Landyachtz skateboards are tools for reimagining and exploring urban environments. The primary goal of these products is to offer intuitive operation and exceptional performance, allowing the rider to become one with the board and be fully in the moment. We create products that resonate with individuals, rather than aiming for mass appeal. We want our customers to see one of our products and to think, "This is me."
Getting graphics on skateboards is part of a larger process that we call developing the line up. The goal of this process is to create our annual product offering, that we sell to wholesalers, distributors, retailers, and direct to customers through our website. A typical Landyachtz Line Up has 50-60 complete skateboards, 25 wheel sets, 12 models of trucks, a dozen pieces of apparel, and a handful of accessories.
By creating diverse line up of skateboards, we aim to deepen our connections and to foster a stronger sense of self-expression in our customers. This approach involves understanding the personas and use cases that we identify at the beginning of each product cycle. We consider the motives, values, and goals that drive people to consider using Landyachtz gear. We project trends in the progression of the sport. We craft our products to communicate to our customers; We know who you are; We relate to you; And this skateboard is going to give you the experience that you've been looking for.
We begin with data. By looking at our successes and failures from previous years, we discuss what worked, what didn't work, and we identify things that we could have done better. We interview members our sales team, and their accounts, to learn about the brands that are resonating with people and why. We talk to our warehouse staff, who live and breath skateboarding. We listen. Looking outwards, we deep dive our competition. We research, present, and discuss our findings in order to gain perspective on their goals, the markets they are trying to win, and to develop an understanding of the greater product landscape that we are a part of. We zoom out from there to look at the state of the outdoor lifestyle and action sports industries. Retail shops are a great resource to find out how other companies are doing. We also consider broader cultural trends in social media, music, sports, fine art, illustration, street art, graphic design, and typography.
Next, we define our budgets, business objectives, departmental goals, project timelines, and manufacturing considerations. We determine how many skateboards models we are going to be producing and which categories they fall into. We also determine the materials and construction parameters of each model, which impacts the viability of certain graphic application types. For example, it would be impossible apply a graphic with sublimation a board that is made of carbon fiber. We apply a category label to each skateboards, providing another layer of data that informs our graphic choices. Dancer boards are often much longer, more costly, and have a different overall vibe than shorter street skate boards, which are seen as a more quickly consumed and replaced product.
Factory production capabilities not only define what is possible for the final product, but are constantly shifting. Things like material availability, supply chain stress, even excess humidity can all result in complex or costly modifications to processes that were previously reliable. We frequently communicate and work closely with our factories. Understanding the current strengths and weaknesses of processes help us decrease friction, reduce waste, and ensure the best possible product outcomes.
At this point in the process, we are actively looking for opportunities to sync our product development with sales and marketing goals. This means designing skateboards that are part of seasonal drops that can also include new components, apparel, and accessories. It's also a chance for us to consider collaborations with musicians, athletes, and other companies. Highlights include streaming platform Twitch, Pabst Blue Ribbon and WKNDRS, Twin Sails, Monster Rally, Said the Whale, and Olympic athlete Mark McMorris.
With all of the groundwork done, we are almost ready to begin designing skateboard graphics! Our project scope and timelines have been defined. We have clearly defined our customer needs, factory capabilities and limitations, annual material costs, and our art budget. The last thing we do before we get creative is to build a line up overview document full of blank skateboards. It is up to us to breathe life into these boards and to capture the imagination of our customers.
The art department starts to put together mood boards, create lists of potential artists, and begin to share ideas and present board concepts. This is a really fun time. Ideas are flowing. Imaginations are running wild. Sometimes ideas come in the form of sketches on the napkins from Strathcona Brewery. Sometimes they are full board concepts, including color direction for the wood, trucks, and wheels. The one thing most of our concepts have in common is a vertical format.
For boards with advanced construction and premium materials, like the 2023 Schooner Sine Wave, our flagship cruiser model, we design the graphics in-house. More frequent design iterations and immediate stakeholder feedback gives us greater control over the process, allowing us to tailor the final results to amplify the product story, highlight build features, and cement the brand connection.
We collaborate with a diverse array of artists from around the world, allowing us to represent aesthetics that aren't typically present in traditional street skateboard brands. We often select art that reminds us of some part of the experience of skateboarding that we can all relate to. And we often choose art that resonates with our love and appreciation of nature. Animals, plants, and natural environments are featured heavily in our line ups. We strive to select art that elevates the product by highlighting materials, finding harmony with the colors of components, and balancing the lines of the deck perimeter. Although we take the composition and curation of our graphics seriously, we love a board that can make us laugh. Most importantly, we want Landyachtz boards to be fun and look rad.
