After researching into Bitch Skateboards, I have really become fascinated by skate culture particularly in the 90s. What really interested me is the commercial side of skating and the way that skateboarding really represented people standing up to ‘the man’. Independent, skater owned skate brands managed to take on big corporations that ran the skateboarding market and ran a lot of them out of business. I really like the idea that the power and money that the skateboarding industry generated went back into the skaters pockets. The companies owned by World industries is a perfect example of this, their brand became a community brand within the skating community, the tone of World Industries was meant to be somewhat controversial but in a way that treated its customers like friends at eye level to the brand itself.

I also really love the 90s skate aesthetic, particularly in marketing and zines. A huge fashion movment in the 90s was grunge, grunge was all about taking influence and referencing past fashion trends and fusing them together. I think there is a big connection between the attitude of grunge to the attitude of skating and the idea that ‘anything goes’. The designs of skateboard decks and the designs of skate zines and adverts don’t appear to follow any particular theme when it comes to their aesthetics, I think it just boils down to what looks cool which I think is a good embodiment of what skating is all about.

With this in mind, I decided I wanted to create a series of my own skate deck designs. My ultimate goal for this project was to create a campaign/ redesign a business/ represent action against climate change a being cool. I think there is a big theme around people that care about the planet as being hippies or tree huggers. So, what I want to do is create a series of skateboards that unapologetically promote sustainability and caring about the planet in a way that these skateboard may have. I think everything looks cool on the bottom of a skateboard and this gives me the opportunity to explore a something completely new.

One thing that can be seen in a lot of skate decks is the reference to people, pop culture and things that were happening at the time. So, I decided that I wanted to do this with Greta Thunberg.  I find Greta fascinating, and I find it hilarious the social debates Greta has creating simply by being a 17 year old girl that people listen to and respect- and the fury this has caused a certain demographic of people. I think this demographic of people (old men) is the same demographic that skaters and big skateboards would be have also been ‘rebelling’ against. I decided that I would create designs that referenced Greta as she is the face and youth climate rebellion, which is ultimately what I am trying to promote.

My first main idea was to draw an overly sickly sweet style utopia scene- which to me represented the world that Greta is hoping we all achieve. I wanted it to be overly sweet and girly to create a sarcastic tome which is definitely something that skate brands have done before. I then wanted to lay a portrait of Greta over the top. When I had finished the scene, I was really happy it looked very hyper-girly and almost a bit trip which I think worked in really well with my whole theme. I then played around with other ideas from this, I took a cross-section of the Utopian scene and changed the colouring to a saturated warm colour pallete- this was to represent what could happen to the earth if we don’t try and tackle climate change. I decided to overlay a potrait of true,p over the top of this one, as he’s probably the most relevant climate change skeptic of this time. For the other designs I more just wanted to play around and experiment. I create a couple of illustrations that would work well on their own. I create a melting earth ice-cream which looked like a skate design already, I also create Greta with her 2 middle fingers up. The swearing/rude tone I think fits perfectly with skate culture and being ‘controversial’ and not worrying about being PG. I then also create a piece that was inspired by Uncle Sam and ‘your country needs you’, but with Greta Thunberg.

The original Utopia illustration;

The finished Skateboard series;

Greta Sticker;

The skate designs are feminine but I’m hoping that the hyper-feminine creates a certain sarcasm. I also think from looking at other current deck designs that designs have become more ‘feminine’ than they would have been in the 90s which does comment on social growth. I am also consious that I want this to be my own style too.

After I came to a point where I was happy with all my digital designs, I wanted to make a physical board too. I wanted this design to still be part of the series. These are just a really quick example of my thoughts.

my next steps are to create a physical board design and then think about how I am going to present/ promote my ideas.