Girl Skateboards

For my final entry I wanted to showcase one of the most iconic skateboard companies of all time with one of the most iconic images in skateboarding. Girl has been a figure head since their conception in 1993 and their image of whats often known as a girls restroom figure has been put on deck after deck in numerous styles and colors. Girl has one of those logos that goes beyond just the skateboard world in terms of being recognized. Someone may know nothing about skateboarding but they may be able to recognize Girl's logo and that I feel is when you know you have really hit the jackpot with a design.

Sebas and Clim

Sebas and Clim are a design duo coming out of London who are doing one interesting things. I haven't seen a ton of their work but from what I have explored they use some very unique typography combined often with animation. One of my favorite pieces Ive seen by them is the milk carton pictured below. Its simple but theres just something about it that intrigues me.

Vision Gonz collection

Vision is yet another skateboard company (If you haven't noticed by now I really like skateboard graphics). The Gonz collection is a classic when it comes to skateboard graphics. Unlike many graphics before and after the Gonz collection ran for four years which never happens. It was so iconic that they simply kept producing it. The 80's style neon graphics are just plain awesome. If you like the 80's this is the board for you. it embodies everything about the style at the time. Has to be one of my favorites.

Phillip Sierzega

Phillip Sierzega is an emerging designer coming out of Brooklyn who I recently found and really like his work a lot. He chooses to use a lot of disciplines combined together usually in an interactive setting. He usually uses very vibrant colors that catch the eye and tends to use motion very well within his pieces. I think it would be a great experience seeing one of his works in a live setting.

Donny Miler

Donny Miller is an artist who work with various skateboard companies designing graphics for numerous boards. Miller is known to push the boundaries of skateboarding, which is really something to say because if skateboarding is known for something it probably is pushing the boundaries. Id like to highlight one of my personal favorite works of his, his Alien vs. Predator board. The movie Alien vs. Predator is a classic but for this deck Miller chooses to demonstrate his take on it combining an image of Michael Jackson and E.T. Personally I think it is hilarious and genius.

Santa Cruz Star Wars Collection

With the new Star Wars trailer coming out recently I thought it would be appropriate to write about the recent Star Wars skateboard deck collection that came out from Santa Cruz Skateboards. Santa Cruz is a major player in the industry, mostly in the longboard/cruiser department but none the less there new line of decks appeals to a large group of people. Of course we all know Star Wars lovers will eat up anything Star Wars and skaters alike will be very interested in these boards. The Graphics are very clean Vader, Hans Solo, Boba Fet , and Princess Leia. In my opinion it was a genius collaboration that Im sure will sell amazingly even though they are a bit pricey. Star Wars graphics and skateboarding were a match made in heaven.

New Hive

New Hive is a website i found recently when I found the "Miami Feels" entry. Id never heard of it prior  but after doing some further exploring I found the layout interesting to say the least. New Hive has a Tumblr-esque vibe to it. User can set up what I would call a blog of sorts where they have a one page cover to which you can then delve deeper into the weirdness as I like to say. Cause if there is one thing I have found out about New Hive is it can be a very weird place. Some people choose to share art and various designs where other just post stuff that I have no idea what is going on. In one instance a users cover was simply a spire in a fish bowl asking the fish if they wanted to video chat. That was just the tip of the weirdness. That being said some of the blogs do feature some very interesting work and the design of the site is unlike any I have seen before and I encourage you to check it out.

 New Hive

Traffic Skateboards

Traffic is a company started by legendary street skateboarder Ricky Oyola. Oyola is actually from Philadelphia which makes Traffic a company that is that much more intriguing to me. Not only the fact that Oyola use to dominate Love park back in the day but after doing a little more research I found they had some very interesting graphics. I had seen some of their city exposure images used before on a collection of their decks I found very interesting but after checking their website they have many other graphics that differ more than I thought. One of my favorites being a series of cubbies on various decks featuring different things in each of the cubbies on the different boards.

http://theoriesofatlantis.bigcartel.com/category/skateboards

"Miami Feels"

For those of you who weren't aware myself included up until recently right now in Miami Beach "Art Basel Miami Beach 2014" is going on. Art Basel is a gathering of many forms of art in the Miami beach area. There are seemingly endless exhibits going on my personal favorite being Andre 3000's, of Outkast, displaying the 47 different jumpsuits he wore on tour this year. The main way I found out about Art Basel Miami was because of an article I read on "Miami Feels" an online project covering the event. It is truly unlike anything I have seen before. there are live updates streaming across the screen in the from of pictures and various texts with bumping music in the background. It can be very overwhelming at first but I highly recommend you take a look for yourself.

http://newhive.com/jonaslund/miami-feels

Slave

Slave is yet another skateboard company who I has caught my attention in terms of graphics. Although Slave is no where near as widely recognized as companies such as Girl/Chocolate or Toy Machine they certainly have a unique style that I am really fond of. A lot of their deck graphics have a very dark feel to them and could even be decried as creepy in some cases. That being said the artwork is fabulous and something I haven't really seen in the skateboard world. In a lot of their decks I feel the graphics can be just as renowned for their art work as for the purpose they serve in skating which can't be said about a lot of companies.

