Brand Management: Wakeboard Company
I wanted to tell a quick story about these wakeboard graphics I had the opportunity to create.
Part of my job when I worked at The House was the position of brand manager of CTRL Wakeboards, Wakesurfers, and Paddle Boards. When I came into the position, one of the first things I wanted to do was redesign the logo bringing it into a more current and refined look. Then I wanted to come up with a more refined and stylistic look for the board graphics.
I wanted to create a look for this brand that I was proud to showcase on the water and get exposure for around the watersports industry. I'm very proud of the logo and the graphics I was able to come up with.
Logo Redesign
Original Logos
My Redesigned Logos
If you'd like to page through the 14 page presentation I prepared for this logo redesign where I go into greater detail, it is available here:
Two examples that I instantly wanted to improve upon can be seen below on the older version of the Studio. The CTRL logo on the nose is small, and falling off the right edge of the board. The other issue is the size of the board is not featured anywhere on the topsheet. That's something I value as part of the size lockup that can be a graphical and informative element of the design.
Older CTRL Studio 132
My version of the CTRL Studio 132
Wakeboard Graphics
When I set out to design the new collection of wakeboard graphics, I wanted to establish an overall feel of style / fashion / refinement to the look. I am very much against the "shrink it and pink it" mentality when it comes to designing women's graphics. So I wanted to make the women's boards cool looking while holding a feminine look, not just a lazy pink version. I also wanted each of the five colors I came up with to appear on every single board, bringing them together cohesively. Some graphics have all five colors featured largely, and some have only a couple featured large on the board with the remaining ones appearing as a small banner within the lockup on the topsheet. Also, every topsheet graphic was meant to feature both gloss and matte finishes.
Above is the Imperial. The entire topsheet was meant to be a gloss finish, and the little factory icons that repeat in the lighter color were meant to be in a matte finish and unprinted with ink.
Above is the Blazer. This board is on the more aggressive side of board design. More explosive pop off the wake and an aggressive nose and tail shape. The checkered flag pattern made sense to me when thinking of the style of this aggressive board. The topsheet was meant to be in a gloss finish with the checkered flag pattern in an unprinted matte finish.
Above is the Studio. This is the first graphic I designed for the brand. It's a women's board and I wanted to feature a feminine stylistic look, not just a girly pink graphic. The topsheet was meant to be in a gloss finish, with the lines on the nose and tail meant to be in a matte finish and unprinted with ink.
Above is the Line. I took a literal approach to the graphic since the previous years graphic also had a simplistic look. The topsheet was meant to be in a gloss finish, with the line through the middle of the board and the large word LINE meant to be in a matte finish and unprinted with ink.
Above is the Scope. The Scope was a little more premium performing board shape and I wanted to make it look as such. The base graphic features some of the thought behind the design of the logo. The topsheet was meant to be in a gloss finish, with the factory icon shapes meant to be in a matte finish and unprinted with ink.
Above is the Standard. This board is like the name, pretty standard in performance and is more of an entry level wakeboard. I wanted to feature a cool looking yet basic graphic. I wanted all the boards to have a nice graphic regardless of the performance level of the board. But this one was a tad more basic. The topsheet was meant to be in a gloss finish and the grid pattern was meant to be in a matte finish and unprinted with ink.
Above is the Supreme. The Supreme was the board in the lineup that featured a reinforced base for sliding rails and hitting ramps. The topsheet was meant to be in a matte finish, with the factory icon shapes on the nose and tail meant to be in a gloss finish and unprinted with ink.
Above is the Vogue. This board is the women's version of the Standard. I used the lowercase "g" from the board name to create the simplistic graphic on the topsheet and base. The topsheet was meant to be in a gloss finish and the six vertical lines were meant to be in a matte finish and unprinted with ink.
Wakesurf Graphics
I wanted to make these wakesurf graphics simple, bold, and classy looking. Similar to the wakeboard graphics, all five colors appear on every board. I included the EVA foam top pad on each graphic design.
The Bonito was a smaller board and was meant to be an easy riding entry-level board. It was capable of surface spin tricks and skim style flip tricks.
The Durado was a smaller board and was meant to be a mid-level skill board. I created the graphic to resemble an actual surf board complete with stringer down the center, and board shaper style signature on the stringer. The logo / name / size lockup on the bottom was meant to resemble a sticker job like a sponsored surfer would arrange on the bottom of their board.
The Slash was a medium to larger size board meant for surf style riding with the capability of skim style tricks.
The Tarpon was a larger size board meant for surf style riding with the capability of skim style tricks. This board is my personal favorite to ride. I liked the idea of having a two color, very simple graphic on this board. It's 63in long so it would look pretty impactful in this color in the water.