines. Ultimately, your audience is not going to be snowboarders, so don't overthink it.


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## wrathfuldeity (Oct 5, 2007)

Noreaster said:


> This is a college assignment, not a real company. Your objective is to get a good grade and a great piece for your portfolio, which is going to be shown to prospective employers who may not know a thing about snowboarding. In this part of the world college grads don't often get the honor to be interviewed face to face, they either provide the website link or drop their portfolios off for review, doubt it's any different on your side of the pond. So keep it simple, you may not have a chance to explain your deep thinking process behind a complex name. Go with the name that evokes mountain/movement/winter sport/snow/energy images to a non-snowboarder, like edge (metal edge), twenty below, first tracks, powder dog, invert, air to ground or something along those lines. Ultimately, your audience is not going to be snowboarders, so don't overthink it.


not to derail...imo ^ poor advice. Put it out there, commit and believe. The above may be true, but...what if you got an interview? Do you want to be under prepared? and if an employer was willing to hire an under prepared person, would you want to slave for the company willing to accept the under prepared?

If you got the interview, you can then demonstrate/indicate your level of commitment, depth and reasoning of thought...maybe its wrong or blows up...but then its your chance to be humble/open and ask for feedback or improvements. By then being humble and open you will also reveal another most attractive characteristic that a good employer wants...a willingness to learn/or teachability. Employers understand a fresh grad often doesn't know shit...but if they have spark, initiative and the ability to learn it will often easily trump the hotshot know-it-all because they can be a pita. You still might not get hired...however I'll guarantee that if you do abit of follow up, they will keep you at the top of pile for the next round or refer your resume/portfolio to some bud that might need your talents.


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## Noreaster (Oct 7, 2012)

wrathfuldeity said:


> not to derail...imo ^ poor advice. Put it out there, commit and believe. The above may be true, but...what if you got an interview? Do you want to be under prepared? and if an employer was willing to hire an under prepared person, would you want to slave for the company willing to accept the under prepared?


Umm... what does my suggestion have to do with being "underprepared"? 

Successful brand development is more than just a quirky name. And in this particular instance going too quirky or too complex/technical with the name is not going to win points. And no, no one is going to "give feedback" or suggest shit during an interview with an intern. Frankly, no one's going to bother. That is not me being mean, it's just what the reality looks like. In the course of my year I see hundreds of portfolios, interview dozens of people. I spend on average 5 seconds on a page. Less if the work is bland and doesn't grab my attention right away. If I have to guess what designer meant by over-complicating his/her work I simply turn the page. Any designer worth their salt knows that if they have to explain their design, they already failed. 

So, yeah, 20 years of being a creative and having my own ad agency, but what do I know?


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## wrathfuldeity (Oct 5, 2007)

Ok, I get that, going through the pile...as I have also done...ur right there are quick certain things that I look for and if not there, done.


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## pagordon (Sep 20, 2013)

WOW, I'm amazed the sheer amount of information, my short crappy video was certainly both it! A extra special thank you to JED, you obviously gave it a lot of thought.

Thank you so much for your time!!

I'll update you guys as I get a bit further down the line with this project.

Thank you, Paul


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## Jed (May 11, 2011)

No worries Paul, hope the project turns out well.


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## SnowDragon (Apr 23, 2012)

pagordon said:


> WOW, I'm amazed the sheer amount of information, my short crappy video was certainly both it! A extra special thank you to JED, you obviously gave it a lot of thought.
> 
> Thank you so much for your time!!
> 
> ...


Please do.We do like to get updates on these things.:thumbsup:


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## pagordon (Sep 20, 2013)

Hey guys,

sorry for not having posted on here for ages. I've been busy slogging away at this uni work. Thanks for your input regarding this project you've been awesome. I've attached some pics of the logo that I've come up with. I'd really appreciate some feedback from you. Although my tutors liked it and (thankfully) I did end up getting some decent marks for it, to give them their due they are not snowboarders or even close to my target market, where as you guys would. This project will continue on until May where I am to present my work at an end of year show, and then it's done.

Please leave me some feedback, whether good or bad!

Cheers, Paul


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## Varza (Jan 6, 2013)

oooo, I like that! Good job! 

Sorry I wasn't around when you originally posted... I only emerge when there's snow.


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## SnowDragon (Apr 23, 2012)

Really like this.:thumbsup:

Great choice of fonts for the name - script for "Rapture" and block for "Snowboarding" and in good proportion to each other.

Logo is cool. Does it stand for anything, or just a brand identifier?

Rapture - much like the feeling when riding I assume?


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## UNION INHOUSE (Nov 13, 2012)

pagordon said:


> Hey guys,
> 
> sorry for not having posted on here for ages. I've been busy slogging away at this uni work. Thanks for your input regarding this project you've been awesome. I've attached some pics of the logo that I've come up with. I'd really appreciate some feedback from you. Although my tutors liked it and (thankfully) I did end up getting some decent marks for it, to give them their due they are not snowboarders or even close to my target market, where as you guys would. This project will continue on until May where I am to present my work at an end of year show, and then it's done.
> 
> ...



Nice identity kit Paul. 

For what this is for, good work. If you were creating an actual brand, I would suggest going with a different icon. I can think of several existing brands that have very similar icons. 

You've got the right idea though. Your post brought me back to when we were creating the Union identity. Fun stuff. Maybe I'll post those sketches at some point. 

Cheers!


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## pagordon (Sep 20, 2013)

The logo itself was a bugger to develop, I'd started with dozens of designs and slowly filtered through them and then eventually had to stop and decide which one worked best (and considered most popular by my peers) due to time constraints. I know there isn't an obvious connection to boarding or Rapture but in reality it just needs to be recognised, and its simplicity allows it to be very adaptable to put on any number of potential products, in any style, at any size/colour.

I am having difficulty describing the logo itself though, as someone might be describing it to a friend who had never seen it before and then for that person to recognise that logo from the description they'd heard earlier.
(i.e. Nike's - Swoosh/tick logo, or Burton's - lower case b with an upside down arrow)

Probably not a good thing to be struggling with!

I came up with Rapture because I wanted to link the identity to a positive emotion that you feel when your in riding. The tag-line is a play on the religious definition of the word, and how some extreme enthusiasts view the sport.

It'd really help if you could describe how the logo looks to you, or how you might describe it someone!:question:

I really appreciate your feedback, Cheers!


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## wrathfuldeity (Oct 5, 2007)

I kind of thought the logo was upsidedown... that is have the point...pointing down....like god reaching down and touching the finger...ya know that famous iirc ? da vinci painting on some chapel.


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## SkullAndXbones (Feb 24, 2014)

Jed said:


> On another note, I remember a forum I used to frequent long ago used to have a similar rule except instead of a video intro, they required boobs with the forum name written over them in sharpie, so I think we're pretty lax in comparison


for research purposes, what was the name of the site?


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