My Role: Creative All-Rounder
Services: Scenic Design, 3D Visualization, Graphic Design, Typography, DTP, Animation, Video Compositing
Platform: Oversize/Offset/Screen/Digital Printings, TV Broadcast
Client: LAAX Mountains & MTC Move the crowd
Timeline: 4 months, October 2015
Event branding – through unified identity
LAAXOPEN Snowboard World Cup needed bold branding. Sponsor logos clashed. No visual unity. Through black-as-foundation strategy, white sponsor integration, and 3D venue modeling for TV commentary, we created an iconic event identity. 240 print positions. One unmistakable look. Unity beats noise.
Core shift: From logo chaos to unified identity – through strategic black branding.
3 Min. Read
How we solved problems
Three challenges, three breakthroughs
The problem wasn't the sponsors. It was visual chaos.
Snowboard events drown in sponsor logos. Every brand screaming for attention. Red. Blue. Green. Yellow. Chaos. We flipped it: black as foundation. Red as passion. White logos only. No exceptions.
Result: unified visual identity that stood out against the snow. One bold statement beats a hundred competing voices.
3D modeling enabled decisions before construction.
Stakeholders couldn't visualize the venue. Descriptions weren't enough. We modeled the entire site in 3D – obstacles, banners, viewing angles. Rendered everything. Ran virtual camera flights. Decision-makers saw the event before it existed.
Faster alignment. Fewer surprises. Better planning. This same model later powered TV commentary animations.
3D Pipeline: Venue modeling Stakeholder visualization TV animation reuse Single asset, multiple uses
240 positions demand structure, not chaos.
Production Scale: 240 print positions 4 production methods 3 producers Strict timelines
Posters. Bibs. Banners. Trophies. 240 deliverables. 4 production methods. 3 different producers. Fixed event date. One missed deadline = failure. We built a structured database and folder system from day one. Tracked specs, versions, timelines.
Chaos thrives without structure. Structure enables speed.
Key Learnings
What this project taught me
Black branding was bold – convincing stakeholders was bolder
Sponsors pay for visibility. Proposing "all white logos" felt risky. The pain: pitching a radical idea that could kill sponsor buy-in. What worked: showing mockups early, demonstrating how unified branding creates more brand impact through memorability than individual color chaos.
Tight deadlines force prioritization – or kill quality
240 positions. 4 months. Fixed event date. The pain: wanting perfect 3D renders but hitting multi-day render times. What saved me: accepting «good enough» for non-critical assets, focusing render power on hero elements (TV animations, key visuals), and ruthless task prioritization.
3D skills opened doors – but learning mid-project has costs
Venue modeling was new territory. Learning Cinema 4D while delivering was risky. What helped: leaning on past experience (building real snowboard obstacles), translating physical knowledge into digital modeling. But honestly? The overtime and stress taught me to master tools before tight-deadline projects.
Why this still matters
The best event branding unites, not competes
Most events are visual noise. Sponsor logos fighting for attention. Nothing memorable. The events people remember have a singular identity – one look, one feeling, one statement. LAAXOPEN proved that bold choices (black, white, red) create more impact than safe compromises. Unity beats clutter. Always.