{"id":395029,"date":"2014-07-25T09:15:02","date_gmt":"2014-07-25T14:15:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.snkrsday.com\/?p=395029"},"modified":"2022-09-16T22:31:07","modified_gmt":"2022-09-17T03:31:07","slug":"pensole-world-sneaker-championship-diaries-day-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.snkrsday.com\/pensole-world-sneaker-championship-diaries-day-4\/","title":{"rendered":"PENSOLE World Sneaker Championship Diaries: Day 4"},"content":{"rendered":"
This summer, 30 young students from all the around the world have come together in Portland, Oregon, determined to change the footwear game by embarking in the PENSOLE World Sneaker Championship. Assigned to teams and representing a diverse range of brands, boutiques and major corporations across the industry, they’ve began their journey to design a product that’s ready for retail. These are their stories.<\/em><\/p>\n Roster:<\/strong> Dale Shepard, Sese Herrera, Stefan Cristobal, Lindsey Johnson (CMF)<\/p>\n Day 4 at Pensole gave us a big opportunity to work more independently and explore our brand to find the right direction for us to harness our ideas and really push ourselves mentally. We had a huge opportunity to learn more about our consumers and enhance our design briefs, both together as teammates and individually for our own projects. Each day brings the entire class together more as a whole and it feels like we’re all getting comfortable with each other; bouncing off ideas from other brands and listening\/asking, “Hey, how’s the project coming along so far?” We’re all coming together as designers and learning from each other’s own talents, skills, and different ways of thinking. Each day gets better….<\/p>\n “School of Footwear Design” – were we all came to strive to get better.\n The Team — from left to right; Dale, Sese, and Stefan\n Stefan hard at work, researching.\n Team Android Homme’s work space.\n -Dale Shepard<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Roster:<\/strong> Zia Ahmad, Clifford Charles, Andrew Parks, Lindsey Johnson (CMF)<\/p>\n Day 3:<\/p>\n Have you ever made a really cool purchase, you take it home and you\u2019re ready to use it, and ignore how complicated it actually is? Something like Google Chromecast, or a new bed frame?<\/p>\n You just toss the directions aside and start messing with it. Only to find three hours later that you really need those directions?<\/p>\n Well, a design brief is a \u201cdesign direction.\u201d It specifies who your sneaker is for, what problems their current problems are, how you plan to solve them, your inspiration, story and color palette.<\/p>\n If you try to jump into a design before you clearly lay it out, then what are you trying to do? You\u2019re going to run into some serious problems two weeks in and have to start looking for your design brief.<\/p>\n I think I\u2019m actually in a really good place right now. My brief consists of a 35 years old Personal Trainer who used to be bullied by his older siblings and have to wear their second-hand knock off stuff.<\/p>\n When he got older he began to really get into products that would never break, and since he\u2019s really into football, his apparel and equipment really take a beating. He respects quality goods, that last a long time, are tough, and get the job done. And thats what G Shock is all about. Add in the fact that he loves old school 90s hip-hop, was born and raised in South Central LA, and visits Undefeated on a regular basis and you\u2019ve got a genuine consumer that would really be down to purchase a cool Undefeated X G Shock cross over.<\/p>\n Dwayne Edwards gave the green light so tomorrow…the sketching starts!! Super psyched. See y’all tomorrow! <\/p>\n Roster:<\/strong> Dexter Sulit, Daniel Raes, Claudia Lopez, Marcus Taylor (CMF)<\/p>\n DAY 4:<\/p>\n Today marks the fourth day of Pensole and things are taking off. After a solid intro this morning everyone seemed to be motivated and headed in a good direction. Representing the Adidas group, our day consisted of mostly research, trying to get our briefs packed down for Friday, so we could head into the ideation phase. While on the other hand, our color and material designer continued his research on finding colors that represented the brand. Even though today sounds very long, due to the idea of us reading and searching of facts, it consisted of some fun. The fact that we are blessed enough to be out here designing footwear and chasing dreams is crazy to think of, it makes a day of research so much more worth it. Stay tuned…..<\/p>\n Housekeeping talks from Dwayne in the morning, which is always full of motivation and knowledge to keep us going\n Claudia and Dexter handling their business, putting in work researching for their projects\n Marcus in deep thought taking care of the Adidas brand color story\n -Marcus Taylor<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Roster:<\/strong> Jonathan Guisbert, Ako Xiang, Satoshi Sutoh, Seth Peterson (CMF)<\/p>\n [Exhales] Ouch, my brain hurts today\u2026I have never thought so much about designing a sneaker without sketching before. Today was heavy research day and getting close to finalizing our design briefs. We spent the morning discussing habits of successful people, not just in design, but professionals in general. Lots to keep in mind going forward such as: spend time with motivational people and measure and track your progress. Focus on making small, continuous improvements\u2026that was a good one to remember, too. After that, I was swimming in a sea of Google searches and flipping through different footwear construction books to find the facts that will support my design brief. I learned how important it is to throw away my individual opinions about what a product should be and let the consumer and facts define that. Sounds kind of obvious, but it\u2019s surprising how often designers may fall into the trap of carrying their personal opinions into the design process.<\/p>\n I used this model to study the anatomy of the foot while thinking of how to design my sneaker specifically for women. A few things I have to keep in mind are that the female foot generally has a higher arch, smaller heel and ball of foot, but a slightly wider toe area and bigger medial and lateral malleoli (ankle bones\u2026learned that term today!)<\/p>\n My work area got messier as the day went on! It\u2019s only day 4, but my notepad is already half-way full. The research process is fun, but sometimes frustrating, especially when you\u2019re trying to do something new or use materials in a new way that hasn\u2019t really been done before, or sometimes you think something hasn\u2019t been done before and you find out it has, that\u2019s kind of a bummer, but you have to keep moving and think of new ways to innovate.<\/p>\n This piece of inspiration got me really excited. It\u2019s the Burj Al Arab hotel in Dubai. Through my research, I found a really interesting quote from Tom-Wills Wright, the building\u2019s architect. Tom said, “If you can draw a building with a few sweeps of the pen and everyone recognizes not only the structure but also associates it with a place on Earth, you have gone a long way towards creating something iconic.” I think the same can be applied to footwear, where simplicity is a common theme in classic or timeless sneakers. For example, Converse\u2019s Chuck Taylor, the Air Jordan 1, Nike\u2019s Air Force 1, and adidas\u2019 Superstar\u2026all are classic in their own right, and ultimately were really simple designs. <\/p>\n Roster:<\/strong> Quetzal Ramos, Sara Jaramillo, Victoria Adesanmi, Tuan Nguyen (CMF)<\/p>\n #DAY4 What about the best sneakers salesman in history? The answer is even more surprising, it’s the same. Chuck Taylor. He was not a basketball player. 700 is a great number, isn’t it?<\/p>\n After that #sneakerfact we talked about things succesful people do differently…<\/p>\n …focus on being productive, not busy. …Just to name a few. After this everything got quiet as all the students got focused on their projects. Despite all the work, everyone maintained a calm appearance.<\/p>\n #teamnike\n Team Nike’s CMF working out!\n Inspiration…\n #THEWORLDISOURS\n PENSOLEWSC . TEAM NIKE . QUETZAL . MEXICO<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Roster:<\/strong> Danny Chambers, Ruben Eriksson, Marcus Thomas, Thalia Meraz (CMF)<\/p>\n The fourth day of work has brought more research and consumer analysis for the bunch of us. In my particular case, this starts with digging into the past of the Pony. Many people don\u2019t know the acronym the brand stands for (Product of New York), let alone the driving factors behind the brand\u2019s origination. PONY brand was created for independent, dynamic people who follow there own path and never stray despite tough conditions. Over the years, this mentality to push forward has faltered. Pony has changed ownership multiple times, landing in the hands of people with different visions for the brand\u2019s future.<\/p>\n My goal is to stop this cycle and return PONY to its roots. By this I do not mean aesthetically, but emotionally. PONY products thrived on making people talk and other companies scared, let\u2019s bring it back.<\/p>\n -Danny Chambers<\/p>\n My design brief, a road map for the next month.\n Contrary to popular belief, design starts with reading, not drawing.\n I\u2019ve been staring at this painting in the studio for four days now. If werewolves exist, do they need special shoes?\n -Danny Chambers<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Roster:<\/strong> Jesus Garate, Guilherme Lemes, Jared Fiorovich, Shaun Kosey (CMF)<\/p>\n Today was full of research. I looked into Target\u2019s history, from its beginnings to how it became one of the biggest companies in America. I found it interesting that the Target name and the classic bulls-eye logo were inspired by the aim of good retail service, quality products, low prices, and commitment to the community, just like a marksman aims to hit the center of a bulls-eye. I was able to understand that they are very committed to the idea that great design should be affordable and accessible to all. I\u2019m working on applying this philosophy on my concept. -Jesus Garate<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Roster:<\/strong> Elizabeth Steenwyk, Maher Jemili, Guy Perez, Tuan Nguyen (CMF)<\/p>\n Lightning will strike, but not without a storm. Taking a walk through beautiful downtown during lunch. After talking about twelve things successful people do today (one being finding a balance between work and relaxing) we decided it would be a good opportunity to get some fresh air. It might not happen often in the next few weeks!<\/p>\n Sketching is a great way to clear your head, but since we\u2019re forbidden to sketch any shoes until we know why we\u2019re sketching, my hard-working classmates provide inspiration for sketch breaks. Figure drawing, anyone?<\/p>\n I\u2019ve been caught\u2026 This summer, 30 young students from all the around the world have come together in Portland, Oregon, determined to change the footwear game by embarking in the PENSOLE World Sneaker Championship. Assigned to teams and representing a diverse range of brands, boutiques and major corporations across the industry, they’ve began their journey to design a product that’s ready for retail. These are their stories.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2415,"featured_media":394573,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1219126,1212632],"tags":[1211825,1220018,1211826],"cultivate_rss":[],"class_list":{"2":"type-post"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nTEAM ANDROID HOMME<\/h2>\n
TEAM UNDEFEATED<\/h2>\n
\n-Zia Ahmad<\/p>\nTEAM ADIDAS<\/h2>\n
TEAM UNDER ARMOUR<\/h2>\n
\n-Jonathan Guisbert<\/p>\nTEAM NIKE<\/h2>\n
\nWhat is the best selling sneaker in history? You may be surprised, to find out that it is the Converse Chuck Taylor. This shoe has sold over 700 millions pairs!<\/p>\n
\n…create and pursue focus goals.
\n…keep things simple.<\/p>\nTEAM PONY<\/h2>\n
TARGET<\/h2>\n
\nAfter doing research on the organizations where Target is involved, I found out that they try to help the community a lot. This helps me to think about coming out with a way to make my design be part of these movements. If Target believes in helping the community, my shoe should be a reflection of the company. I also found out that Target has been working on reaching the Hispanic market, and as a Mexican-American I think I can find a good way to help that happen. I am working on a concept that will have a positive influence on my community.<\/p>\n D\u2019Wayne showing us the design for the World Sneaker Champion belt.\n A closer look of the World Sneaker Champion belt template.\n Shaun (team Target\u2019s CMF) working on some of our color and material directions.\nTEAM JORDAN<\/h2>\n
\nSometimes that\u2019s how it feels with design, too. During my first semester of college, I was educated for the first time on design process. What high school had failed to teach me was that\u2019s what it is: a process. My second year, switching to industrial design from architecture, I really began to realize the importance of those initial failures.
\nLearning from failure is how great things happen.
\nOur numerous \u201credirections\u201d while researching this week felt a little stormy at times. But after more research, Team Jordan has tentative concepts and are a go for the rest of the month. Just goes to show you what happens when you refuse to give up\u2026and when you get some sleep!<\/p>\n
\n-Beth Steenwyk<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"