I was fortunate enough to be given another creative project related to trail running. This time, it was for a big local brand’s race event. Here’s how I designed the Sandugo Road to Trail Challenge 2019.
The Project
Sandugo is a local brand selling outdoor gear. It’s been a long standing brand and recently, they have added trail running events into their activities, which used to cater mostly to mountain biking. This is the second edition of the said race. Last year was its inception, and it became popular as a short distance event for road runners looking to venture into the trails.
My contact persons were once again Jose, of Pinoy Trails as well as Franc Ramon, a fellow blogger but with more experience and accolades. Jose and I worked together for my previous project, the Run 2 Me 2018 trail run.
The Logo
Just like before, I was given most of the freedom to make the designs. At the moment of inception, I had just one goal: to design an orange shirt. You all know that pink is my favorite color, but I tend to not use that for race events because not everyone is happy with wearing it. On the other hand, orange is a nice dynamic color, and one I haven’t really used in my designs yet. So I chose different shades and hues to get a good mix.
With the color scheme down, I started on the logo. I have an affinity with badge-type logos (plus it makes the medal design easier and good looking) so I went with the vintage badge shapes and experimented with the design. Nothing groundbreaking, but I made sure to incorporate the transition of the road to the trail. I also took into account the look of the previous logo and molded it into my style.
The Shirt
Now that we have the logo done with, I decided to create multiple concepts for the shirt to see the direction the client liked.
Ultimately we narrowed it down to a simple design with colored sleeves. I liked this design because it wasn’t too cluttered, but still gave off the mountain mood. The jagged edges are reminiscent of the high elevations usually found in trail runs, while I used the road’s crosswalk lines as texture.
While it’s not as orange as I initially thought it would be, I liked how it turned out as eye-catching without being too “in-your-face.”
Online Postings
The online postings of a race can be quite a burden, but thankfully I had the help of Sandugo. I just made the initial layout, and they adjusted it on their own. Great! But I still had the responsibility for some online designs and here are some of them. Again, I just had to maintain consistency for all the collaterals.
One of the most tedious parts was making the route maps, but because of this, I became quite familiar with the route and the elevation gain. Count this as my recon for the race lol.
The Race
First off, I’d like to thank Jose for the opportunity to run the 15km category. It was a good chance to do some running under race conditions. After arriving at the venue, I couldn’t help but smile at the people wearing the shirts I designed. We claimed our race kits and prepared ourselves for the race. Despite it being short distance, I still used all my gear so that I get more gains from the additional weight.
After some socials with trail friends, our race started. It was a short but sweet course around the Eastridge-Sandugo trails. There was a lot of concrete roads and all the runners were fast!
I really have to commend the organizers and the marshals. They provided the runners with everything they needed and more. The aid stations were fully stocked with fruits and soft drinks. I didn’t need to rely on the Beng-beng I brought!
It was indeed a quick race and before I knew it, bebelabs and I were already crossing the finish line. Then it was back to socializing with everybody.
There were also lots of photographers along the route. The race media is on point and they were also friends of ours. Thank you, Glairold Recella Photography, Nebre Photography, and A&J Visuals!
Thank you, Sandugo and Jose, for this opportunity to serve the community I treat as my 2nd family. It was a mental and physical challenge but it was fun. Cheers to more running and more creating!
Enjoy the challenge and challenge your enjoyment.
-jgzn
Jai Online 