LIVE WIDE OPEN. Is a brand campaign designed to run as a supplement to product specific marketing. The aim is to highlight and celebrate Bell‘s connection to and championing of two wheeled culture. Executions span digital, print, environmental and video.

To celebrate Bell‘s 60th anniversary we created a secondary mark to be used in special promotions and limited edition collaborations. It was inspired by the classic shapes of road signs and is meant to gives a nod to the past while at the same time looking with anticipation ahead to the future.

Intershop transforms the challenges of a digital world into entrepreneurial success stories. They’ve been setting standards in the development of software for digital commerce. They advise and support companies around the digital transformation of their business relationships and transaction processes and digitize their marketing, sales, and service operations.

We wanted to connect with our audience on a much deeper level. While highlighting tech and specs was fine, it didn’t make you fall in love with the brand. This complete brand relaunch did just that. We looked at what resonated with the cycling culture and how we could position Blackburn as an authentic brand within it, a brand that lives and breathes all things cycling.

Identity
Website
Social Media Campaign
Brand Values & Position
Industrial Design Language
Packaging System

Photography: Brian Vernor
Illustration: Chris McNally

Challenge
When Microsoft wanted an outside perspective for the design of its next-generation operating system, Windows XP, the company turned to frog design. frog was issued a sweeping mandate: to generate key elements of the user interface, including the media player UI and taskbars, combining ultra-contemporary allusions with an elemental, expressive, and visually sensitive whole. The project even came to encompass a revision of Windows’ most recognizable component – its classic logo.

Deliver
With the product design in place, we turned our attention to the Windows logo. Its classic four-color arrangement of red, green, yellow, and blue tiles on a pixelated pennant was seen to represent both windows opening onto the world and flags of exploration and discovery. The Windows mark needed to maintain the brand equity it had accrued in its long history while expressing the evolution towards a more flexible, user-friendly brand. Our team developed a slate of fifty new logos, ranging from simple to radical alterations, the top three candidates were my designs so I was chosen to present them to Microsoft for selection. While recognizably a descendant of its predecessor, the reinvigorated logo is distinguished by its clean lines, energy, and movement – a bright, forward-looking emblem of the digital frontier.

Result
“It was obvious that the new functionality of Windows XP would demand an equally exciting look and feel throughout the product experience,” says Steve Kaneko, the Design Director for Platforms at Microsoft. “With its experience in branding and interactive media, frog design was able to offer valuable support in creative exploration and strategy. This allowed us to deliver a more consistent and cohesive visual concept of Windows.”

As a way to build the Bell brand within the broader culture, not just hard core riders, I developed a number of collaborations where I worked with a diverse group of very talented artists on projects spanning product graphics and apparel to special events and gallery shows.

Artists include:
Taylor Reeve
Corey Miller
Jona Cerwinske
Saber
Skratch
Derek Hess

The Bell Rogue was a new helmet platform designed for the rider that wanted the look of a half shell helmet but also wanted more protection from debris.

To launch the helmet we partnered with world famous tattoo artist and star of the reality series LA INK, Corey Miller. Corey is an avid rider and his authentic connection to the culture made him the obvious choice.

To kick the project off I started with a photo shoot in downtown LA. In order to capture the gritty realism I was going for I partnered with famed LA photographer Estevan Oriol.

To further bring the brand launch to life we partnered with SoCal PR/media firm The Brand Amp to produce the launch video and live activation at Daytona Bike Week and the Sturgis Rally .

The Bullitt started out as a senior project for designer Chad Hodge. Our team saw pictures of the design online and were impressed with Chad’s talent and his attention to detail. We reached out to him to see if he was interested in taking his design into production, Chad was excited to see his design become a reality so we made it happen.

For the launch I wanted to tell the designer‘s story. I knew Chad‘s design was right on trend with what younger riders were looking for but I also wanted them to know that the person behind the design was not just some designer with a great eye for aesthetics, but a young guy from Brooklyn who was all that, and a motorcycle builder/rider.

To build the momentum for the Star helmet and to reach the next generation of riders in an authentic way I collaborated with AMA champ, custom builder and designer Roland Sands on a limited edition helmet. This was much more than a design exercise, this was a statement about motorcycle culture and how we wanted to break down the perceived walls between tribes. We started out to show how performance and “custom” cultures could mix together and how the juxtaposition could create an exciting new aesthetic. Every aspect of the project was considered. To capture the essence of our new cultural statement I partnered with award-winning photographer Rich Van Every. Premium luggage maker Ogio was brought on to design a custom helmet bag. Every component of the packaging was completely custom. The result was a bold statement that captured the imagination of our core audience and influenced many projects that came later.