Dave Nelson | SecretPenguin Blog

HDR and The City of Omaha put on a few planning events to get the public’s input for Downtown Omaha’s 30 Year Master Plan.

BBB LTD Skateshop and SecretPenguin rallied together a group of skateboarders to attend each event and get involved. Huge thank you to all the skateboarders that took the time to come out. Also a huge thank you to the people at HDR for listening to us.

Not only did we get a skatepark put in the plan, we got two!

HDR put together a video of the process. Here’s a minute long recap about the skateparks:

If you’re on a phone, you can view the video here.

Photo: Richard Mulder
I recently gave a presentation on branding for skateboard ministries at the 2009 International Christian Skateboard Conference in Fort Lauderdale, FL.
(Huge thanks to Mike Miller for letting me use your computer. It was great meeting you!)

Below is a recap of the talk…

Here’s a quick introduction and background on myself, and then we’ll get to the good part…

I started doing design work for BBB Skateshop, a local shop in Omaha, NE.

Manna Skateboards: Sierra Fellers, Rob Dolman, Jud Farmboy Heald, Danny Morrin, Jared Lee, Brian Hutcherson, me, Tim Byrne
After that, I started touring with Manna Skateboards (shown above), and would bring my laptop on the road with me.  Towards the end, I started doing some design work for them.

While I was in Hawaii, a hotel worker dropped my bag and cracked my laptop. It seemed to work fine when I checked it, but after a month, it died and would cost $1000 to get it fixed.
I thought about forgetting about design, and just continue skateboarding.
My parents were incredibly supportive and told me they would pay for half if I could come up with the other half. I still wasn’t 100% convinced to get it fixed, and instead was focusing on our next tour.
Out of nowhere, I got a card in the mail from Mike Ballard, a youth pastor in Omaha. He wrote, “I was praying for you, and felt led to give you this,” and there was a check for $500… the remaining amount I needed to get my laptop fixed!

I got my laptop fixed, and started to become obsessed with design and I wanted to make skateboard ministries look legit. Whether I accomplished that or not, I tried my hardest to create design and branding that could help ministries grow.

Soon after, we left Manna Skateboards and started Untitled Skateboards.

First Untitled ad. Left to Right: Me, Shawn Hale, Nate Giarratano, Jared Lee, Jay Haizlip, Jud Farmboy Heald
Jud Heald was in charge of Untitled, and he had me in charge of all the design. Right away, we started running ads in Thrasher Magazine.

Jay Haizlip was on Untitled at the time, and asked me to do work for his church called The Sanctuary and a new idea he had for a tour called The Uprising (that later became their reality tv show).

Before I knew it, I was swamped with work and helping out all my friends in skateboard ministry.

So there’s a little background, let’s get on with what you came for…

First, let’s start by defining what branding and design is, so we’re all on the same page.

Branding is the overall look + feel and reputation of your organization. Design is a strategic way of communicating. Good design can also help people relate and feel proud to be associated with a brand. For example, if someone likes the design on your teeshirt, it’s more likely they’ll wear it outside of your ministry’s functions.

However, let’s keep your priorities straight… Your first priority is not to look good, you’re first priority is your ministry.

God is still going to do great things, no matter what your ministry looks like. (Note: after I made this, I actually liked it and wouldn’t mind being apart of a ministry that looks like a My Little Pony Fanclub!)

Good design is expensive, but valuable. If you can’t afford good design, or don’t have access to a good designer on your staff, the least you can do is have good branding.

These are the very basics to branding. Develop a logo, choose colors, pick out a typeface. Then always stick with those. It’s so simple, but barely anyone does it. I think the reason for that is, people don’t realize the importance of it.

Let me explain with an example:
Your ministry is at the local skatepark cleaning up the trash or handing out waters, and you all are wearing a shirt with the same logo on it.
The next day, someone from the park sees a kid at school wearing a shirt with the same logo.
That consistency creates recognition.

He may approach the kid and ask what they are all about. Without that recognition of the shirt, they may have never talked.
Recognition creates connections.

The kid could then tell him about the group he’s a part of, and tell him the time they meet if he’d like to check it out. With no effort at all, besides having consistent branding, the kid was able to invite someone.
Connections create community.

Taking it a bit further…

This is a tip I learned from the creative director of Starbucks at an AIGA event. When you have a list, along with your colors, typeface, and logo… it will ensure more consistency across all of your materials.
Which in return will create consistency which creates recognition which creates connections that will ultimately create community. And that’s why branding is so important to your ministry.

If anyone has questions or would like to talk more, feel free to leave a comment or email me: dave@secretpenguin.com

Thanks!

