WANXIN (HEVIN) LI// FALL 2019
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VISUAL STRATEGY GUIDE
Vol. 1 Visual Strategy Guide
AIRWALK
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VISUAL STRATEGY GUIDE // AIRWALK
CONTENTS.
01 BRAND OVERVIEW
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Brand Description
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Brand Timeline
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BRAND STRATEGY
COMPETITOR RESEARCH
Mission Statement
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Current Competitors
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Audience Profiles
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Adjacent Competitors
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Visual Evolution
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Aspirational Competitors
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BRAND OVERVIEW Brand Description Brand Timeline
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VISUAL STRATEGY GUIDE // AIRWALK
BRAND DESCRIPTION “Skateboarding is important–it’s our roots, our lifeline.” — Rob Dotson, Airwalk Footwear Category Manager \\\ Founded by George Yohn, Bill Mann in 1986 at the request of a skateboarder and named for a trick invented by one of the brand's first pro athletes, Tony Hawk, Airwalk was one of the first board sports brands, inspired by and made for skaters. It is one of the brands that launched and built the action sports community. Before the advent of Airwalk, the athletes themselves modified the shoes to reduce the wear and tear on the skateboard. They generally reflected the need for more durable and wearable skate shoes. For this reason, Airwalk designed the classic PROTOTYPE series; a leather skateboard shoe that requires special molds to produce. Airwalk is the first brand to develop the highest level of shoe safety, pedal padding and rubber
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banding. Airwalk also paid close attention to the midsole structure and outsole reinforcement to improve the durability and impact resistance of the shoes. These seemingly simple and basic developments were considered a breakthrough development in those days. It is one of the brands that launched and built the action sports community. They are fueled by passion and progression, driven by people pushing innovation, supporting the scene, and taking risks.
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VISUAL STRATEGY GUIDE // AIRWALK
BRAND TIMELINE
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Airwalk was founded by George Yohn & Bill Mann in 1986.
1986
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The skateboard superstar Tony Hawk became the model and first player of Airwalk.
1989
1987 The first skateboard shoe models came out.
Airwalk was making hunderds of million dollars a year.
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1990 Airwalk entered the European market in 1990 based on their local success.
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They m their sh
They were ranked as the 13th coolest overall brand among teenagers, according to Teenage Research Unlimited.
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made a huge change to hoes design.
Airwalk produced the first professional model shoe for Tony Hawk and Jason Lee. The first skate media channel came out.
1997
1996 The balance that Airwalk had created by signing skaters to their team, putting money into grassroots skating and the coolness that Lambesis had created in their ads began to crumble.
1999
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Brand was sold to Sunrise Capital Partners and later sold again, due to debts owed by Sunrise, to Collective Licensing International.
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BRAND STRATEGY Mission Statement Audience ProďŹ les Visual Evolution
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VISUAL STRATEGY GUIDE // AIRWALK
MISSION STATEMENT
PUSHING PEOPLE TO TAKE RISKS TO LET THEM BECOME MORE FEARLESS.
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VISUAL STRATEGY GUIDE // AIRWALK
AUDIENCE PROFILES
Bryce Smith Trailblazer
Gender: Male Age: 38 Nationality: USA Occupation: Freelancer Location: San Diego
He has been traveling to different jungles in the US for 2 years since he divorced and quitted his job. He wants to discover the world.
He loves the natural world and adventure. He also likes to look for scenery he has never seen that makes he excited.
He has worked for National Geographic. He know almost every wonderful scene in the US.
Every time he goes to the next destination, he would check and renew his equipment. When everything is ready he would set out.
He haS been in the army for 4 years so he knows how to survive in the wilds.
Sometimes he'd like to call some friends company with him. He thinks adventure with friends is a very interesting memory.
A few times, He had to rest for a long time because of accidents, which made him very upset during that time.
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Michelle Wang Little Mermaid
Gender: Female Age: 27 Nationality: China Occupation: Middle school teacher Location: Shanghai
She likes diving very much because she likes the beach and those beautiful fish.
She spent one year to get her diving license in Thailand because it was a tough program.
Because she is a teacher, she has two big breaks a year. She goes to the beach almost every time.
She likes shooting videos and photos while she is diving because the view of underwater is so beautiful. It was very difficult in the first place, but she gets used to it.
Thailand is her favorite country because it is very close to china and also has a lot of beautiful beaches.
Because her friends don’t have a lot of vacations like her, she often goes diving alone. Sometimes she feels a little bit of fear and inconvenience, especially when she wants to take a photo of herself.
She wants to try some new experience so she really wants to try diving at night but she has not tried because she is worried about safety issues.
