This is a self-promo targeting Reef, one of the leading sandal brands worldwide. A company who’s inspired by the surf culture, the beach lifestyle and beautiful women… who wouldn’t want to work there! I tried to create a promo that not only complimented their existing product and colorways but also show my diversity in creative thinking and my talent to execute.

To view the entire promo click the arrows (above), swipe (touchscreen) or use the arrow keys (keyboard).

The above illustration is my Tiki. I wanted to create an image that was authentic to surfing. In Polynesia, the birthplace of surfing, they believe that the first man was Tiki. Now you can’t get more O.G. than that. I used the Reef logo to create the head (eye brows, nose and lei). Click image to enlarge.

In an attempt to show my thought process in designing something that aligns with the company and it’s current marketing strategy (and to show my photoshop skills) I created this t-shirt concept. At the time when I was putting this self promo together Reef was promoting their surf video, Cancer to Capricorn: The Path of the Modern Gypsy. It was a cool title that described where the movie’s locations were – between the latitudinal lines of the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn. I wanted to build a stylized Reef logo that fit the theme and after some thought bamboo was my material of choice. It was a bit of a painstaking photoshop exercise but the end result (I thought) was worth it. Having the logo float on the turquoise water really popped on a black tee and showed off the natural bamboo color. For the front print, I went with a center chest two color print. Playing off the longitude theme, I used the degrees (23.5°) as support copy. I liked how the main graphic turned out and I decided to use it for the cover for the promo.

Another talent I wanted to showcase was product design. Having a few patents on product and package design I feel that someone with an innovative mind to develop new products, create new categories or improve the status quo is a major asset to any company.  The above concept is really taking what Reef has done but just a step further. They invented the sandal with a hidden compartment (for keys, money and whatever needs hiding) as well as the bottle opener sandal (which I’m currently wearing). Well, when you go to the beach what do you need besides your Reefs? Your shades. I’ve seen those collapsible shades before and voilà! Would it work? Would they just get smashed… I don’t know. The idea was to show this guy who is always doodling in meetings has a brain. The most ingenius part is the design on the sandal’s top surface, I made it look like aviator shades (um, I know… I’ll just end it here).