FACTION - Brand Refresh
Faction Skis, one of the world fastest growing ski brands, had just passed their 10 year anniversary and decided it was time to take a moment to reflect on the brand. Starting in 2006, the company had evolved from a backyard operation into a globally renowned ski brand who boasted a roster of some of the world's best freestyle and freeride skiers. Whilst the identity had evolved over the years, it happened organically rather than methodically, so in parts needed revising. Faction tasked MASTER with helping extract the roots of the brand's strategic definition as well as translate this into a new visual identity. We in turn interrogated every facet of the brand to ensure that moving forward, all stories and visuals would align.
Identity and Guidelines
As an important part of the brief, Faction wanted to ensure that we didn't veer too far from the brand's roots. After a thorough look at the history of the logo and pillars of the brand, we developed a comprehensive logo and typographic system update that stayed close to evolution rather than revolution. All rules were defined and set out in a new brand manual that ensured consistency from here on out.
Ski Design Framework
One major challenge for ski brands is the battle between brand recognition and freshness of artwork. Like museums, skis require both seasonal variance as well as brand constants that allow fans to recognise and support the brands. To help solve this problem, MASTER developed a design system for all Faction skis that was bold enough to allow year-on-year consistency with branded elements, but also minimal and flexible enough to allowed art to take the lead when necessary.
Winter 19/20 Catalogue
The first instance of the new brand identity system in use was the 19/20 sales catalogue. MASTER art directed and designed the books as well as shot all softgoods. As this book first look into the brand update, we also changed the format and nearly doubled the page count from previous years.. The result was a much less crowded, more premium look and feel.
E-Commerce
In an effort to ensure that all assets created were inline with the brand's new position, we also helped Faction update and upgrade the art direction for e-commerce across all categories. Each product category was developed and a comprehensive set of photographic guidelines were created to ensure consistency season on season.