Last week I went to the International Christian Skateboard Conference to give a talk about Design and Branding for skateboard ministries (I’ll post more about that in my next post). The whole event was great. Big thanks to Uli & Toni Frallicciardi, Joe Ferraro, Nico Sankovic and everyone that put it on. (Photo above from SkateBible.com)

The weekend went super fast, so I’ll just post some photos from it all…

Flew into Texas for a connecting flight, and met up with some friends. Josh Harmony, Shane Fox, Richard Mulder and Christian Hosoi entertaining little Elijah Mulder.

We were all invited to Alan “Ollie” Gelfand’s private skatepark, OllieWood. The above video is Jud Farmboy Heald, Christian Hosoi and Lance Mountain playing follow the leader.

The first night I roomed with Jud and Zac Archuleta (Congrats on going pro, Zac!). It was nice catching up with Jud again. We traveled together for years with Manna Skateboards and then with Untitled Skateboards. Jud also built my miniramp in our backyard in one day!

I met up with Josiah Gatlyn and his girlfriend, Andrea Montoya at the Foolishness premiere.

Brian Sumner and Brandon Wall’s film, Foolishness premiere was really fun. I was happy to be able to do the Skate Bible logo.

After the premiere, was an art show that I had a piece in. Above is Jesse Fellers imitating my monster behind him.

Lance Mountain had a bunch of amazing paintings in the show. This one was one of my favorites.

Lance imitating his Heel Bruise shirt.

Here’s a pair of Toms I designed for an auction.

We ate at this diner a lot of late nights. Pictured above is Christian Hosoi, me, Dave Reasbeck, Lance Mountain, Josh Harmony and Zac Archuleta.

Island Water Sports had a big event by the beach. We skated the miniramp, Josh Harmony played music and Zac Archuleta spoke.

Rob and Sopheak Dolman, Jesse Fellers and I went around the corner to eat at a delicious coal fire pizza place. This is a picture of a picture screen on Rob and Sopheak’s camera. It was super fun to see Rob again. We used to travel together all the time for Manna Skateboards.

We watched a UFC fight at Uli’s friend, Jason’s house. Jason works at Crispin Porter and Bogusky. They make amazing ads, and Jason makes amazing iced tea. Thanks for having us in your home, sir!

The last night Zac and I roomed with Josh Harmony. It was cool to hear Josh’s love for music and that he enjoyed a lot of Omaha bands. Then at 3:30am, the fire alarm went off. Here’s a few of us in front of the firetruck (me, Shane Fox, Brian Sumner, Jeremy Hendrix, Zac Archuleta, Josh Harmony and Evan Kuzava). 15 minutes later, I left for the airport.

Thanks again for everyone that put on the event and participated. It was a great time!

I just received the project schedule for the new public skatepark from Joan Baillon, Special Projects Coordinator of Omaha Parks, Recreation and Public Property…

• Wed 10/1/08 – Execute D/B Contract
• Fri 10/10/08 – Phase 1-Design 60%
• Mon  11/3/08 – Phase 2-Construction
• Thurs 1/15/09 – Winter Shut Down
• Wed 4/1/09 – Mobilize
• Thurs 4/2/09 – Grading
• Wed 4/15/09 – Utilities
• Thurs 4/23/09 – Footings/Foundation
• Mon 5/4/09 – Skate Bowls/Structures
• Mon 6/1/09 – Perimeter Flatwork
• Mon 6/15/09 – Landscaping
• Wed 6/24/09 – Punch list
• Fri 6/26/09 – Substantial Completion
• TBA – Grand Opening

Brad Siedlecki from Pillar Action Sports Development sent me the plans and said we’re limited on budget, but wanted to know if there’s any tweaks I think could be added.

I talked with Kelly McManus (a local skateboarder and friend) and we came up with a couple ideas. I wanted to consult with Jeff Chase too (he helped design the first park here as well, and helped with Cream City Skatepark), but he was out of town, and we needed to get this back to Brad asap.

Here’s the original plans with a few of our thoughts in red, plus a drawing for the new center piece along the strip:

Click to enlarge

Brad said he liked the ideas, and will incorporate them. I’m really excited for this park, and to be working with such a great skatepark designer. Huge thanks to the City of Omaha and to Pillar Action Sports Development!

My dad told me this again the other day. It’s something my Mom’s dad told him…

“Worrying doesn’t help anyone.
Never be worried… be concerned,
and then take action.”

I love that. I wish I could have gotten to know my Grandpa before he passed on.

On a side note, the other night, Sara Jean and I went skateboarding downtown.

We took the elevator up to the top of a parking garage.

Here’s Sara Jean ducking under as we go down.

When we got to the bottom, security was waiting to escort us out.
At least this guy was a little older. It’s always a bit awkward/funny when security guards younger than you kick you out for skateboarding.

