LOAM
A trail-running brand built from nothing. Mood boards, ten logo directions, a full brand book, a five-product line, a 24-shot boarded brand film, and delivery in every ratio, all under one visual voice.
LOAM is a trail-running brand, and the project where I show the full build at length. The name comes from the soft forest soil runners hunt for, and every decision downstream honors it. Earth first, one blaze-orange accent, a mountain mark drawn as the switchback trail that climbs it.
I directed the whole build: the moodboard that set the direction before any design existed, ten identity directions narrowed to one and written into a brand book, a five-product line rendered as one family, a 45-second brand film taken from 24 boards through a timed animatic, the lifestyle world, the social system and final delivery in every ratio with motion. One voice, top to bottom.
Research & direction
The moodboard comes before the brand
Before a logo, a product or a palette existed, the direction was gathered: forest-floor textures, topo maps, film photos of misty trails, fabric swatches, muted earth chips and one length of blaze-orange cord. This is the board the client says yes to before anything gets made, and every downstream decision traces back to it.
Identity R&D
The switchback earns its place
I worked the identity through ten distinct directions, badges, serifs, verticals, colorways, before the switchback trail won: a mountain drawn from the path that climbs it. Type studies ran alongside, and the survivors were written into the rules.
The brand book
Rules anyone can run with
The full guideline document, page by page: the mark and its construction, colour with its one-accent rule, the type system, usage and misuse. A brand is only as strong as the rules the next person inherits.
The line
Five products, one voice
LOAM launches as a system, not a shoe: the Switchback trail shoe, the Ridge hydration vest, the Stormshell jacket, the Beacon headlamp and the soft flask. Same earth palette, same blaze accent, same light. The family frame is the campaign's end card.
Storyboards
45 seconds in 24 drawn shots
Every frame of the brand film planned before production: macro textures, partial product framings, full-figure lifestyle, one hero beat for every product in the line, and the family end card with the tagline. Cutting rhythm alternates product and trail so neither goes stale.
Animatic
The cut, proven in the edit
All 24 boards cut against temp score in Coveboard: text beats on their own track, product shots alternating with trail b-roll, the family end card holding the final two seconds. Timing locked before a single frame went into production.
Animatic cut in Coveboard ↗, the AI-integrated pre-production and editing platform I designed and built.
Lifestyle
Full figures or full focus
Two kinds of lifestyle frames, on purpose: full-body shots where nothing gets cropped, and product-focus shots where the gear is the subject and the framing says so. Nothing in between.
The world
Merch, retail, social
The brand beyond the film: the kit and packaging, retail signage, and a social system with the mark on every tile, photography posts and pure type posts trading turns in the feed.
Delivery
Every ratio, plus motion
The family frame and the ridge hero delivered for every placement, 16:9 through 9:16, with ambient motion loops for web, social and in-store screens. The crops are designed, never automated.
