Design Case Study: ADV.1 Wheels
Commenced Project: 2009
Major areas of design completed: Branding, Print Design, Photo enhancement Web Design
The beginning of a journey
One of the very first clients I got as a freelance Graphic Designer was actually a company based in the United States, rather than Australia where I’ve been born and raised. It was 2009, and Jordan from ADV.1 Wheels approached me after I pitched to build their company website. ADV.1 Wheels create boutique automotive wheels, generally pitched at high-end customers who drove cars such as Lamborghini, Ferrari, McLaren, Audi, Mercedes, Porsche and so on. The wheels they manufactured were of the highest quality, and their customers expected quality and performance from their product.
ADV.1 had the mentality that they were the highest quality wheel manufacturer in the world. Their product quality and craftsmanship was incredibly high.
A complimentary design style between myself and the brand was a great start
What appealed to ADV.1 Wheels was my design style – a very suitable, masculine and contrasting creative view which would highly compliment their product, and appeal to their target demographic.
The quality of ADV.1’s wheels was second to none. They became the benchmark for producing the highest quality aftermarket wheels money could buy. Whilst they sold direct to public and through stockists, their company website was a key to success. Because ADV.1 created so many different types of wheels, including one-piece, two-piece, three-piece, track, truck rims and so on, they also had around 15 different styles of wheels. So, the amount of product in terms of variation was absolutely insane. We’re talking approximately 15 types of rims, with 10 variations of each in (almost) every colour under the sun. Quick maths means that’s 150 different rims from the outset.
Their website was a huge undertaking. Part of my responsibility was editing and sorting 150+ variations of their wheels, and a highly defined 20,000+ image gallery.
The ADV.1 Wheels website grew, and grew and grew. It was massive.
ADV.1 Wheels and I co-designed the website, but it was my job to create it, keep it up to date and manage it. They utilised use my professional design knowledge and skills to edit some of their photoshoots to look the part. By manufacturing and selling such a high-quality product means that the collateral associated with it has to reflect the brand in the same way. And, for ADV.1 Wheels, that was certainly the case and expectation. A lot of hard work and consideration, from a design point of view, went into developing ADV.1 Wheels into the company it eventually became.
Their website grew substantially over time, where I even assisted in building a 3D wheel creator which allowed customers to view and rotate wheels. I worked on their Wordpress blog, forum and was solely responsible for their 20,000+ (I lost count by the end of it) image gallery, not to mention the rest of the coded website. It turned into a jack-of-all-trades job, where even the image gallery was a huge task in isolation. Every photo which was uploaded to the website, was to be found in a category that pertained to the photo and cross references for brand, wheel type and so on.
I also created print media for the company including flyers, brochures, documentation and so on. All collateral had to ooze class and sophistication, be suitable for the aftermarket wheel demographic, and continue with the ‘we create the best wheels in the universe’ mentality of the company.
A high-end product, manufactured to compliment the highest performing cars on the planet means the branding and marketing has to work in the same way.
I played a big role in the logo design and branding of ADV.1 Wheels sub-brand, ADV.1 Titanium. The focus of this brands was all the hardware associated with the rims. This included nuts, bolts, plates and so on. Above you can see some logo concepts I created for the brand.
Even working remotely for ADV.1 Wheels, the time difference was never a concern. When required, we had Skype meetings or phone calls to help clarify certain issues. These were few and far between though. I worked with them like clockwork, in what developed into an extremely trusting freelance relationship on their behalf. ADV.1 Wheels started as a smaller company when I first joined them as they were only in their infancy. By the end, I was one of the longest serving ‘staff’ of the company. That’s something I’m very proud of. It demonstrates the trust they had in my abilities, my work ethic and most importantly the value I brought to their company.
ADV.1's website began as a six or seven page project, to thousands, in the space of seven years.
The company grew at a substantial rate, connecting with other automotive companies such as MOMO and were a regular feature at SEMA. In the end, the company changed hands, and I was no longer a requirement in my current form. So, we mutually parted ways. We worked together for seven years and in that time I grew a lot as a designer and my skillset expanded rapidly.
Time to reinvent your brand?
Hopefully this insight has allowed you to see the depth and consideration that I put into branding. I'd love to work together to ensure your brand has the same.