Day two, time for something new.

We've all had a massively busy day today shooting a lot of super exclusive video, which we'll get up as soon as possible, including a piece with big mountain legend Jeremy Jones and the highlights of the Transworld Rider's Poll Awards.

It's interesting to see how design trend affect the look of snowboards from year to year.

2011 ranges definitely show a significant shift away from illustration to a sharper graphic and photographic treatments, but there are still some excellent uses of illustrative techniques out in the 2011 models.

I've included some of them below, so check out my top 5 snowboard designs from day 2 of SIA...

1. Arbor Eden

We all know what Arbor snowboard graphics are famous for right? Wood. But not here.

Absolutely gorgeous illustration on the Arbor Eden women's board. It's full of energy and linear qualities and has a super subtle color scheme – using pinks and purples really effectively. There's an excellent contrast between the really densely rendered face and the background that really helps this design pop. Even though the board design uses pinks and purples it never seems too 'girly' a board, just a great example of sharp, modern illustration. I can definitely see this board selling well next season.
 

2. Jeremy Jones Split Board

It came as a major shock last season when big mountain legend Jeremy Jones quit his longtime sponsor Rossignol to start up his own snowboard brand. We got a rundown of his new line from the main man himself, which Doug managed to capture on video. You definitely need to keep an eye out for this.

The pick of the Jones range for 2011 is Jeremy's split board. Really simple design using the topographic shapes of mountain peaks really translates what Jeremy Jones is all about. Super subtle color scheme works amazingly well with this board to produce an understated design that looks like a modern classic. The majority of the board shows different levels of transparency through to the wood core which ties in fantastically with the 'natural' theme of the topographic shapes. This could well be the sweetest split board design ever!
 

3. Rome Lo Fi

Rome don't do 'pro' models but this is Marie-France Roy's stick of choice. We just saw her nominated for three Transworld awards last night, winning one, and she collaborated with Rome Head Designer Mike Paddick to create the graphics for this model.

One of the key themes for board graphics next season is lo-fi black and white halftone/geometric shapes ,with color behind them, and this board sits firmly in that category. Nice use of a blue color scheme works well with the black and white elements, and there's enough interesting details in the board to satisfy anybody. The hands showing the 'peace' sign are Marie–France's, and the whole vibe behind her board design was positivity – it certainly worked for her judging by the Transworld nominations!
 

4. Forum Holy Moley

Big news the last few years is Forum being owned by Burton and the way they've taken advantage of this to incorporate and trade technologies between the two companies. Despite this Forum continued, graphics-wise, along the path they'd always followed. However, for 2011, Forum hired long-time Burton collaboraters design agency – JDK. We managed to get Chris form JDK to give us a video run-through of the lineup, so watch out for that being posted up.

The difference in quality of graphics for the 2011 Forum range is really noticeable. Sharper, crisper graphics and, similar to Capita, the whole range feels as though it's stepped up a level. Although, in general, illustration is less prominent, there's still a few companies with some interesting illustration concepts in their lineup, notably Forum and Nitro.

One of my favorite Forum graphics is for the new 'Holy Moley' board. They've stripped the graphic down to a minimum, in direct contrast to the high tech elements of the construction. So, even though it's a very technical board, the graphics still work with Forum's heritage as a true freestyle brand. Sharp, acid colors provide a sharp, pop background and a sketchy, lo-fi illustration of a shiv provides a great contrast to the solid pop background. What's really cool about the shiv graphic is that although it may look grey on the pics it's actually a metallic silver ink which gives the illustration a real lift.
 

5. DC MLF

Ok, before I write about the DC MLF I don't expect many, if any, people to agree with me on this one or for it to be a really sellable graphic, but I just love it for it's homage to a certain period in graphic design history.

Yep, it's a graphic designer’s board for sure. Based on a color scheme from renowned European design magazine Novum's logotype and trademarks anthology book covers – the white background with muted orange or green bands echoes a graphic design classic.

Add to that some great typography relevant to that era, put together with some real skill in exactly the same style as the original book covers. I'll try and find a pic of the book cover to show you guys what I mean but it's out of print and my copy is in England :(

I think it's a fantastic board and definitely very different from anything else out there. Whether teenage park riders agree with me might be another thing....

Coming tomorrow is my final roundup of some of the best boards we've seen this week. Peace out.


 

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