From Logo to Canvas: A Short History of Snowboard Graphics

Intro

Snowboard graphics grew out of skateboarding and surfing, but they quickly found their own voice. A snowboard has a big surface on both sides: a topsheet that everyone sees on the chairlift and a base that shows every time you are in the air. That makes it one of the best canvases in action sports.

This article tells the story through some of the boards that changed how snowboards look. As always in our design section, we describe the graphics rather than reproduce them. They are protected by copyright, and the sources link to where they can be seen.

The beginning: just a logo

When Burton started in 1977, its boards carried little more than the company logo, according to AIGA's Eye on Design. The early market was tiny and the boards were tools for a new sport rather than objects of style. During the 1980s, graphics grew more sophisticated as companies such as Burton and Sims competed for riders and attention. (For the bigger story, read our history of the snowboard.)

1989: the board without a name

One of the most famous graphics in snowboarding is the one that was not there.

Craig Kelly, the sport's biggest star in the late 1980s, switched from Sims to Burton. According to Red Bull, Sims sued for breach of contract, so Kelly rode an unbranded board in his first season with Burton. Burton marketed it as the Mystery Air (1989). The episode is seen as the turning point that ended the bitter Burton–Sims rivalry, and the blank board became a legend.

The early 1990s: skate style and new school

Snowboarding's freestyle boom of the early 1990s pulled graphics closer to skateboarding.

• Sims' Noah Salasnek pro model (1993): Salasnek was a pro vert skater who moved into snowboarding. Red Bull describes its base graphic as a scraped-up skateboard deck, a nod to Sims' skate roots, and one of the most sought-after boards among collectors.
• Burton Air for Terje Haakonsen (1994): The young Norwegian halfpipe rider's first pro model drew on his Viking heritage and became one of the most memorable snowboard graphics of the decade, according to Red Bull.

Design studios arrive

In the 1990s, snowboard companies began hiring professional design studios. That changed the look of the sport.

• Burton and Jager Di Paola Kemp: Burton worked with the Vermont design firm Jager Di Paola Kemp (JDK) to create conceptual, postmodern graphics. According to Eye on Design, a 1994 Burton board using Ouija board imagery was the first Burton graphic in the AIGA Design Archives. The archive described it as signalling "the emergent conflict between riding's good and evil cults." Graphics started to sample and remix imagery from everywhere.
• Kemper (1994): The Los Angeles studio of Margo Chase designed a griffin logo based on a Gothic coat of arms.
• K2 (1995–96): The Seattle studio Modern Dog brought collage and hand lettering to K2's catalogue.

Snowboard graphics now shared roots with graffiti, skateboard art and contemporary graphic design, and design professionals took them seriously.

Riders as artists: Jamie Lynn

From 1995, the American rider Jamie Lynn painted the artwork for his own pro models on Lib Tech boards. According to Red Bull, his art appeared on Lib Tech boards for more than twenty years. One of his most popular recurring themes is a blue-skinned woman, and collectors follow the series closely.

According to Whitelines, Jamie Lynn was with Lib Tech's parent company Mervin from its early, garage-built days, and was doing topsheet graphics while still in high school. His boards showed that a pro model could carry the rider's own art, not just a company's idea of who the rider was. Lib Tech still makes a Jamie Lynn pro model today.

Graphics that explain the riding

Some graphics are about the riding itself. Travis Parker's first pro model for CAPiTA, the UNorthodox (2005), used hand-drawn diagrams of grabs, complete with "no-grab zones" and a manual, according to Red Bull. It also had an unusual double swallowtail, about five years before alternative shapes became a trend.

When graphics go too far: 2008

Board graphics have always been allowed to be rude, but in 2008 Burton found the limit. According to NPR, Burton's Love board carried Playboy pin-up photos, and another line, the Primo, showed cartoon hands mutilating each other, with bloody stumps in comic poses.

Children's advocacy groups and parents called for a boycott, and about 100 people protested outside Burton's headquarters in Vermont in October 2008. According to the Bend Bulletin, several resorts in Colorado, California and Vermont banned their employees from riding the boards at work. Burton refused to pull them, calling it a question of free speech, and its founder said the boards were made for the brand's core market of young men, not for their parents. The controversy became a national news story. It showed how visible snowboard graphics had become, far beyond the snowboard world.

What makes a good snowboard graphic

Looking back at the boards that lasted, a few patterns stand out:

1. A story. The Mystery Air, Terje's Viking board and Jamie Lynn's paintings all carried something personal.
2. It works from a distance. A board is seen from the chairlift, in photos and in videos. Bold shapes beat fine detail.
3. Both sides matter. The base is what people see in the air, and many classic graphics are on the base.
4. It reflects the riding. From skate-inspired new school graphics to CAPiTA's grab diagrams, the best graphics feel connected to how the board is ridden.

Timeline

Sources

• AIGA Eye on Design: Design History 101, how the '90s Ouija board changed snowboarding graphics
• Red Bull: Stories behind the 5 most iconic snowboard graphics
• Whitelines: 20 years of Jamie Lynn
• NPR: Burton's racy snowboard graphics spark controversy (2008)
• Bend Bulletin: Scandalous snowboards (2008)