Airwalk Vol.2 THE Visual Development Guide
Airwalk Vol.2 THE Visual Development Guide
Table of Contents
CHAPTER 1 iDENTITY history The History of Airwalk The Old Brand Vision Introduce New Branding
CHAPTER 2 DESIGN APPROACH Design Concept R1: Rough Sketches R2: Initial Versions R3: Refined Versions
CHAPTER 3 Case study R4: Research Look-A-Like Logos
Vol.2 The Visual DEVELOPMENT Guide
chapter 1 identity history The History of Airwalk The Old Brand Vision Introduce New Branding
The history of airwalk
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Our vision is to create an action sports and support this culture.
Airwalk was founded in 1986, the brainchild of George Yohn and Bill Mann. Yohn, no stranger to the footwear business, and Mann, an art student with a background in athletic gear, wanted to create longer-lasting and better functioning shoes for skateboarders. Neither Mann nor Yohn were skateboarders; rather, the inspiration for the look, construction, and overall aesthetic of Airwalk would come out of observation. Mann would scout skate parks, watching the ways skater did their tricks and how they damaged their shoes. Options for skaters were slim in those days and Yohn and Mann knew there was a market to tap into. By the mid-90s, Airwalk was making hundreds of millions of dollars, the fifth largest in the athletic shoe industry at the time. They led the street skateboard culture and presented them with a complete brand. Their philosophy and vision, as an inspiration, have influenced many skateboarders and street culture. Today, if you got a pair of Airwalks from your out-of-touch but well meaning grandmother for Christmas last year, you were most likely sad and irritated, but in the late 80s and early 90s, it would have been a much different story.
Chapter 1 Identity History
Beyond the passion— airwalk Supoorts challenging places, sites and provide the new inspiration.
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introduce new branding
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Airwalk has produced shoes for only skateboarders in the past. Their passion was to support those who take risks and respect their street culture. However, Airwalk had to go beyond the skateboard market in order to grow its brand and had to move to a new, larger business area. As a result, Airwalk has decided to rebrand and to be reborn as a brand through their unlimited potential and scalability. Now, Airwalk will go beyond the making of skateboard shoe to a wider world of adventure. Through observation of challenge scenes or sites, Airwalk will create a new inspiration for the people who enjoy and take the risks. Passionate adventures and challenges in a beautiful environment with extraordinary people will bring new perspectives and inspirations to our lifestyle. Through a new identity concept “Beyond the passion�, Airwalk will provide a variety of services such as extreme travel products with the safety system, extreme gears, shooting, and media for the people who challenge their limit in extreme sites. Airwalk’s brand will evolve into a more extended concept and into a more systematic brand with a new identity system.
Vol.2 The Visual DEVELOPMENT Guide
chapter 2 design approach Design Concept R1: Rough Sketches R2: Initial Versions R3: Refined Versions
Chapter 2 dESIGN APPROACH
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dESIGN CONCEPT
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“adventure, challenge, inspiration.”
For the new logo design, I have reviewed the design concept and decided to move towards the direction of expressing the keywords such as challenge, adventure, and inspiration that Airwalk has. I have done a lot of research in order to show the ‘Beyond the passion’ and ‘New challenge’ of the future brand’s tone and manners on a single logo. As a result, I could reach the idea of the word, like ‘Progress’. Through this, I have been able to explore sketches and computer graphics over and over, and have reached the stage of final logo development.
Chapter 2 dESIGN APPROACH
1st key phrase adventure: go wild place and see the different world.
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R1: ROUGH SKETCHES
Rough Sketches
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In the first logo design sketch process, I began sketching separately for each type of symbol, graphic, word mark to explore all the possibilities as much as possible. In addition, I sketched the emphasis on expressing the ideas derived from the keywords as simple as possible. As a result of close to 300 sketches, I was able to exclude unnecessary ideas and directions, and at the same time, I could identify several possibilities. Finally, this result helped move to the second sketch process.
Chapter 2 dESIGN APPROACH
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Decided to take this these to next stage with some other sketches that has potentials.
R1: ROUGH SKETCHES / Symbol, graphic, word mark
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Chapter 2 dESIGN APPROACH
2nd key phrase challenge: enjoy thrilling and take the risk.
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R2: Initial Versions
Initial Versions
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In the second sketch process, I explored logos of possible forms in the primary sketch. I focused on areas such as ratio and balance. After the second sketch process, I used Illustrator to do some rough digital work to see some possibilities, and in the process I found a lot of errors. So I resumed the work of refining the sketch to reduce this error and to make better corrections. As a result, I have been able to reach the final sketch process.
Chapter 2 dESIGN APPROACH
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R2: Initial Versions / sketch
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Selected to take these concept to the initial digital version to build a more stable triangle shape.
