Hoods Skate Co

Role: Brand Designer, Logo Designer

Date: 2020-2021

Hoods Skate Co is a skate California clothing line. It was started and created by a San Diego native with their partner in 2020 from the ground up. In the past year, the company has grown from an idea to a full-fledged online successful business.

At the local level, Hoods Skate Co was founded as a tribute to the CEO’s late father and the city it was founded in. The client’s major request was to create a logo that was reminiscent of the founder’s late father and the city’s skate culture. This was sincerely taken into consideration throughout the design process and was seamlessly incorporated into a logo that would also appeal to their target demographic as well.

Hoods Skate Co requested a logo to represent their company and to be used on labels, merchandise, and for their online presence. Hoods Skate Co, the client, provided a company vision and their ideas for a color palette.

The logo was expected to capture the essence of a California skater brand, with the influences of other counter-cultures. The main request was to incorporate a spider into the design, this would suffice as a tribute to the founder’s late father, who went by the nickname of Spider.

The creative process of branding began with the logo design. This involved a brain dump, searching for inspiration in California skate culture, and thinking of ways to include the client’s requests. A simple on-the-fly mood board was also created for the color palette.
Simple sketches were created to quickly visualize the first ideas and present different logo styles and silhouettes to the client.
This was to lead the project in the right direction and in regards to bringing the client’s vision to life. It is also the most efficient way to allow for revisions, it is easier to make changes at this early stage in the creative process than to do so later on in the design process. Additionally, sketching creates a new means for communication between designers and clients.

Hoods Skate Co - Early Logo Sketches

After meeting and briefing with the client, it was elected that we pursue the circle emblem logo route. Initially, the client wanted only the word “Hood” incorporated into the design, but after viewing the sketches it was agreed it would be best to include the company’s full name to avoid any potential confusion.

We began to discuss fonts and explore colors. I presented the client with a few font choices we could pursue. These font choices were not random, they were elected for either their legibility or their potential in adding to the brand’s cohesiveness.

After choosing a font direction and deciding upon the circle emblem style, experimentations with different vector forms began. This logo would be used in merchandise and digitally therefore it was considered best to opt for a flat design. Below are four of the initial designs.
Click here to view the first design pitch in Google Slides

The designs were presented to the client and Logo B was the favorite. After this discovery and some feedback from the client, changes were made and the final design was produced and the color palette was refined.
Click here to view the final design pitch in Google Slides.

Hoods Skate Co - Final Logo Design

After the logo was created and approved by the client, branded merchandise was created. This included a sign and various forms of clothing. These images were included in the final pitch to create a better experience for the client and allow them to fully visualize their brand.

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