Sunday 15 May 2016

Play it

 Playing around with it, a basketball dunk kind of design can be customized to a higher level of protection for the ankle to protect from all kinds of overflex of the joint which could injure the ligaments and tendons.


A more modern, low profile shoe has a major margin to add ankle protection to the shoe which might be necessary as the shoes themselves have very low cut, non-majorly padded ankles which do not protect a skateboarder's ankles from any kind of overflex.



An old school, padded sneaker has a much more padded collar giving a much more comfortable fit to the ankle but still lacks the kind of protection an ankle needs from overflex.

Back to the basics

There are a few kinds of base shoe designs that can be used to skate in according to what style a person would skate.

The most important part of a shoe for any skateboarder is the sole.
Every skate shoe has a flat sole with a pattern with the most area of contact to prevent or reduce the chances of slipping off the surface of the board.

The next is the body of the shoe and what material it is made out of.
Skateboarders are very choosy about what style of shoe they wear because their shoes are direct representations of their personalities and styles.

The styles of shoes that can be skated in are a few going from the bulky, old style padded sneakers to the modern low profile shoes to basketball dunk styles to full ankle covering high tops.


Every one of these styles can be played around with and can be customized to not only represent a person's style but to provide the maximum amount of protection to the skateboarder and also maximum mobility.

Work it!

Surveys are a very good way to understand what people want and it can give a person some very good ideas.

But, isn't a graphical representation better?
Have your target audience make their own design. That is going to help you understand what a person wants in perfect detail.

SO, going over exactly what skateboarders need for the style of skateboarding they do, I had them design their own skate shoe,going over what they would want in their own shoe relating to their personal and skateboarding style.






So, here I have some of the designs that I got from skaters with multiple styles, from cruising to street to park to downhill. I have multiple styles and multiple requirements to work on to make a shoe that can be used for any and all styles without being restrictive in any way.