Chapter 2 dESIGN APPROACH
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Discovered several possibilities and decided to go with them to the final sketch stage through digital version exploration.
R2: Initial Versions / digital
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Chapter 2 dESIGN APPROACH
3th key phrase inspiration: get the difference perspective.
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R3: refined Versions
Refined Versions
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Through a total of two sketches and digital work, I was able to approach the final concept, and in the third process I focused more on how the graphical element could be extended and how it could be applied to actual brands in various situations. I focused to implement a shape similar to the actual figure with a few determined in the second process. As a result, I was able to derive a total of four versions of the digital logo, and I could reach the final versions logo through one of them.
Chapter 2 dESIGN APPROACH
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R3: refined Versions / sketch
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Decided on the specific form to develop the four digital versions of those selected for the more complete logo production.
Chapter 2 dESIGN APPROACH
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R3: refined Versions / digital
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Vol.2 The Visual DEVELOPMENT Guide
chapter 3 cASE STUDY R4: Research Look-A-Like Logos
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Chapter 3 case study
Research Look-A-Like Logos
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To successful rebranding, investigate various logos and cases are the very important process. I explored logo designs that were created in the ‘Progressive’ form to express the three keywords of Airwalk: Challenge, Adventure, and Inspiration. And the last step, I had to look at logos made with similar concepts or shapes. I learned through this investigated, what made their logo successful and also what Airwalk’s logo needs to improve. Finally, I was able to reach the final logo design.
R4: Research Look-A-Like Logos
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Citroen Citroen is a European automotive company, very similar to the Airwalk logo. By using two arrows in the square box, it is very progressive and shows the meaning of going forward.
Burton Burton is a sporting brand similar to Airwalk, and they created their logo using the first alphabet and arrow. It has a very similar approach with Ariwalk.
Asiana Airlines Asiana Airline is a Korean airline, expressing the rise of airplane in the sky. It is also interpreted as the letter A. It is a very simple but it shows the symbolism they have.
Hillary Hillary Clinton is the logo she used during the presidential election. Utilizing Hillary’s name, this logo was created in conjunction with the arrow that represents progressive meanings.
Chapter 3 case study
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Bridgestone Bridgestone is a company that produces automotive tires. They also demonstrate the business philosophy of being very progressive and moving forward by showing up arrows in the alphabet.
Adobe As a company that develops and distributes design tool programs, Adobe is also using symbol and graphic mark that use alphabet A. It also shows geometric figure.
Fedex Fedex is one of the largest logistics delivery companies in this day. They dare clearly communicating the message that use the arrow to ship quickly.
Delta Airline Delta Airline is the largest airline in the United States and uses arrows as a symbol. The share, space of the very conservative form of the triangular shape make for a very solid appearance.
R4: Research Look-A-Like Logos
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Hsbc HSBC is one of the largest financial companies in the world. They constructed a symbol type using four pieces with a triangular share. It expresses symbolic meanings such as trust, and success.
Northwest Airlines It is the North Western Airline logo of the United States. This logo has the shape of the most Airwalk among the logos surveyed in this case study.
Budget Budge is an American rental car company and it has a logo that expresses their philosophy. The space inside the box shows the road while showing the enterprising appearance.
Subway Subway, a sandwich brand, has developed a new logo. They well represented the visual appearance of the name Subway. Through arrows, they also show the alphabet at the same time.
Chapter 3 case study
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City Estate City Estate is a real estate brokerage company, and they shoed a logo that used the arrow well. This arrow can be used to mean the price to seller and also to the roof representing the house.
K2 Snowboard K2 is the global company that deals with outdoor gears. They also have a snowboard brand, and this approach is very similar to the Airwalk brand.
National Credit Union Administration NCUA is a credit rating company based in California and Nevada. They show a sense of rising credit, through the dimensional arrows.
Waymo Waymo is an unmanned car brand developed by Google. They created a logo using the brands’ alphabet. It is conveying a variety of message like enterprising or diversity.
R4: Research Look-A-Like Logos
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Fastrak Fastrak is a company that provides toll pass devices and service use in Bay Area. By using the arrow shape, it shows the meaning of passing and the meaning of being fast.
Airbnb Airbnb is an IT company that introduced the world’s largest travel providers. They also have a logo that uses alphabet A, which is a good indication of their business.
Extrade Extrade is a brand that arranges logistics exchanges, and they clearly show they business through their logo. The alphabet X is represented by two arrows, showing the symbol of exchange.
Speedo Speedo is the world’s largest manufacturer of swimwear, and althoughit is not directly related to the brand name, it uses the arrow to complete the logo, and it shows fast and strength.
APPENDIX / SOURCE
Web Reference
www.airwalk.com www.rippedlaces.com www.wikipedia.org www.thrasher-magazine.com www.evo-vacation.com www.burton.com www.redbull.com www.hurley.com
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