Airwalk – Visual Development Guide // GR604 Student Project

WANXIN (HEVIN) LI// FALL 2019

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VISUAL DEVELOPMENT GUIDE

Vol. 2 Visual Development Guide

AIRWALK

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VISUAL DEVELOPMENT GUIDE // AIRWALK

CONTENTS.

01 CONCEPT RESEARCH Brand Story

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The Old Mark

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Design Concept

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LOGO DEVELOPMENT

FINALIZATION

LOGO RESEARCH

Initial Sketches

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Final Mark

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Similar Logos

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Sketches Refinements

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Final Logotype

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Logo Inspiration

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Digital Refinements

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Final Logo

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Final Exploration

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CONCEPT RESEARCH Brand Stroy The Old Mark Design Concept

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VISUAL DEVELOPMENT GUIDE // AIRWALK

BRAND STORY The Airwalk has been one of the brands that launched and built the action sports community.

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 DEVELOPMENT GUIDE // AIRWALK

THE OLD MARK

It is necessary to learn about the visual developing history of the Airwalk before starting to re-design.

Airwalk has used two different logos during different periods. The graphic in the logo has shifted from a symbolic icon to a wordmark graphic element. The wordmarks they used are almost the same shape that has skateboard shapes involved.

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1989–1994

1994–Present

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VISUAL DEVELOPMENT GUIDE // AIRWALK

DESIGN CONCEPT

Mission Statement

Brand Soul

Pushing people to take risks to let them become more fearless.

Helping people to become more fearless.

Keyword 01// Fearless Airwalk always inspires and motivates people with a strong attitude to become more fearless.

Keyword 02// Challenge Enjoy taking risks.

Keyword 03// Motivate Motivate people's willingness.

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LOGO DEVELOPMENT Initial Sketches Sketches Refinements Digital Refinements Final Exploration

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VISUAL DEVELOPMENT GUIDE // AIRWALK

INITIAL SKETCHES ROUND—ONE I started to draw initial sketches from three directions which are the symbolic mark, graphic mark, and wordmark. I designed more than 100 sketches for each direction.

What's more, each direction has three keywords concept.

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I started sketching in a symbolic direction. I chose wolf icons representing the brand because it can convey fearless.

I also sketched a lot of graphic icons that can express the fearless feeling.

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VISUAL DEVELOPMENT GUIDE // AIRWALK

I tried to combine letter A and W together.

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I think the shoulder is very powerful and can show a feeling of fearless.

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VISUAL DEVELOPMENT GUIDE // AIRWALK

I tried to express my brand idea of challenge with the feeling of cutting the font.

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I thought the skull icon can help me to convey a strong corporate image.

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VISUAL DEVELOPMENT GUIDE // AIRWALK

Skateboarding is very important for airwalk, so I added some skateboarding elements to the design.

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Design is thinking made visual. —Saul Bass

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VISUAL DEVELOPMENT GUIDE // AIRWALK

SKETCHES REFINEMENTS ROUND—TWO Second round I focused on developing the sketches that I picked the last round and exploring more possibilities based on these forms.

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In the second round of sketches I tried to design with a lion instead of a wolf.

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VISUAL DEVELOPMENT GUIDE // AIRWALK

When I researched skateboarding and company history, I browsed a lot of photos about skateboarding practice and competition. Among them, I was very impressed with skatepark.

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VISUAL DEVELOPMENT GUIDE // AIRWALK

DIGITAL REFINEMENTS ROUND—THREE For this step, I also started with hand drawing after that, I picked some of them and moved to the computer designing.

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Final Selection

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VISUAL DEVELOPMENT GUIDE // AIRWALK

FINAL EXPLORATION After I set the direction, I made another exploration of shapes and colors.

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FINALIZATION Final Mark Final Logotype Final Logo

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VISUAL DEVELOPMENT GUIDE // AIRWALK

FINAL MARK The final logo I picked has two main concepts: skatepark and letter A. Skateboard is why we built the business. It is where we started. Letter A is from the brand name—Airwalk. At the same time, the upward trend of the curves on both sides expresses the meaning of constantly challenging difficulties and self-improvement. This is a simple and strong mark that conveys the brand's spirit.

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VISUAL DEVELOPMENT GUIDE // AIRWALK

FINAL LOGOTYPE After I finalized our iconographic logo, I tried a lot of typefaces. Finally, I decided to choose Gemo Graphic as our logotype foundation.

This font has a strong and clean look. To keep consistency with our mark, I later on modified it into a rounded font, aiming to create a clean and unique look.

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I modified it into a rounded font.

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VISUAL DEVELOPMENT GUIDE // AIRWALK

FINAL LOGO

Signature Formats

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Signature Formats: Reverse

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VISUAL DEVELOPMENT GUIDE // AIRWALK

Secondary Formats

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Secondary Formats: Reverse

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LOGO RESEARCH Similar Logos Logo Inspiration

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VISUAL DEVELOPMENT GUIDE // AIRWALK

SIMILAR LOGOS Even though every concept behind the logos is distinct, our logo may inevitably be similar to others. Comparing them with ours is necessary and helps us to avoid similarity.

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VISUAL DEVELOPMENT GUIDE // AIRWALK

LOGO INSPIRATION There are so many good logos to get inspired by. I learned a lot from these good designs, here are just a few of them.

Red Simple, clear and easy to remember. Red gives a strong visual impact.

Seagate The Wave represents ideas and information in motion. It matches the company's main product.

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Broadview The Eye Graphic represents bringing protection to our customers by being a constant presence, actively alert. Because it is a security brand, the bold sans serif typeface is very matching.

Fedex This "hidden" arrow between E and X is intended to be a subliminal symbol for speed and precision. It is very smart design.

BCCB I like the colors they use because they could represent the business feeling. The circle also could represent the coalition.

The typeface they use on logo conveys the reliable and stable.

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Book Vol. 2 is about my process of how I developed the new Airwalk logo. I distilled the meaning of brand values and looking into the possibilities in multiple aspects and building a new identity. It was a fundamental and meaningful process.

The next following book is the book Vol. 3, Visual Standards Guide. I will introduce our potential for future extension.

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Vol. 2 Visual Development 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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