1HDC 09.01 - Discussion Forum

I’m not a skateboarder, but I was doing some image research on boards with clear grip tape and I found this picture where the wood grain is pretty visible. I’m sure it depends on the visibility of the actual grain itself, but thought I’d share. [/img][/url]

Longboard details can be found at: http://www.fuel-fire.se/view_product.php?ID=245
(the “Padang”)
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New Addition to my top favs: ADD’s vibrations. I was fooling around with a similar concept last night, but couldn’t get it right. That one is spot on.

We knew there would be a lot of interest in this one, but wow…21 pages of entries with 2 weeks left is pretty mind blowing. We are loving the diversity of thoughts and images that are going into this month’s competition. Due to the overwhelming number of entries we thought it would be prudent to let people know a few things that may be able direct the last two weeks worth of entries a bit:

The winner’s board is going to be assembled by hand. Wee tiny little pieces will be difficult to place accurately. This will be considered in judging.

While we fully understand that skating and grip tape application is about self-expression, one thing is becoming apparent in the discussions amongst the judges - there is an affinity towards “custom” artwork.

What I am getting at is that we are looking for something that is your creation. We would like to see more work that is less a screen grab of something off the net and more of something straight from your mind. Spend an hour to design your board, not 10 minutes surfing the web looking for a cool photo to repurpose onto a board.

I definitely don’t want to stem the freedom of expression on this one. I am wanting to let everyone know what is going to give you the best opportunity to win.

thanks for the clarifications, IP.

Can you just please clarify the “clear grip tape thing”. I know what clear grip tape looks like, but it’s not 100% clear from the OP, if we can use BOTH clear and black griptape, or if the clear referred to only means areas where there is no griptape.

Thanks, and great job assembling this one… perfect combo of fun, something out of the ordinary, an a great prize!

As well, perhaps it might helps if you could clarify the fabrication process of this…how small is too small for little bits? Does the griptape come lasercut in all one sheet where the application has to be done by hand/eye? Are there issues with registration, and things lining up (ie. if you had two skinny stripes that had to parallel, this might be tricky even if the parts weren’t too small)? Can they not use some sort of top adhesive layer over the griptape to help application as per the process of laying down vinyl graphics?

Just trying to get more info so we can have the most creative (yet still feasible) graphics possible.

Thanks,

R

Yes, thank you for this clarification almost 2 weeks after the start of this competition. Jeez…

I just went through the ‘submission’ forum to delete my posts where I used internet sources. It easily took me about a half hour per submission regardless of whether I sourced something from the internet or had it birthed from my head.

R does have some of the same questions I have…

I worked in a sign shop where vinyl artwork used for painting masks were cut with a bladed printer. The sheet of vinyl with the cut artwork was still intact as the blade only cut to a certain depth. A transfer sheet was then placed over the artwork so that the unneeded areas (weeding) could be removed prior to placing the adhesive side of the artwork to the surface to be painted. The transfer sheet helped to maintain the registration and integrity of the artwork. I was curious to know more details about the griptape process to administer the cut artwork to the wood…I’m only assuming it’s quite similar. But you know what happens I assume…

I look forward to how this will change things…of course, some entries have totally not followed the constraints at all so I can only wonder that some people will only disregard this update if they don’t care to read the ‘discussion’ forum.

No sweat though, still a good outlet for me.

The irony is that I was just looking to buy a BMW Streetcarver right before this competition went live. I’d much rather have something I designed versus that skateboard…so you definitely deserve kudos on the Bustin sponsorship!

Okay, back to the vector drawing board…

pee sout

I figured I’d post some images I found while cruising the interweb of cut grip tape. Some of them were mentioned as being ‘laser cut’, others appear to have been hand done. Though it does show that the grip tape itself seems to be pretty resilient if cut into semi-intricate shapes. There’s some rad submissions, I cant believe there are 23 pages so far.

bustinry is a member of the Bustin crew and posted a couple of concepts here:

Does the level of detail in bustinry’s concepts reflect what can realistically be applied as griptape artwork?

I’m really just trying to establish a reference for the mechanical and precision constraints of the laser cutter and application process…

Maybe I’m wrong but this is a DESIGN competition and not a rip and paste contest isn’t it??

First of all, how many competitions have you entered where, about half way through, they say, “oh, by the way…just thought we should give you some further input about the parameters of what we’re looking for”.

That’s the basic argument I have after submitting 26 entries which were based off of internet sources. At least 30 minutes were spent on each which comes out to at least 13 hours of driving in the wrong direction. Needless to say, it’s time that could’ve been better spent. Who wouldn’t be upset about that? But, I’m over that now…

Second, who are you to judge the methods by which we create the art that’s submitted:

Andy Warhol didn’t “design” the soup can but he did make it art.

I’m going to assume you’re up to par on historic pop art figures. We can debate how you define design as a verb or noun but the fact of the matter is there’s still an unanswered question regarding the constraints.

The tolerance question right now is the biggest thing and the application process could use some more defining. Otherwise, I feel comfortable thus far with the recent change but I’m only speaking for myself.

Again, people can make me out to be the bad guy or just someone who’s inclined to do the best he can. I don’t have a problem following the rules but I will take issue when I see something that needs to be addressed.