It’s been too busy lately, but super fun and exciting. Here’s a quick recap of everything…

A Day With Steve

I finally made it back down to Lincoln to skateboard with my good friend Steve Andel. Most people know him as Venom. We skated ditches, curbs, wallrides and just cruised around. Definitely one of my favorite guys to skateboard with. He always has fun and enjoys skating everything.

Go Skateboarding Day

National Go Skateboarding Day was June 21. I helped plan with BBB LTD and we teamed up with Red Bull and had 5 best trick contests throughout the city at actual skatespots. We got kicked out by a lot of security guards and police. It was super fun skating through the streets with over 80 people. You can see more at BBB-LTD.com and at Dave Giesbrecht’s gallery.

New Omaha Skatepark Design

We decided on a skatepark company to go with this past week. As I mentioned before, I was asked to be on the Metro Skatepark Committee to help plan and design the new Omaha skatepark. A couple weeks back we interviewed 3 companies. The best one in my opinion was Pillar. These are the guys that helped design the very first Skate Plaza with Rob Dyrdek. Brad, the owner of Pillar is a super cool guy, and seems really passionate about making this park great. I’m happy to say we’ll be going with him and his company for the new Omaha Skatepark!

I don’t think I can show the full design yet, but up above is a little preview. It’s going to be gooooood.

Omaha TweetUp

This past Saturday, we had the first Omaha TweetUp. It was a fun event at Aroma’s Coffee. You can read a full review of it on Joe Schmidt’s blog. It was good to put a face to a tweet.

Storm Damage

The storm hit us pretty hard. Fortunately, it missed our house and nobody was hurt. I hope the same for everyone else. Our new fence, deck, skateboard ramp and landscaping all got destroyed. Huge thanks to everyone that came out and helped us!
You can see all the damage and progress on our Flickr account.

It’s been a fun and interesting week…

Omaha native skateboarder Joe Hammeke – staff photographer at Thrasher Magazine and skateboarder Robbie Brockel were on their way to the Damn Am Contest up in Minnesota at 3rd Lair, and stopped by the SecretPenguin studio.

Joe Hammeke may be able to take great skateboard photos for one of the best magazines around…

And Robbie Brockel may be able to win Best Trick contests and get a trick named after him(video from 411VM)…

But are these guys capable of beating Cody and I at Paddle Ball?
Check out PaddleBattle.com next Wednesday to find out!

I posted a while back about the meeting for a new skatepark in the La Vista area.

I’m happy to say I was asked to be on the Metro Skatepark Committee. We met this past week and went over some designs and proposals sent in by a few companies. The top 2 were from Pillar and Site Design.

I was very impressed with Pillar’s designs. These are the guys that worked with Rob Dyrdek on his Skate Plaza in Kettering, OH.

Red Bull flew my friend Jeff Chase and me up for the opening a few years back.

We’re meeting with the 2 companies on June 10th and will interview each one. I know I need to keep an open mind, but after seeing the submitted designs from Pillar and skating their past work, it’s hard not to be biased.

Sara and I went to the driving range, and Tyler Paulson and I skated my mini-ramp over the past weekend. It feels good to be able to spend time outside again.

I like this photo cause the ball is still on the tee! Sara actually did way better than I did.

One of the things we focus on at SecretPenguin is making legit stuff for “youth culture”. I feel stupid even categorizing my friends and I like that. But there are too many Ad Execs that take skateboarding and our “lifestyle” and completely misrepresent it.

Even some of the larger companies that you think would do just a bit of research could get it right. But Cisco completely missed it, Target completely missed it, even Mountain Dew missed it, and just about every other company missed it.

If you’re not a skateboarder and you’re looking at the links above and don’t get why they are horrible representations of skateboarding, then it’s important to research it and hire a place that knows skateboarding and it’s culture before using it in advertising.

When I was a Freshman in high school, they used to let all the skateboarders out 5 minutes early to avoid fights, I’ve gotten jumped by a car full of guys because I was skateboarding, I’ve been handcuffed and thrown up against a building for skateboarding down the street heading somewhere, and I’ve had guns pulled on me because some guys didn’t like skateboarders. You have to understand, this is a tight group of people that were rejected for so long and recently over the past few years are being noticed.

And now that it is popular, people want to use it to promote their brand. And I’m fine with that, but at least have the decency and respect of doing a little research and getting it right.

A while back I agreed to do a skateboard photoshoot for some friends at Bozell for Alegent Health. The only reason I agreed to it was because I knew the people and I knew they would do it right… and most importantly, wanted to do it right.

I was able to choose what I wore, not wear full pads, and approve the photo.

I think they did a good job, and I’m really thankful that they were open and respectful to skateboarding.