Freaks of Nature
Adventure winter sport magazine launch, publication design, support media launch.
Magazine and Brand Launch
Freaks of Nature: Cover Design
Freaks of Nature started as a a new, hip adventure magazine, perched at the juncture between those well-heeled enough to afford a full backcountry ski or snowboard kit (upwards of $2,000, the buy-in price), and the skaterpunk readers of classic alt sport magazines like Thrasher.
The cover was designed to grab the viewer with offsetting diagonals of composition. The logotupe for the magazine launch was curated from existing typefaces, but brings together smear-y overpaint textures (in the word Freaks), with the 1970s-inspired, horizontal banding of the “Of Nature,” all the Super Graphics rage of that era, now popularized again.
Graphic shapes work as modified text boxes to imply snowflakes’ hexagonal forms, kicking off the magazine launch for Volume 1, Issue 1, with a cover that makes you want to turn to see what’s inside.
Rear Cover Spread
This two page spread features a full-bleed, full-page rear cover ad. The subject of this The North Face print ad is a woman, big mountain skier Jess Kimura. The client chose to pay for this back cover ad because one of the publication’s theme stories is about women skiers and their claiming their fair share of the boys’ club of backcountry skiing and big mountain free riding. Scale, tone, image quality, and layout were designed to complement and balance the cover, giving the magazine—printed on heavy stock paper and dense in the hand when lifted to turn the pages—the look and feel of a high end publication, such as a micro-press arthouse magazine or exhibition catalogue.
Project Specifications
Project Title:
Freaks of Nature
Magazine Launch and
Promotion Campaign
Assets:
Magazine Cover Design and Spreads
Mobile Device Promo
Banners and Cards for events
Target Audience
Backcountry skiing and snowboard and free-riding in general is a younger person’s sport. What goes up, must come down, and in this case, to come down, one must climb up … So the audience is 18 to
39-year olds. Those in the upper range of this population have more disposable income, which the companies who are expected to buy
ad space in the magazine or on its website can be counted on to appreciate a careful balance between counter culture and a sound business sense and appropriate style.
Background
Freaks of Nature is a new magazine inspired by the Big Mountain Rider movement, explosion in backcountry ski and snowboard interest, and the active lifestyle embraced by a growing population, champing at the bit to get out of the park and into the wilderness.
Design Problem
The audience skews younger. Many have not seen print magazines as a usual media channel—for many, it may be a “new” media stream. The client wants to produce a high-quality print magazine for boutique distribution in high-end coffee houses and print magazine outlets. Challenge is to match young culture and iconography with big money, old money interests—skiing and snowboarding, even for the dirtbag mountaineer remain sports for the wealthy.
Design Process
As well, the program calls for digital media design that correlates in look and feel to the high end and visually grabbing appearance of the print magazine. Magazine will promote its launch with several promotional campaigns: sponsoring a movie screening festival for Teton Gravity Research, an email and social media promoted sweepstakes and sporting product package, and give-away/bounceback postcards to be distributed at retail locations and at screening
and other events.
Design Solution
For print, bold graphics and full bleed images are considered the norm in skater punk magazines, which the client wants to appeal to. Bright colors in banners for movie screenings are meant to reference the visual language established in the print magazine pages.
Current media standards as popularized in outdoor retail stores such as REI and The North Face were studied, and websites and mobile media campaigns were analyzed for what is status quo. Media formats were contrasted for responsive design considerations.
Growing out a brand identity
A new magazine, a new logotype: two disparate voices join in one symbol of thrasher, mash-up culture.
Logotype Design
Backcountry skiing is back. Split-boards and wide-waisted, reverse camber skis have combined to bring together two disparate groups of riders. Similarly, the swagger of 1970s ski clothing (full body jumpsuits) and the brash of 1980s Punk music are mashed up here in a logotype that creates a new visual tension out of contrasts. The modern generation appreciates mash-ups across the culture, and the bifurcated tendencies of this two-part logotype capture that tension.
Skinning up the hill: TOC spread for the magazine launch.
Print Layout
Bold colors, full bleed photos, and interesting use of negative space in blocks and grids to capture the feel of today. Magazine is envisioned printed on heavy stock (80lb or the like) paper stock, giving great “hand” and weight to the product. Magazines have to be either really cheap and thin, or thick and demand book-like prices, to survive, today.
Giveaway Promos on mobile media capture audience data.
Digital Campaign
Digital is where it is at, so display design is incorporated into the package. As the brand rolls into digital releases of ads and social media content to capture the “scrolling” generation, magazine’s visual language is anticipated to transfer over to the mobile crowd.
Freaks of Nature magazine, open to a story.
Digital illustration of Snowshoe Johnson by Craig Charnley.
The 2-page spread is a story on Snowshoe Johnson, a pioneering Sierra Nevada skier and ski mountaineer.
Promotional Marketing
Cover page for the 5” x 8” retail discount Bounceback Card.
Word of Mouth
The leadership of Freaks of Nature wants to spread word of mouth about their cool new print magazine, and to gain readership to help sell advertising space. Physical printed promotional discount coupon cards (so called, “Bounceback” cards) are handy to give out at film screenings, brew pub fundraisers, and retail or outdoor industry events.
Backside of the Bounceback Card. QR code leads you to freaksofnature.com.
Associate with Quality
By agreeing to take a discount off retail purchases for followers of their brand, Freaks of Nature is forging relationships with high quality suppliers—equipment brands like Dynafit, The North Face, and Black Diamond. Hoping to be associated with these well-proven brands, Bounceback cards are a way to give shopping customers something to remember you by.
Movie Event Banner
The ski industry is built on psych, stoke, and getting pumped up for the season. As part of this legacy dating back to the first season that legend Warren Miller slept in his car in the parking lot of ski areas, and sold drawings for money to buy film, the Classic American Ski Movie has become part of the pre-season “pump up” that equipment retailers and the whole industry likes to get a share of. Freaks of Nature wants to make a splash by co-hosting a screening with Teton Gravity Research, a brand of backcountry ski enthusiasts long associated with gutsiness, courage, and “gnar.”
Event Banner: Get Stoked to hit the slopes with a pre-season fundraising movie, courtesy of Freaks of Nature and Teton Gravity Research, a leader in the arena of Big Mountain Freeriding.
Movie Screening Event Banner.