Skate decks that are built in collaboration with team athletes are given special treatment by the art department. We want the board to embody the personality of the rider in the way that it performs, the shape of the board, and its graphic. It's essential that the board not only feels authentic to the athlete, but it also has to resonate with their fans. We work with our team closely from concept to execution. We use iterative design and open communication to ensure we deliver a product that they are excited to represent.
The size and placement of a graphic can dramatically effect perception of the board shape, which is one of the strongest considerations for customers looking to make a purchase. We compose our artwork to compliment the lines of the deck perimeter and we use the silhouette of the deck to frame our artwork. The color of the stain is chosen to support and accentuate the artwork. There is a moment in every design process where this harmony is found and the graphic suddenly clicks.
In selecting graphic applications for our skateboards, we prioritize methods that complement the product's construction and materials. We focus on leveraging the unique strengths of each technique to enhance the overall quality of our skateboards. Heat transfer graphics adhere spot color, CMYK, and digital RGB prints to the deck. This process is versatile, economical, and probably used for 95% of all skateboard graphics. Sublimation embeds a translucent image into fiberglass. On our Hollowtech models, we use a mirrored top and bottom graphic that allows light to pass through and illuminate the board. Direct to veneer printing utilizes a 3D printing head to deposit pigment directly onto the skateboard veneer. The color intensity is muted and the wood grain is visible through the graphic. Direct to veneer graphics can be very high resolution and have exceptional color depth. Sometimes we cover up minor factory blemishes with translucent, holographic foil. This saves money, reduces waste, and looks dope.
We work to ensure that the graphic supports the product, not the other way around. Graphics are designed, sourced, and composed with the intention of most effectively communicating the product story. For the Hollowtech Stratus, we incorporated a translucent graphic that allowed light to pass through the board, illuminating the advanced construction.
Our skateboards feature high-quality face veneers that give each board its unique character emphasizes the material quality of our products. Regardless of how flashy a graphic might be, underneath it is a skateboard made of strong and supple maple. We accentuate the natural beauty of the wood with translucent dips and stains that add contrast and depth to the grain pattern. These treatments are carefully chosen to complement the graphic design and the skateboard's components. This approach ensures that each skateboard is not just a functional item, but a visually striking piece that harmonizes the materials, construction, and art.
We complete the look of our skateboards by pre-planning how all of the pieces come together. We produce components in colorways that support our annual graphic themes. We select components that match the graphics and construction of the skateboards. Details, such as a black stained middle ply, can bring the look of a skateboard together with the same impact as a pocket square. Trimmed grip tape can make the standing platform seem narrower, intimidating some customers or making the board look less comfortable to stand on.
After months of working on individual board designs, we lay out all of the designs and consider them as a whole. This is a great way for us to see the balance of graphics across categories, to examine trends in color, material, content choices. We look at the line up in larger groups and as a whole. We have the chance here to swap graphics around, if needed. The high-level perspective reveals information that is not easily recognized while focusing on more precise details. Some boards stick out like a sore thumb. Some boards need to increase their presence in order to not get lost amongst their peers. This process is the last step before finalizing the line up and beginning the next tasks of creating art files factories and product overview documents for our sales and marketing teams.
Every year we set out to develop a line up with the best graphics that we've ever had. We instated this goal in 2017 and, although the qualification is subjective, the ongoing feedback from company stakeholders, our accounts, and our customers has overwhelmingly assured us that we keep knocking it out of the park. The challenge to outdo ourselves increases with each line up we release. The drive to improve has elevated our designs and us as designers and allowed us to more effectively create products with the intention of connecting our customers to the experience of skateboarding.
The impact that our graphics have had on Landyachtz products is evident in the strength of our brand identity and growing market presence. Glowing reviews of Landyachtz are easy to find from a wide range of channels and content creators. Competitors consistently follow the trends in themes, treatments, and graphic styles that we set in prior years. We defined our values as a company, to create skateboards that deliver the highest quality riding experience for people who want to explore their environments. Intimate understanding of the relationship between the product and the desired experience allows us to identify art that amplifies emotions and connects skater to skateboard.