Fourcorners Publishing, for the Agenda Tradeshow
Publication Design — Tradeshow Program
Agenda is the leading streetwear and action sports-related tradeshow with events in Southern California, Japan and New York. Fourcorners was the publisher of COLOR, a Canadian skateboarding magazine based in Vancouver, BC.
Deliverables
A 32-page, 9x9” saddle-stitch bound booklet on uncoated stock to match previous years’ programs.
Goals
Instead of a traditional program for tradeshow attendees, Agenda produces a mini-magazine for each of their shows. Each issue is guest directed as a collaboration between the show and a respected artist or designer. For the 2007 Long Beach show, COLOR skateboarding magazine’s creative team was selected to spearhead the project. I was hired by COLOR to apply my own creative spin to its trademark layout and to run production duties on the program.
Process
Each article needed to take on the identity of the brand or artist profiled, serving to break the whole into distinct sections. I feel like I do my best work when there are less obvious, underlying themes to utilize in a layout. Take the cover story on the artist Kofie: He’s part of a group called The Draftsmen, so I set about creating spreads that resembled blueprint paper. I continued that approach throughout the book in designing featurewells around the Altamont Apparel, New Era, Seventh Letter brands.
Constraints
This was my first foray into working at distance, as well, with the client in BC, their client in LA, and a printer elsewhere. Some decisions made after the project left my hands really impacted schedules, making it difficult to maintain quality control remotely. This project really underscored the need to maintain my involvement as the designer through to fulfillment.
Outcomes
By incorporating the surrounding creative communities as well as its target market specifically, Agenda has become the sole remaining tradeshow series in the action sports and streetwear space.
