For my final outcome I ended up creating a small zine that would be given out with the series of boards I made. I also painted a design on to a physical board as I felt like it would be nice to have something physical partly as a memoir of my final project but also as it would be handy to take photos of and also for me to take myself away from creating designs on my computer.
For this board design I wanted something really bold and clear but I also really like when little cartoons are used in skate deck designs, so I decided to fuse these together. I knew before I started thinking properly about this physical design that I wanted to include the earth ice-cream as I think its one of the most successful parts of the designs I have been doing so far. I was in two minds about changing base the colour of the board, but eventually I decided to go for a light aqua that I watered down so the marital pattern of the wood to show through- I think this links in well with the style of protecting nature and sustainability (even if it is a bit ironic on a wooden board). I then set out by painting cone shapes in a diamond type formation across the board. This is something I did with one of my first digital designs. I was definitely mindful of making sure that all my designs looks like they came form the same series, partly for my portfolio but also because I’ve notices that people collect skateboard series, as well as the fact that they just look really nice together.
When I was painting on the board I decided it would be best to paint layer by layer instead of focusing on just one area at a time to help me determine how the final outcome would look as I went. I started building the layers of the melting earth ice creams up and for the background and I am really pleased with how they turned out. For the main design in the middle I had been drawn to the idea of using a polar bear, I think the links to polar bears and global warming are obvious and I also just felt like polar bears can be made to look as cute or as scary as needed. I also felt like a large polar bear would work really well in contrast to Greta as she lots smaller in comparison. I think the contrast in these 2 things also helps reciprocate Greta Thunberg quote “No one is too small to make a difference”.
At first I wasn’t too sure about how this board turned out, I was worried that the design maybe came off a little too childish which isn’t really who I’m aiming the board at, but overall I think the feel of the design works well. I still need to seal the design in with some varnish but aside from that its finished.
My next step was to photograph the design for content to put in my zine but also as documentation for this project. Now thing that I’ve noticed about skate zines and skate marketing in general is that the majority of non-skate photos are candid/non rehearsed/ spontaneous. Theres also a certain grittiness to skate photos which I think is just a product of the 90s grunge era. So, this was the style of photo I was going for. I decided to walk around the forest with the deck and photograph in different places to show off the deck. There were lots of good spots here that were a range of different terrains and styles but they were all amongst nature which I think work really well with my concept. Admittedly, there could have been a bit more thought out into the photos but I thin given the circumstances and also the time frame, that these work really well.
Finally, the zine. My idea for the zine came as I felt like I needed a way of documenting how I was tying all of these elements together. I wanted to express the idea of promoting sustainability whilst still maintaining a certain level of being cool, alongside promoting the series of boards I created. I wanted the idea behind the zine to express a certain sarcastic tone to lighten up the mood, as I feel like lectures on sustainability make people disengage so my idea was to do the opposite of this. I wanted the zine to be heavy on the interesting graphics and layouts, directly inspired by 90s skate zines. The zine is only 8 double pages of half a size of a6 so the information would have to be concise and to the point. I ended up having only 3 tips on how to combat sustainability, amongst the promotion for the series of skateboards. When I was creating the zine I made sure to experiment a lot with layer styles to create different textures for the different pages- as I think this is an aesthetic true to the 90s and the early days of graphic design. I really like how the zine turned out. I was trying not to get too bogged down with planning the design of each page and just going for it which I think really helped me. I really enjoyed creating this zine and I think the aesthetic worked really well for me, it’s a very forgiving aesthetic, whereby pretty much anything can work well together on the same page. I made a conscious effort to not make actual ‘ads’ for the boards as I wanted I think it was cooler to have the photos without having to mention that they’re for sale, as I think this maintains a certain anti-capitalist ideal.
The creation of this zine, alongside the skateboard designs has made me feel really inspired and excited for my future as an artist and these are things that I will definitely take forward after uni has finished. I think I’ve finished this project, and my whole uni experience on a really positive note.