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VISUAL STRATEGY GUIDE // AIRWALK
Josh Miller Skier
Gender: Male Age: 24 Nationality: Canada Occupation: Professional Skier Location: Toronto
He has been skiing since he was a little boy because his father was a ski instructor.
He likes skiing so much because he likes snow and nature view.
He is a professional ski player now and he is in a wonderful ski team. He often participates in some competitions.
When he has free time, he would like to go ski in wild nature alone. However, his father always stopped hime beacause it was dangerous.
He likes traveling and making new friends in different places because traveling would broaden his horizons.
He enjoys speed and he loves to experience challenges that makes him feel excited.
In recent years, his parents are getting old and he wants to have more time to company his parents so he is looking for some good travel places.
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Bryan Powell Skater
Gender: Male Age: 17 Nationality: USA Occupation: Student Location: Altanta
He really into action sport culture and style because he thinks it is cool.
He has been learning skateboard by himself and always play with friends.
He always wants to do some fancy tricks that he watched online but skateboarding is not easy at all. He failed sometimes.
His parents agree with him play it but he often gets hurt. His parents have hesitant now.
He often hangs out with his classmates who playing skateboard as well because they have a lot of things to chat.
He is a competitive boy so he would not let his friends play better than himself. He practices very hard.
He often watches youtube videos about everything of the skate because those videos were produced by professional players.
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VISUAL STRATEGY GUIDE // AIRWALK
Gianna Davidson Photographer
Gender: Female Age: 21 Nationality: USA Occupation: Photography Student Location: San Francisco
She is a photography student at an art university. She likes observing and taking amazing photos during skiing.
She was born and grow up in Denver. She often goes to the nature park in her childhood.
She went skiing resort located in the Rocky Mountains frequently when she was a little girl because there is really close to her house.
After she goes to university, she always goes to lake taho ski resort with her friends during her vacation.
She is expecting to conduct a photography exhibition around skiing.
She has several fancy cameras and a lot of support facilities to help her taking the wonderful photos in extreme conditions.
Skiing and shooting are happening at the same time are dangerous but she thinks adventures are worthwhile as long as she could get beautiful photos.
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John Reed Rocker
Gender: Male Age: 37 Nationality: Australia Occupation: Band Drummer Location: Los Angeles
He moved to the Los Angeles four years ago and he is a drummer in a rock band.
He often travel all over the world because of their performance.
He likes the things that make him excited to inspire his creativity but he doesn't like taking adventures because he has almost everything he wants. There is no reason to take risks.
He always goes to the bar after the performance. He meets various people and enjoys chatting with them.
When he goes to a new place he'd like to go to the famous nature spot because he loves the wild nature scene.
He likes to play video games and watch baseball game when he is resting at home.
Their band often rehearsed for performances and new albums.
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VISUAL STRATEGY GUIDE // AIRWALK
Jason Wright Single Dad
Gender: Male Age: 51 Nationality: USA Occupation: Engineer Location: New York
He moved to New York ten years ago and is living in a regular apartment with his son.
He has to sit in front of a computer for a long time every day.
He enjoys traveling in nature with his kid. He could relax his mind and company his son makes him feel comfortable.
His son wants to try diving next vacation but he wants his father would go with him.
He really wants to take his kids to experience different journey when they have holidays.
Recently, He thinks he needs to have time to do exercise or sports.
He is a very rigorous man, so he always makes a plan early.
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Alex Lopez Surfing Coach
Gander: Male Age: 32 Nationlity: USA Occupation: Surfing Instructor Loction: Miami
He has been surfing instructor for six years. People like to spend vacations in Miami so he has taught a lot of people.
He really enjoys sunlight and beautiful beach and ocean.
He loves the feeling of standing on the surface of the ocean and enjoying the sea breeze.
He also works for a surfboard store as a part-time job because in some months there are not many people want to surf.
He also works for a surfboard store as a part-time job because in some months there are not many people want to surf.
He likes challenging the limit that makes him feel stronger.
He is still single so when his friends are getting busy he always has a trip alone but he could meet new friends at that time.
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VISUAL STRATEGY GUIDE // AIRWALK
VISUAL EVOLUTION
Past Look These pictures represent what the brand looked like in the past. All of them are about skateboard and skateboarding culture.
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AIRWALK
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VISUAL STRATEGY GUIDE // AIRWALK
New Look These pictures represent the brand new look in the future. In order to our mission statement, key visuals of the new Airwalk are expressing our challenging and fearless style.
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AIRWALK
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COMPETITOR RESEARCH Current Competitors Adjacent Competitors Aspirational Competitors
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VISUAL STRATEGY GUIDE // AIRWALK
CURRENT COMPETITORS Determining the strengths and weaknesses of the competitors within my market, strategies that will provide a distinct advantage. These competitors are provide same products as airwalk.
