Culprit Surf
Complete visual system for a new company launch
Tom and Pete of Culprit Surf are the kind of guys you want to work for: intelligent, motivated, innovative and cool. When they decided to join forces to conquer the water sports market, Culprit Surf was the result. All Culprit needed was a complete identity system to grow with and a checklist of deliverables for the trade show launch of their company.
Accomplishments
My role on the project included art direction, design, and all production.
MY ROLE
- Logo/identity system
- ASR trade show advertisement
- Product one sheets
- Complete trade show booth
Design research and initial logo exploration
Our process for this project included:
- Define project goals and objectives
- Design research, including surf shop visits, interviews with target audience, review of surfing and related lifestyle media
- Concrete creative brief, outlining creative directions to explore
We started the initial logo exploration very broad, pursing a variety of potential marks and typefaces. We quickly narrowed the direction to those that communicated the technological advantages of Culprit’s products.
Final logo design
Culprit is about bringing performance advantages to the market through specific technological innovation.
The logo typeface connotes speed, while the memorable mark, constructed from revolving fins, suggests gears or other machinery. It looks great imprinted on boards, fins and other gear. The form suggests a breadth of marketing opportunities (dogtag-style bracelet charms, for example).
In this version the tagline “transformative tools for surfing” reinforces the actual physical advantage conveyed by the products.
Product one-sheets
We created colorful one-sheets for distribution at the ASR trade show, in order to provide information about product specs. Text and design emphasised the competitive advantage conveyed by Culprit’s technological innovation.
Advertisement for the Action Sports Retailer trade show in San Diego, California
Every participant in the ASR trade-show created a small ad that was incorporated into a flash widget on the ASR promotional web site. The text for the ad appeared independently, on a facing page.
We referenced mathematical formulas and vectors to enhance the sense that technological innovation is at the core of the Culprit advantage.
Booth banner and business card
We applied the design to free-standing banners for the trade show booth, business cards and other collateral. The logo and tagline were even applied to chocolates that were handed out.
ASR trade show booth
We designed the booth according to the specs of the structure Pete and Tom acquired. Pete sourced a transluscent, blue, wave-textured plastic for the booth sign. I hand-cut foam core for the logos and letters. Backlit, it was quite striking.
