For almost 6 years now, KUSTOM KULT has had the privilege to contribute to building the Brand purpose and personality for the Harley-Davidson Core and Sport Apparel Lines by supplying Design Direction, Trend Consulting and Kustom Artwork for apparel and accessories.

Out from under a rock crawled a blood sucking winged eyeball clutching the HJC moniker and then spat outta the bowels of darkness a coupla demons clawed their way up and onto adorn these here fine moto helmets from HJC.

Brand Identity - Brand Mark Update
13THFLOOR
A Global PowerHouse Suffers An Identity Crisis
We all knew The Bad Boy Club from the 80’s Action Sports Industry. Times have changed- and so did this brand! The license for BAD BOY in the U.S. had been dormant for some time, while BAD BOY International licensing had been quite alive and well and prospering with growth. Disparate visual systems and messages amid the different product markets from Licensee to Licensee and Nation to Nation had created a fragmented Brand Identity. Focus Groups confirmed our observations that the old mark was, as one MMA competitor put it, "Out of touch" and skewing too young for this market.

MMA Brandscape Research
Already being familiar with the MMA industry, 13THFLOOR assembled a complete hit list of competitors, their marks and their positioning within the marketplace. Meeting with BAD BOY we reviewed the competitor's strengths and weaknesses and discussed MMA trends which brought the goals for the BAD BOY brand mark into the cross-hairs.

A New Identity Defined
BAD BOY in the U.S. today is all about MMA (Mixed Martial Arts.) In our discussions we found that it was important to understand that BAD BOY was not jumping on an MMA trend, but was rather one of the genuinely credible MMA Brands with solidly established MMA roots back to Brazil and Japan. Working closely with BAD BOY a positioning goal was clearly defined as wanting to stand out as a "Technical Brand" for athletes.

BAD BOY also asked 13THFLOOR to visually define 2 additional divisions of the brand with 2 distinctive Marks- BAD BOY PRO SERIES, and BAD BOY MMA. Each mark needed to stand alone, but clearly communicate BAD BOY, shown further down this page.


BAD BOY Brand Mark
BAD BOY Global has a multitude of products in different markets that come in all shapes, sizes and forms, so we designed the brand mark with lockups that work in different applications and production techniques. This required the brand mark lockups to be designed with both functional and creative options.



BAD BOY PRO SERIES Brand Mark
The BAD BOY PRO SERIES is a high quality line of equipment and apparel for training and competing in MMA. Designing a mark appropriate to this specialized and technical gear was needed in addition to the main BAD BOY brand mark. After discussions between 13THFLOOR and BAD BOY the design goal for PRO SERIES was to be easily identified as BAD BOY, but set apart enough to be recognized as a high-end and exclusively distributed line of MMA gear and apparel for the serious athlete.



BAD BOY MMA Brand Mark
The BAD BOY MMA SERIES is a high quality line of products for training & non-competive uses. This highly technical gear was to be sold at mass retail and sporting goods chains. The "MMA" callout in the logo clearly differentiates it from the PRO SERIES, ties in with the global MMA trend as well and lets the less knowledgable consumer understand its intended use.



BAD BOY Flag Icons
A Boost To Brand Equity

The credibility, roots and international involvement of BAD BOY in MMA were important aspects to identify and design into this mark. The flags of the U.S., Brazil and Japan in the mark remind the consumer that BAD BOY is a credible global MMA brand with roots in these nations of fighting origins. By stylizing the flags into more abstract interpretations, these icons of flags became an ownable part of the BAD BOY Brand and what would have been just a typical ubiquitous flag is now recognizable only to BAD BOY. These icons were designed to be used in an assortment of configurations and have become integral elements used throughout all branding of equipment, apparel and accessories design along with collateral, packaging and all levels of promotion.



Brand Mark Guidelines
The need for consistency and clarity across different geographies and Licensees for the use of the new mark was to be managed with a well crafted set of guidelines. Both internal and external users at BAD BOY Global now had the tools to successfully apply the mark with global unity.


Additional Brand Mark Executions

PROJECT CREDITS:
Design Direction / Art Direction / Production - 13THFLOOR: Dave Parmley + Eric Ruffing
Creative Direction - BAD BOY: Robin Offner, Alexandra Ponce De Leon, JT
Brand Consultant- THE BRAND FACTOR: Brad Horn
Ad Photography / Ad Design- Tyler Clinton

Game identity design for the sequel to Age Of Booty

Brand Mark Series Design for LIMB REAPER, a fresh line of MMA apparel and gear born out of a love for MMA, and a great sense of twisted humor. the focus of the Brand Identity for Limb Reaper was to be clean and iconic, bold and strong.

Rad themed decal pack graphics for Kustomizing Hot Wheels cars.

Having worked with BELL on many projects, one of the Creative Directors, who's been a fan of 13THFLOOR, was inspired after seeing some of our recent work. He thought it would be cool to feature the style of 13THFLOOR on BELL product.

Super-stoked to oblige, we'd been working on some trippy illustration explorations for ELEMENT, X GAMES and Harley-Davidson and thought this vibe of art would be rad for this helmet model. This particular style of art is something we've been toying with- gargoyles and hauntingly grotesque embellishments that grow from and into each other, like fire belching velo-demons at your heels and a banshee howling in your ears, torquing every drop of lactic acid out of your burning quads as you flee down the slope toward the finish line and freedom.

The idea for the complete helmet graphics wrap was to build this design around the screaming skull merging into some nice speed lines that wrap front to back along with a hardcore black-on-bone / metallic gold and a slice of red zap to punch up the gonzo. This combination of art and graphics captures the stoke and tells the story of the adrenaline that white-knuckling downhill is all about.

Dave Parmley of KUSTOM KULT STUDIO and Eric Ruffing of TRIGGERLAB STUDIO were brought in to create graphics and custom typography for the H-D Spring Outerwear Collection. Working closely with the California Design studio for Harley-Davidson apparel, we worked within a theme of military insignia inspiration and use of the killer H-D skull & Bar & Shield logo. The feel was for Sport and had to rock a leather jacket as embroidery or a 3-D patch.

KUSTOM KULT: Brand Marks + Logos + Lettering + Icons + Fonts + Selected designs from various clients

Merchandise Graphic for a kick-ass Alt-Rock online only radio station called The THING

Johnny Schillereff co-founder of ELEMENT asked 13THFLOOR to bring a more artistic, Kustom lettered + skate vibe design back to their line. Here is a selection of designs we hand krafted while working with Johnny.

 

This book is like a jump-start for little hipsters. As parents who see the world in a different light, we realize with this book, either you “get it” or you don’t! Oh well if you don’t- there will always be a place for “A is for APPLE,” but, c’mon, you KNOW your cool kid will make a place for “S is for SKULL! We’re super-stoked to have the opportunity to create an ABCs book that “talks the talk” and if you “walk the walk” we know you’re down with it too.

Great apparel graphics are so crucial in any industry where brand loyalty is demonstrated by devout followers who "represent" their favorite brand logos, product logos, team rider and event identities or any variation and mutation thereof.

Our challenge was to produce a hang tag that resonated the full value of this high end product at this crucial touch point for the dedicated MMA audience that will want to train in them.

A Style Guide for the Pixar animated short, Cars Radiator Springs 500 1/2, the theme was to develop designs that capture the action and excitement of the characters kicking up dust in the desert race.