Case study — 05

Garrixon Studio

Logo design & photography

The logo for a Philadelphia custom sneaker maker that went on to work with Foot Locker, Puma and Diadora, plus behind-the-scenes photography of the customs.

Year
2017
Role
Designer, illustrator, photographer
Tools
Photoshop, Illustrator, Lightroom
Services
Branding, Content & social
Garrixon logo with crossed hammer and pliers icon over a wall of colorful shoelaces
01

The brief

Garrixon is a Philadelphia footwear maker that started in 2018 with one-off custom sneakers and went on to work with Foot Locker, Puma and Diadora. The CEO asked me to design the logo and help develop the concept for the new company. After the logo, I photographed custom pairs and documented how they were made for the first customers.

The challenge

The idea was brand new. There was a name and a plan to make custom shoes, and not much else.

Process

I mocked up the name in a range of fonts to find out where the team's taste was, then brought in shoemaking tools like a French hammer and cobbler pliers. The tools became the icon.

Garrixon logo exploration sheet with wordmarks in several fonts, G monograms and tool icons
Garrixon logo explorations in a condensed typeface with G badges and hammer icons
Garrixon logo explorations with stencil G monograms and crossed hammer lockups
Garrixon logo explorations in a geometric typeface with anvil and cobbler pliers icons
Garrixon logo explorations in Moonshiner type with crossed hammers and a shield badge
Maker tool icons for Garrixon: anvils, hammers, crossed hammers and cobbler pliers

The team chose Moonshiner as the typeface and the tool mark to its left, and we rolled the logo out across other assets.

Final Garrixon logo suite: crossed hammer and pliers mark with Moonshiner wordmark and badges
Garrixon boxed logo lockups in red, grey, black and tan color variations
Circular Garrixon badges in red, black, grey and white
Animated Garrixon boxed logo with tool icon in white on charcoal
02

The studio

The Garrixon office, with the logo painted on the back wall.

Garrixon office with the boxed logo painted on the back wall above work tables
Garrixon design sheet with a custom sneaker sketch and material callouts
Hands working on white Nike Air Force 1s beside Ben Simmons and Garrixon design sheets
Group of students holding their sneaker design sketches in front of the Garrixon wall
Man opening a sneaker box at a table in front of the painted Garrixon wall
Garrixon team member in an apron showing custom adidas sneakers at an event table
Shoemaker in a Garrixon cap stitching on an industrial sewing machine
03

Photography

Behind the scenes: Arizona x Garrixon customs.

Cutting pink and yellow 99-cent price tag patches for the Arizona x Garrixon custom sneakers
Arizona x Garrixon custom sneaker upper in teal checkerboard with pink and yellow on a cutting table
Shoemaker assembling the checkered Arizona x Garrixon upper beside sheets of 99-cent patches
Hands fitting a 99-cent patch onto the teal checkered Arizona x Garrixon sneaker upper
Stitching the Arizona x Garrixon checkerboard upper on an industrial sewing machine
Trimming the pink and yellow Arizona x Garrixon sneaker upper at the sewing machine
Cutting thread on a checkered upper with a 99-cent tag at the heel, Arizona x Garrixon custom
Shoemaker holding small checkered pieces next to a sewing machine, Arizona x Garrixon build
Close-up of the yellow and pink Arizona x Garrixon upper under the sewing machine needle
Rows of finished Arizona x Garrixon checkered sneaker uppers on a wire shelf
Close-up of Arizona x Garrixon uppers with checkerboard pattern and pull-tab details
Arizona x Garrixon custom uppers with pink swooshes and 99-cent heel tags on a factory shelf

Custom Ultraboost.

Deconstructed adidas Ultraboost parts on a work table with a glue brush, Garrixon custom
Open shoebox holding knit uppers and white Boost midsoles for a Garrixon Ultraboost custom
Laser cutter tracing a pattern on red fabric for a Garrixon custom Ultraboost
Hands peeling cut black panels from red fabric on the laser bed
Shoemaker marking red cut pieces on a numbered pattern board
Hands guiding a black strap through an industrial sewing machine
Shoemaker taping a pattern onto a black and red knit upper on a shoe last
Shoemaker pressing a black knit upper onto a white shoe last at a workbench
Pair of black knit uppers on shoe lasts wrapped in tape patterns
Shoemaker fitting a black and yellow upper onto a last for the Garrixon Ultraboost
Hands aligning yellow three-stripe panels on a black upper in progress
Pair of black knit uppers with yellow stripes on shoe lasts at a workbench
Shoemaker applying glue to an Ultraboost outsole before attaching it to the custom upper
Black, yellow and red custom Ultraboost upper beside its Boost outsole on a cutting table
Shoemaker checking the white Boost sole on a black and red custom upper
Finished Garrixon custom Ultraboost in black, yellow and red atop adidas Boost boxes

Custom LV Adidas NMD.

Hands cutting apart the tan leather trim of a vintage Louis Vuitton bag
Close-up of a blade separating tan leather from Louis Vuitton monogram canvas
Craftsman deconstructing a vintage Louis Vuitton monogram bag on a work table
Several hands pulling apart leather seams of a Louis Vuitton bag for a custom NMD
Two craftsmen splitting a Louis Vuitton monogram bag into panels for a Garrixon custom
Louis Vuitton monogram sneaker upper with tan leather collar next to a white sole and knife
Heel zipper on a Louis Vuitton monogram upper set on a white adidas NMD cage sole
Custom Louis Vuitton monogram adidas NMD with white caged sole on a factory table
Finished Garrixon custom LV adidas NMD on monogram canvas scraps with leather tools

Customs for Ben Simmons.

Custom blue and white Nike basketball sneaker with red strap made for Ben Simmons on metal stairs
Pair of blue and white textured Nike customs for Ben Simmons on snowy steel steps
Ben Simmons custom Nike sneaker with white snakeskin texture and blue swoosh beside railings
Pair of Ben Simmons Garrixon custom Nike sneakers in blue, white and red on a steel grate

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