bucketfeet

The Rock The Design Challenge was a contest conducted by Bucketfeet, a Chicago based shoe brand that connects with artists around the world to create products that tell a story. The theme for this particular contest was music, hence the name, Rock The Design. Artists and Designers were called to create music inspired art. This inspiration could come from any band/singer, music festival, an album or anything related to music. 

I submitted a total of 5 designs, but had a similar theme across the board. I chose a sort of retro approach with the equalizer graphic, which reminds us of the manual equalizers and equalizer graphics that stereo systems had back in the 80s and 90s when I was growing up. Another graphic element of the shoe is the lasers on the sides, inspired by laser shows similar to the ones you see at concerts and music festivals. I’d like to someday incorporate this type of graphics at a concert or music festival and animate it.

Out of those 5 designs I submitted, the Equalizer Blue was chosen as a finalist along with 14 other designs submitted by hundreds of other artists from around the world. The challenge of the contest was not only to design a great shoe, but also to engage people through social media, since votes were also needed in order to win. I knew that I had to step up my game and use some of my marketing skills, so I put together a couple of ads, and posted them on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. I photoshopped some images and used humor to make my audience part of the experience.

Part of the winning prize was a trip to Chicago to visit the Bucketfeet headquarters. I was very excited about this since I had never been to the Windy City. The whole experience has been really amazing!

The winning design, the Equalizer Blue, was a limited edition design and was sold out. Later on the Equalizer Blue was brought back to the Bucketfeet online store and it was sold out again.