Nakai Schaefermeyer
Emphasis: Visual Communications
Camber Skis:
Camber Skis is a new outdoor clothing brand based out of Pocatello, Idaho. The company’s goal is to encourage others to get outside. Since they are just starting out, the company has very few designs available for customers. My goal in working for Camber Skis was to create several T-shirt designs that would attract more customers, and create content for their website and social media platforms that would attract more attention to their products.
Deliverables:
– 1-minute video.
– 7 T-shirt designs.
– 3 sticker designs.
– 2 Tote designs.
– 40-50 pictures.
Graphics:
Camber Skis currently has a single design which they print on several different colored T-shirts. I believe that well-known brands, such as Patagonia, Nike, and North Face, can get away with simply placing their logos on T-shirts, but I think small businesses will attract more customers if they offer a wide variety of designs.
My goal was to create unique T-shirt designs that would excite both skiers and bikers. I especially felt that Camber Skis needed a wide variety of designs since they only had two. I developed 12 graphics in total. There are a lot of bikers that love to ski during the winter, and a lot of skiers that love to bike during the summer. Camber was focused on designing only ski graphics when I started working on the project, so I pitched the idea of creating designs that would appeal to bikers and skiers alike. I also thought that designing graphics for both skiing and biking would be a good idea since the company is based in Pocatello, and Pocatello is full of people that like to participate in both sports. This could also go a long way to creating a local fanbase, following, and market.
My intention was to create fun graphics that would encourage people to ask someone about the T-shirt or the company, and possibly want to find one to purchase for themselves.. I really enjoy looking through different graphic designers on Instagram, and I enjoy following certain designers that specialize in surfing design. I don’t see nearly as many graphic designers that focus on skiing or biking designs. I wanted to create designs that feel similar to the surfing graphics: fun, chill, and not based simply on a company logo.
Video and pictures:
There was very little content on the Camber Skis Instagram when I started working on the project – there were only a couple of T-shirt pictures and that was about it. I believe that social media videos are a big promotional and advising opportunity that all companies and brands can and should take advantage of. I have seen several small businesses explode and grow their business because they posted videos that people enjoyed and quickly shared with others. I wanted to create a video along with the T-shirt designs that would attract more clients to Camber Skis.
Hours:
I spent my time on this project in different ways than I originally planned. I expected to spend very little time working on the graphics while spending the majority of my time working on the video. The graphics threw me through a loop, though, and required the greatest amount of time by far, taking just over 29 hours in total. The total time includes the hours from the beginning of brainstorming, creating mood boards, figuring out what style I wanted to use, sketching, discarding ideas, developing new ideas, creating drafts, creating more drafts, figuring out colors, more ideation because I liked the graphics I was already working on, more sketching, and then finalizing and printing designs for placing them on an actual T-shirt.
Video production took 15 total hours. These hours include brainstorming the type and style of video I wanted to produce, searching for and watching other videos that would inspire me and give me ideas for now or different production techniques. The majority of the time was spent working with the on-screen talent (the owners of Camber skis), acquiring the raw footage, finding music, and editing the final video.
The still images took the least amount of time but still took quite a few hours. I wasn’t able to produce as many photos as I originally intended during the first biking shoot, so I needed to schedule a second shoot. I spent 7 hours between the first shoot, planning and completing the second shoot, (the snowboarding and product shoot), and editing the final images.
Relevancy to my Future:
One of the biggest reasons I chose to work with Camber Skis is that I hope to work for an outdoor company in the future. I would love to create videos for a company website as well as their Instagram and other social media accounts. I learned a wide variety of skills during my time in the Visual Communications department, from design to photography to video production. I wanted to create a portfolio with strong videos that would show future employers not only my video production skills but my photography and graphic design skills as well.
Pictures:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1gPawPUKs3mSs5z3f9158v_p9uWfid9ZI?usp=sharing