I will say that I do appreciate the Bustin sponsorship and hope to finish in the top 3 because there’s plenty of Panama City Beach I could explore from the deck of a Bustin skateboard which would be sweet!

Right from the guy who will be applying the grip tape:

I think if they have to question if it is too small, then it is. Tell them to think about having to apply this by hand, which I will be doing. If they don’t think that they could lay their design down, then it should be tweaked until they are comfortable in the likelihood of its application. I don’t want this to stifle creativity and since I am applying the grip, I am will willing to go out on a limb for the sake of design.

A hint for the designers: Using both clear (opaque) and black grip together is the key to the functionality of the design as well as its application. The more negative, unused space, the more likely the grip is to tear away. Filling negative space with clear tape with strengthen the design as a whole.

I just want to reiterate what I stated earlier for anyone confused:

We are not saying that reconfiguring found artwork is something that can’t win. I wanted to give an indication of feedback I have received so far from those who will be making decisions as to what is standing out so far.

I repeat: We are not trying to stifle any form of expression nor are we stating that it is impossible to win if you’re reconfiguring someone else’s artwork.

As an example…don’t expect to win if you put Hello Kitty on a board with a clever tag line.

A good chunk of the work in the first 2 weeks was not “original” artwork. I was hoping to guide/encourage some new and different explorations…which I would say has worked positively so far.

Thanks IP, I can totally respect that…

There are greater legal ramifications with using images which may by protected by copyrights so I’m not against being more original.

I understand that the grip designs will be applied by hand but if the pieces are cut with a laser cutter, do they then come out as individual pieces without any form of registration or does the sheet of grip stay intact with some sort of transfer paper keeping them together? That part is still kind of sketchy…I’m basically assuming that applying the grip tape designs will be sort of like putting a puzzle together.

They wouldn’t happen to have a YouTube video visually explaining their process would they? That would help explain a lot and just be a good basic tutorial reference. It’s a challenge to say the least trying to explain a manufacturing process using words only. A minute or two of video would clear things up.

In any case, I do appreciate the guidance. :slight_smile:

I dunno if this is the same process as the griptape (again, could use clarification), but just came across this vid of the weeding process for vinyl art…

dunno if it’s applicable or helps, but anyhow-

R

Another “straight from the mouth of”:

The laser cut grip tape will be sent from Ponoko with transfer tape holding all the pieces together. This will be applied to the underside of the grip tape so I’m not sure it will help too much with the application. I don’t think it will stick too well to the grippy side of the grip tape which would be ideal for making the application easy. It will keep all the pieces together though, to make piecing the puzzle together easier.

Another thing to remember is pieces that are smaller than 1/4inch may fall through the bed of the laser and get lost.

That’s the money shot…I can double-check the tolerances to meet spec, now it’s a design competition! The “on” button has been depressed. Thanks!

Good video too R, brings back memories of my gig at DCL in Orlando. The next time any of you take a stroll through O’Hare, I got to do some of the directional signs using that process. Very methodical but a crucial part in the design process. It really helps to have some good tunes on the radio. ^)^

So, what are your favorites? There’s 25+ pages and would love to hear what people are thinking makes for a cool long board.

IP,

I’d suggest to almost to a first round of cuts to start to narrow it down. Cut out all the ones that are impossible to apply (some show gradients, microscopic bits, etc.), the ones that are ripped straight from a photo or have unusable logos on them, and then see what you get. I’d guess that first cut should at least take away half of them…

Would maybe be also good to put together some kind of a contact sheet to help judge/comment on. Going through 25 pages is almost impossible…

R

Good call. Definitely feeling a tad…overwhelmed with this one.

shoot, man, you got your work cut out for you. :open_mouth:

but, I was about to suggest something along the lines of what R suggested.

I’d even go by a check list:

1.) Manufacturability and functionality through good coverage of griptape(probably the most important)

2.) Originality (may be the most time consuming judging criteria)

3.) Pop (how does it appeal to you from a graphic perspective, usually a strong yes or no answer, it’s an “eh” that’s probably a no)

There’s about 15-20 images per page. If you can answer those 3 questions in less than 15 seconds per submission (5 second for each question), that would equate to around 300 seconds per page or only 5 minutes. Theoretically then, it should only take around an hour or so to go through everything to include documenting your answers. That’s basically 2 half-hour tv shows you might have to give up if you watch tv if you do it all at once. It might be better just to do it in chunks.

While it may seem daunting, it’s not as bad as it seems because some submissions should be faster to answer than others which will help your decision making process.

If it helps any, I think I’m about to burn out. LoL!

I have to give Core77 one thing, sometimes it inspires a creative streak in me.

I really miss that the most considering I’m not at a design job anymore…I need an outlet for my creativity and Core77 provides that so I just wanted to say thanks to you guys (and gals) and to everyone at Bustin and Ponoko for their sponsorship. I feel like I could do this forever but there has to be a stopping point, mostly for my sanity because I do get obsessed with these things. I also stopped at 52 because that’s how many weeks there are in a year. So, in my head, I could ride a different board every week!

Just to show my appreciation, I’ve put all my concepts that I’d like to submit into one file which I created as a poster. It reflects the influences that went into this competition whether it was from design research, nature, politics, my own body, pop culture, or from my own personal experiences. Some of the other designers who submitted work also stoked my fire, there’s some really talented people here and its great to be in your company. I wish everyone the best. :slight_smile: