For my senior thesis in The College of New Jersey's Interactive Multimedia program, I elected to focus on motorsports design and create several concept pieces. My aim was to look at the history of the field with a careful eye, be informed by the trends and motifs that aged well, and do something new in the place of those that did not.
Before starting this concept for a print ad, I poured through magazine clippings from the 1970s to today, studying ads relating to racing and tracking how their style evolved through the decades. I thought ideas from before I was born, such as a short and sweet tagline dominating the upper third of the page, were solid. On the other hand, upon taking another look at my collection of souvenir programs from races I had attended in the early-to-mid-2000s, I saw some ads with garishly busy layouts and others with grody, muted saturation. Feeling that this didn't do brand identity or cohesion any favors, I devised a straightforward, clean look.
Similarly, I wanted to make this ARCA hero card creative, but still grounded - not framed by outlandishly fantastical scenery and flashy neons like those of twenty years ago, but not so plain as to simply be a press photo of the car like the ones a fan may have bought around 1985.
I took the time to draw up many alternate car liveries as well. This one, while drawing some inspiration from the Mobil 1 schemes that adorned NASCAR Cup cars decades ago, is not limited by what could be done with paint and decals back then. Its lines and curves dip into places that are much more feasible for installers at a race team to reach than they were before vinyl wrap technology became commonplace.
Similarly, while I started this livery thinking about legendary outfit Ranier Racing and their simple, effective white and orange cars, I wanted to create something they might have used if they had today's sponsors to impress and today's visual standards to live up to. It also features subtle metallic elements, something easier for a decal shop to pull off today than it was fifteen years ago.
A few more schemes.
