boXkast: Skateboarding Was Little of My Dream

About two semesters ago, I've seen students walking around the campus holding their skate decks. Most do not have the truck and wheels on it. Prior to that, I recall that one of the projects we will be doing is a skate deck design. That time has come for me. I created one that has inspirations from the late 1970's to early 1980's.

At first, I couldn't be inspired. As far as I remember, the 1980's was mostly my era. Ok...I just gave away my age. I'm only 22...er...sometime ago. Well, the era was...like it is today...for the matter that music was an inspiration in most of what we associate with. There were discos...there were records. Well, now we are more familiar with MP3's and downloading them. Music had to be purchased from a record store. No digital format. Clubs or dance clubs nowadays are more or less still playing music. It was more or less known as discos back then. There is still a disco ball in the dance clubs.

Anyhow, my skate deck resembles both era with the disco lights and the records. The following are some screenshots. First, I took a template.

The template was in a vertical orientation. I just turned it into a horizontal position for me to place the assets. I also wanted it to be horizontal instead of vertical

Using the assets that I've created in both Photoshop and Illustrator, I started to place them onto the template and layout all the assets.

The background colour is a very dark crimson red

I added my initials "st" and branded it "boXkast"

These copy are raster assets that I created using photoshop. The era had a lot of focus on neon lights. Since I used the disco lights as an inspiration, I branded and signed my initials with a font that is very close to the movie "Saturday Night Fever" neon look and feel.

Asset of Record added

I researched some records and created a vector version of it. Then I placed it on the deck. I thought of adding the needle head with a stylus too. Given the amount of "lights" that I was going to put on the design, another object would be a bit overwhelming.

Disco lights as inspired from the album of the Bee Gees' "Saturday Night Fever"

These disco lights were easy to create. They were also easy to manage and arrange. Just that patience would be need for tedious work like this.

Lights, copy, and record, a basic view of the layout

Final version of deck

Sent the final version to the printer and then affixed it to the deck.

The skate deck had a design painted on it already.

I just used a primer to cover the it and then placed the vinyl sticker of my deck design on the deck.

When affixing the sticker, I just peeled a little of one side and started slowly as I peel the non-stick portion from the back and firm press the sticker to ensure there is no bubbles on it.

No need to wait for the sticker to set. Just ensure there are no bubbles in the middle or anywhere.

Using a sharp cutter, I carefully cut the excessive parts away. The blade must be new and sharp. I didn't bother changing to a new blade as I didn't have one. You will probably notice that the sticker is not edge is not perfectly sliced.