Bonfire brand renewed in London

From Next magazine issue 2/2010. Text by Markku Rimpiläinen

When talking about snowboarding hubs, London is hardly the name that first springs to mind. Why did Bonfire choose a design agency in the city as its partner for the brand refreshment project?

“We have an outside view of snowboarding, but also understand the customers. It’s this combination that allowed us to come up with something fresh, something not all that typical of the snowboarding world,” says Jeff Knowles, designer at Research Studios.

“Oh, and several of us ride too, which helped.”

Research Studios is a renowned design company, whose founder, Neville Brody, is well known especially for revolutionizing the visual look of magazines. The original concepts for Wallpaper and Arena, for example, are his work.

Research Studios has carried out various design assignments for both Salomon and Bonfire, including apparel and product labeling, branding, visual language, fabric patterns and embroideries, websites, and advertising. The first contact between Bonfire and Research Studios was created by Brad Steward, the founder of Bonfire, who has also participated in developing Salomon’s snowboarding products and brand.

Research Studios created a new look for the Bonfire brand in 2005. After that, Bonfire has come out with a slightly different look every year.

“This is what’s special about Bonfire. Rather than rebranding, we’re talking about stylistic variations on a theme. Introducing a new twist each year keeps competitors on their toes. The Bonfire brand is also very flexible, so it can easily adapt to new configurations.”

Own font

A thorough and fundamental update took place in 2009.

“Ultimately, all brands come to a junction in their life cycle where they need to forget their old look and replace it with something brand new. This was part of our strategic and creative process last year,” explains Knowles.

Among other things, Bonfire got a customized font called Bonfire clipped, which is based on Research Studios’ own Bonn font.

“Typography is one of our special fields. It helps us create totally unique brands.”

This season, the brand’s new look will be seen especially in ads, in which details from clothing materials will be used as background images.

Ahead of the pack

Snowboarding is closely linked to other youth culture, such as music and streetwear. Trends in clothes, for example, move rapidly from the street to the slopes and vice versa.

Research Studios keeps tabs on trends among young people, while Bonfire follows everything going on in the snowboarding circles. In addition, both analyze the development of other snowboarding brands.

“We want Bonfire to stand out from the rest and keep ahead of its competitors. I think that’s why we work so well together: neither of us wants to follow trends created by others. We want to be the ones leading the pack,” says Knowles.

Intercontinental cooperation

Research Studios is located in London, Bonfire on the U.S. west coast. The companies are separated by the North American continent and the Atlantic, but that has not hindered cooperation.

“We’re lucky in the sense that we get to work with clients from all around the world. Collaboration that spans geographical boundaries is familiar to us. Email, filesharing in our own project management system, and holding phone and video conferences make work easier.

Every now and then we’ll take a trip to see each other,” explains Knowles. The need for meetings and contacts also depends on the type of project.

“Branding and advertising call for near-daily contact, whereas work on fabric patterns is freer and more experimental, so it pays to get out of the loop and go highly creative.”

Continuous renewal works

Research Studios has tried all-new approaches in its cooperation with Bonfire.

“We had never designed fabric patterns, for example. It has been very interesting. Gradually changing the brand each year was also something we hadn’t tried before. It has been surprisingly successful and is something we want to continue in the future.”

Contrary to many other designers at Research Studios, Knowles has not yet had a go at snowboarding.

“My only experience of any snow activity was last year in Sweden where I tried cross-country skiing. It was fun, but tough, and I spent more time in the snow than on it!”