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Girl
Element
Girl skateboard is an American skateboard company. It was created by pro skaters.
Element Skateboards is an American skateboard company that manufactures skateboard decks, apparel, and footwear.
Zero
Plan B
Zero Skateboards is one of the American top companies for skateboards. The brand was founded by professional skateboarder and entrepreneur.
Plan B Skateboards is a skateboarding company. It sells both soft and hard goods.
Nike SB
Vans
Nike Skateboarding is the Nike brand for its line of shoes, clothing, and equipment for skateboarding.
Vans is an American manufacturer of skateboarding shoes and related apparel.
Adidas Skateboarding
Blind
Adidas Skateboarding's focus is to design skateboard footwear and apparel that improves both the look and feel of skateboarding.
Blind (stylized as blind) is a skateboard company. The company produces decks, wheels, soft goods and accessories.
Almost
Flip
Almost Skateboards is a U.S. skateboard company founded by professional skateboarders and business partners.
Flip Skateboards is a highlevel skateboards company that moved from the UK to California.
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VISUAL STRATEGY GUIDE // AIRWALK
ADJACENT COMPETITORS Adjacent competitors are something someone could do instead of choose my product, but they’re using the same resources they could have committed to my product. These adjacent competitors are providing the adventure as same as airwalk.
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GoPro
Mountain Equipment Co-op
GoPro manufactures action cameras that are the world's most versatile action cameras.
Canada’s popular outdoor gear cooperative, Mountain Equipment Co-op is committed to providing its customers with sustainable products.
Marmot
Arc’teryx
Distributed in 27 countries, Marmot is an international brand that has long been known for its high quality performance gear.
Founded in 1991 in Vancouver, Arc’teryx made its name by manufacturing all of its high end outdoor gear in Canada.
Timberland
Osprey
A true role-model in the realm of sustainable business, Timberland is a full-grown outdoor company with a mission to equip people to make a difference in the world.
With Colorado-based headquarters that run on 100% renewable energy, independent backpack company Osprey is one of those companies that walks the walk.
Helly Hansen
Big Agnes
Helly Hansen is a Norwegian producer of textiles and gear for sports and work on the ocean and in the mountains.
Big Agnes is one of the leaders in developing tents and sleeping bags made from recycled materials.
PlayStation
Johnson Outdoors
PlayStation is a video gaming brand that consists of four home video game consoles, as well as a media center, an online service, a line of controllers, two handhelds and a phone, as well as multiple magazines
Johnson Outdoors Inc. produces outdoor recreational products such as watercraft, diving equipment, camping gear, and outdoor clothing.
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VISUAL STRATEGY GUIDE // AIRWALK
ASPIRATIONAL COMPETITORS Aspirational competitors are someone that I may not be directly competing with now but it would be someday as my business grows. Aspirational competitors are companies as similar as future Airwalk. They are all about promoting people to take risks.
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Patagonia
Red Bull
It is probably the most well-known amongst environmentally and socially responsible outdoor companies.
Red Bull is an energy drink. It has the highest market share of any energy drink in the world.
Everlast
Ringside
Everlast is an American brand of boxing, mixed martial arts and fitness-related equipment, clothing, footwear, and accessories. It markets its products worldwide.
Ringside is the undisputed champion for boxing equipment and MMA gear. Shop gloves, punching bags, protective gear, and more at the best prices.
Demon
Sixsixone
Demon started producing ski and snowboard equipment in 1999. Their focus and dedication is creating great products that help keep you from an early grave.
661 established in Southern California in the year 1999, they set out on a path to push the envelope in protective equipment.
O'Neill
Hurley
O'Neill is originally a Californian surf wear and surfboard brand started in 1952 by Jack O'Neill.
Hurley is an American multinational corporation. They are selling of apparel, surf equipment, accessories and services.
The North Face
Backcountry Experience
Almost Skateboards is a U.S. skateboard company founded by professional skateboarders and business partners.
It is a company that sells extreme sports travel products that take place in the mountaionous area.
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Book Vol. 1 is about to introduce the research and history of Airwalk. Also, I will talk about the strategy of the future Airwalk I came up with. The next following book is the book Vol. 2, Visual Development Guide. I will introduce how do I building a new identity.
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Vol. 1 Visual Strategy Guide This book is a non-commercial project for education purposes and is not intended to represent the Airwalk brand.
TYPOGRAPHY DIN
IMAGE SOURCE UNSPLASH.COM
DESIGNER WANXIN (HEVIN) LI
INSTRUCTOR HUNTER WIMMER
PRINTING & BINDING BLURB.COM
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