Alcatraz Skates Identity

This project is a rebranding of Alcatraz Skates.
The concept has 3 divisions that we have formed as a narrative to organize and form the brand identity. Everything in this identity (including the
3 divisions we have made) are inspired direct or inpart by the turn of the century, preindustrialized commerce and community. This era was chosen because it was a period where only shops like Alcatraz (independent) existed, and also as one
of the only things that actually in someway acknowledges the origin of the name.

The 3 divisions we made and how they apply to Alcatraz are as follows:

1. The offering of a high standard of products to the community.
2. The offering of product knowledge and service to the community.
3. The offering of a hub for group of like minded people within the community.

We used these 3 divisions after researching all the advertisments, and products we could find from the turn of the century. We found these divisions were the fundamental nature of business in that period.

Everything within the brand in someway is a reference to something else, whether it is more apparent or not. We have also worked in alot of hidden aspects into the brand, somethings happened by complete accident, and some were the motivation behind doing things the way we did. To point a couple out, the badges are designed inside rectangles that have the golden ratio (the golden ratio is used through out this whole system actually), and the monogram is designed to mimic the symbol of a certain secret society.

The redesign incorporated elements of the original brand, but in a somewhat obscured way. The idea was to build on what was already in place, but make the identity more accessible and complete. This identity accomplishes that and also manages to endear Alcatraz to the community, after all they have done alot for everyone in their community.

Old Skool All Over

Recently we've all been plagued by an epidemic; the all over print. Graphically there is nothing wrong with them. Before it became very popular we even created what could be technically categorized as an all over print. Well sort of, I guess the way we did it was more of a way of a graphic application than the making of a an all over print for all over print purposes.

Inspite of most all over prints being obnoxious we decided to create one for these skateboards. When designing for skateboarding it's always fun to mix in a bit of commentary. The skateboard industry is one of those industries with a short memory span, and an even shorter tolerance for anything that is not typical. Keeping this idea in mind, and the fact that all over prints are obnoxious anyways, we decided to use designs inspired by the retro skateboard graphics. The vintage / retro skateboard graphics are rather garish, but that is part of their beauty. The fact that they are at often times completely ugly.

Some of the more iconic designs were kept more intact so they could more recognizable, while others were more obscured. We also incorporated odd colour palettes inspired by the period.

We think they came out perfect, we love them in spite what they are. And you know what they say, love and hate are the 2 closest emotions.

We would also like to add that these boards were designed well before the resurgence of retro inspired graphics and colours of 2008. We most definitely were not bandwagoning on these.

Masters of Leisure

The Masters of Leisure is the modern day version of an old recreational gentleman's club. The crest was designed in the same vein as the old crests and had the same meanings that the original crests had built into them. There are a lot of references built into this crest, the main one is the shape which is based on the pentacle, all the other symbols combine to form other meanings. We don't want to say too much, it might give everything away.

The illustration is a take on the antique Vanity Fair portraits of the early 1900's.

Impossible Products

We find it interesting that so many different groups of people everywhere have their own vernacular, which makes complete sense to anyone within that group, but, to everyone else it may as well be another language.

We wanted to use this as the starting point to develop some ideas for graphics that could be applied to stickers, t-shirts, skateboards, and any promo items. We started to play with the context of some of the more typical or over used phrases and words from the skateboard culture. We liked how ambiguous the words are and realized that they basically all have the same or no meaning, and that there are a million ways to say one thing, or a million ways to use the same word.

Technically when these words are used in conversation they are mainly used as adjectives, but sometimes they are objectified (in certain modifications), which we liked. We thought if it could be a person, place or a thing, it could be packaged, and since it could be packaged, it could be sold, and who better to sell it than Alcatraz.

We also liked the fact that more than 90% of the time when you see these words in use it's usually part of a pathetic attempt to capture the demographic of the skateboard culture. The graphic is sort of mocking this.