My First ever Logo Design wasn’t for a Business

My first ever logo design wasn’t for a business, but it DID change the course of my life, forever.

I wasn’t always a graphic designer.

Like most kids I drew a lot. Sure, I had a healthy curiosity for art, but didn’t know it was anything you could ever do as a job. I mean… artists are broke, right?

In high school I drew 80’s and 90’s band logos on my bag with permanent markers, scribbled in notebooks, listened to music, dreamed of a better life. All pretty standard stuff.

My first ever real job was as an electrician.

The Weird Sport that Changed my Life Forever

At 19 years old, I took up skating a pretty different type of skateboard.

As it turned out, I got really good at it, really fast.

So good, I turned pro within 1 year and skated in the world championships in Munich, Germany (in case you’re wondering, I did terribly in that contest!).

For the next 2 decades I travelled the world for free, did thousands of amazing things, and experienced a life I never thought possible.

Andrecht. Skatelab, Simi Valley, CA

I did TV work, stunt work, massive demos, events, tours, appearances, and went to some amazing parties. I met celebrities, and almost all of my skating heroes I’d looked up to in magazines growing up.

It was an amazing life.

A wild ride.

But… what does any of this have to do with logo design?

Skaters have Teams?

Amongst the skaters in our sport, there were smaller groups of skaters (typically from the same area) that skated together.

Those smaller groups of skaters formed teams.

Skating really isn’t a team sport… but these teams travelled together, went to spots and skated together, filmed videos, etc. Really more of a skate crew, than a team.

Myself and another kid from the same island, had become inseparable.

We skated together every day, and pushed the levels of our sport to new heights.

So, we formed our own small skate team.

The Island Outliers

Living on that tiny island away from the rest of the UK skate scene, we were outsiders.

We could only really travel to the BIGGER events, because getting there meant getting on a flight.

Whenever we got to those events, nobody had seen our progress for a while, and it surprised them.

Being on that island with nothing else to do, meant we were totally and absolutely obsessed with our sport.

We skated every single day, and progressed at a faster rate than others.

Our skate style was also very different. We’d progressed and evolved in a different way to them, were inspired and influenced by different things, had tricks we’d created, that nobody else had seen.

When we showed up at events and competitions, nobody knew how to take us, at all.

We were raw, broke, working class, cursed a lot (in comparison to the mostly middle class skaters), and really didn’t fit in much… but our talent was undeniable, at a world level, above most.

As the outliers from that tiny island, we came from a different side of the sport.

Who’s Team Darkside?

We were from a side of the sport other skaters maybe didn’t want or expect, but absolutely couldn’t deny.

I grew up obsessed with Star Wars (yes, the first generation), and always felt like we came from the dark side of our sport.

So, we became ‘Team Darkside’.

Logo Design for a Pro Skate Team

Long before I ever touched a computer for graphic design, I scribbled on scrap paper with a ball point pen.

Obsessed with my sport, and having a skate team, meant (I thought) we needed a logo.

I mean, we didn’t. At all. No other teams had logos.

I just kinda thought that’s what needed to happen.

After probably a thousand scribbles, and a mountain of crumpled up paper, I finally come up with a logo design for my skate team.

It was a simple, iconic, monogram logo design, with sharp edges because we were edgy outliers, inspired by 80’s rock band logos.

To us, this logo design represented who we were.

Today, even 29 years later I can still sketch this logo design by hand, from memory.

Here it is, ‘remastered’ for your enjoyment, entertainment, or horror (your choice, not offended!).

Team Darkside Logo Design Digitally Remastered

That Logo Design Changed Everything

Next thing I knew, I learned how to film and edit video, draw t-shirt designs, and much more.

Shortly after, I moved to the UK for better opportunities, and to further progress in my sport.

My friend had quit skating, so Team Darkside was no longer a thing.

My First ever Business Logo Design

A couple years later, I extended the branding from Team Darkside into my first ever business, a skate clothing brand called Darkside Clothing.

It was an extension of the way we felt as outsiders on the island. How, some of us are just different. We may live in the shadows or the unseen, yet without us the world would not be the same.

Here’s the main business logo design I used for that project:

I might not exactly win any awards for these logo designs (are there awards for logo design?), but these were the humble beginnings of my craft. They were both clean, iconic, and communicated what I was trying to say.

To me, these logo designs hold a special place in my heart.

They represent my transition from being a kid with no real passion or direction in life, working a job I had no idea why I was doing… to pro skater, graphic designer, and one person business owner / solopreneur.

If you need a logo design, whether it’s for your business, or anything else… …I’d love to help your vision come to life, just like mine did.

If you’re interested in a logo design, web design or local SEO, go ahead and shoot me an email, or give me a call right now!