The Brief

In 1965, John Serverson, editor of the first skateboard mag, 'The Quarterly Skateboarder' wrote, 'Skateboarding is... not a sport of destruction... It's a sport of control. It's up to you to see that skateboarding does not become a sport of rebels and radicals. It's a sport for young sportsmen. We look forward to a great future in skateboarding and we ask you, the pioneers, to make it great.' When their boards are worn, skateboarders hang them up like badges of honour. By looking at all of the scratches, we see every trick they ever performed. The harder a skateboard is worked, the worse the artwork on the underside becomes. Why damage the creativity underneath? What if it got uncovered, the harder the board worked? To get to easy you have to go through hard. We created Hidden Graphics - a skateboard that's artwork gets revealed, the more tricks it does and the longer it lives. With a team of three developers and a 6 week timeline, we devised the best way to apply the graphics to the board, hide and test them. The technology is currently in the testing phase.

This tech was created for Mountain Dew, to feature in a documentary about the boards creation, together with skater Chris Wood, as he becomes the first rider to use it. Each board arrives blank. The only way to see it in its full glory is to skate it, hard. Some parts of the graphic will only ever be revealed by learning new tricks. The exact process is a trade secret of which we have a patent pending. We began experimenting to find the right paints and the technique of applying the artwork to the board. We tried hand routing, painting the board and CNC routing before arriving at laser etching as the fastest, most consistent technique with the burn marks adding a cool effect. The depth of the etching had to be precise or it would effect the rigidity of the board, altering the skater's experience. We settled on a particular type of epoxy acrylic that would set within the etched grooves and stop the actual board from chipping away. The final product is a skateboard deck with an underside that looks blank. It's coated with a rub resilient protective layer, designed specifically to chip away with regular use. Underneath the hard paint layers is a softer layer which flakes away more easily, revealing a wax layer, which improves the skating experience. The final image has been laser etched in to the board itself and filled in with a specially designed compound layer with an epoxy resin base. The compound has been designed with the same resilience level as the maple wood used in the skateboard, giving it the same dexterity and wear properties as the wood itself. The Hidden Graphics skateboard has received funding from Mountain Dew with us also investing in the project. We control the technology stack.

The Mountain Dew Hidden Graphics project will roll out in a Facebook campaign that will seed posts about the skateboard followed by the launch doco that will be promoted by shares, comments and likes. The film will be the entry mechanic to scoring a board. The aim is to create demand for a wide release of the Hidden Graphics skateboard following the release of the limited edition board via the Mountain Dew Facebook promotion where 10 will be up for grabs. This launched recently, on 4th August 2014. Already we've reached over 280,000 Facebook users. Once the first round of skateboards have been released, we expect to be able to produce more at reasonable prices. We can continue to offer them in exchange for content, releasing new board artwork to keep the reveal worth looking for. A wide release of the skateboard is anticipated in partnership with a skateboard company. There will be the opportunity to get a custom-made board where the skater can choose the graphic underneath. Mountain Dew will release the limited edition later in 2014.