National Championship Race Program with International Magazine Quality Design.
THE CHALLENGE
The event was being held for the first time at an Amusement Park in California. It attracted more than 600 entries from across the nation and some parts of the world. It was the largest since the 25th Anniversary event that took place in Los Angeles several years prior. Attendees were well accommodated at some of Silicon Valley’s most sought after lodging where they enjoyed complimentary food and beverages. There was great expectation for this event so I felt that it should stop short of the event program.
THE JOURNEY
The event was a National Boat Racing Championship so we wanted the race program to be representative of the type of event it featured. Wavy cascading graphics were created of various blue hues to depict the motion of water. Images of water were also used to carry the concept through. Complimentary colors such as orange were used to give the piece more vibrance to match the summer occasion. High definition photography was utilized to really capture the excitement and special moment of the event as well.
There was also the issue of content. In years past the race program was just an accumulation of a poorly formatted welcome message, repeated hall of fame pictures with one or two additions, list of contestants, sponsor ads and order of events.
I thought this piece should be more special than that. It’s not the usual job of a creative director to generate the content of a given piece but I felt it needed it to meet the significance of the occasion. Since people were coming from across the country and the world around I thought it might be nice to highlight of few of them. The purpose was to tell a story that most might not know. I highlighted those with the most championships, those with the most records, women and kids as well. I got their point of view of their experience and the event itself. This really added the personal touch that I thought this piece needed.
THE ARRIVAL
Some said it was overkill as it was far and beyond anything that had been done before. Some referred to it as a magazine rather than a race program. Many were astounded by it’s quality, thoughtfulness and craftsmanship while others were simply proud to be part of it.
It certainly raise the bar for such a piece and many committees made their best attempt to follow suit in the years following.