Toy Machine

Skateboard companies have to be one of my favorite examples of great use of design to sell their products. No company in the skateboard industry takes advantage of unique design better than Toy Machine. Since their conception in 1993 Ed Templeton has had his company on the forefront of unique advertisements and deck graphics. With the companies trademark cartoon, doodle type style they have been a headlining figure in skateboarding. From the classic demon figure to their take on the last supper Toy Machine has been producing quality graphics for a long time and appears to be continuing down the path of success.

Chocolate Deck Graphcs

Chocolate is a skateboard company formed in 1994 out of the already established and more widely known company Girl Skateboards. Girl being the big brother to Chocolate is known for having major well known skaters who are internationally recognized and admired as clean, amazing skateboarders. Chocolate took a different approach. They are more known for more rigid skaters usually coming out of the Los Angeles area. Girl has always been a company to have unique skateboard deck designs and Chocolate was eager to follow in their footsteps and mold their own image. In 1997 They brought on Evan Hecox who has been with the company since and has been producing some of skateboardings best Graphics ever since. He takes the unique approach of often taking a series of decks and making them their own individual image when separate but they also produce larger cohesive unit when placed next to each other in the correct order. Not all of his graphics follow this design but all his series tend to follow one format. Over the years he's produced amazing work including the logo design and still to this day is a pioneer in skateboard graphics.

Fluxwith.us

One of Adidas latest creations has been there very popular shoe the ZX Flux. The ZX Flux has come out with some of the most creative designs when it comes to shoes recently. The large base area of the shoe has allowed them to print unique graphics rarely seen on shoes before. Even more recently the customization of the Flux has gone to a whole new level with the website Flux With Us. Flux With Us is a database of customized ZX Flux shoes from everyday people to major shoe boutiques and everyone in between. Flux With Us has given consumers mass access to custom designs they can purchase that have never been seen before. It has taken shoe customization to a whole other level and as it vastly expands we may see mre and more shoe companies take a similar approach with future shoes. 

http://fluxwith.us/collections/featured

Supreme Has Taken Over the Streetwear World

For those of you who don't know Supreme is a clothing company heavily based in street wear with deep roots in skateboarding. If you haven't noticed by now they have taken a hold of the street wear industry and don't appear to be letting go anytime soon. They have been doing collaborations with major companies such as Nike and Vans now for years and their popularity only continues to grow. Their most recent Nike collaboration sold out online in 52 seconds.  Let me reiterate that their Nike Air Force 1 World Famous Collaboration could not even be purchased if you forgot for simply a minute. That is how far their popularity has come. Their collaborations are so widely sought after that they have created a mass secondary market sometimes valuing their products 4 to 5 times more than retail. Im writing about them in my design blog because their designs and building upon the concepts of already popular products has allowed them to grab such a hold of the fashion industry, which is often entangled with design world, it doesn't appear they'll be going anywhere soon. Their red box logo has become a staple in fashion these days so look out for it and keep an eye on Supreme if you don't already have one on them and if your trying to get your hands on a collar remember not to wait an extra minute or you could be out of luck.

Sizoo Brothers

In my last post I explored Love.Watts an Instagram art host and in this post I will explore an up and coming Instagram art based trio. The Sizoo brothers are three teenage brothers, Bastian, Willem, and Bob. All of them under the age of 18 and all of them are mastering the art of photography right before our eyes and using Instagram as their outlet. Thanks to the wonders of the internet in the modern age the brothers from the Netherlands were able to amass tens of thousands of followers and have been sharing their captivating image with the world. The Sizoo brothers are yet another success story of how social media can further expand the art world.

 

Love.Watts

With the explosion of social media platforms from Twitter and Facebook to Instagram many more outlets have been opened up to artists to get their work out to larger and larger audiences. Love.Watts as he is known on Instagram is a leading pioneer in helping artists do just that. For your everyday artist or person in general it is not so easy to obtain 80,000+ followers and that is where Love.Watts comes into play. Love.Watts has developed a massive following on the popular social media Instagram by hosting the work of various artists on his page. What started as him posting images of textures and other things he liked quickly grew into him hosting his favorite images he received from many artists via email. On a daily basis he hosts upwards of 10 images from many different and unique artists allowing them to get there work to the over 80,000 eyes he has viewing his images. Its people like Love.Watts who are revolutionizing the art world and bringing it further into the modern age of internet sharing. With the emergence of people such as Love.Watts artists will simply have another outlet to release their work.