Xtreme Vortex graphic design

Xtreme Vortex are a longstanding client of mine and have commissioned me time and again to work on their marketing, stationery and other creative projects. In fact they even hold one of the top slots in my 'Most Unusual Commissions' leader board - more on that below.

The Client operates a leisure and activity hire service that enables businesses to 'brand' games, sideshows and equipment for display at events and private functions, including climbing walls, an inflatable laser tag arena and other physical endurance games. To spread awareness of their products and extend their customer reachXtreme Vortex participate in large annual trade shows with a stand that's themed and branded. In the past I've been commissioned by the Client to design the stand's artwork and assets, including roller banners, podium wraps, brochures and more.

Following a rebrand that saw the Client's website and logo transformed into a cleaner and more modern entity, Xtreme Vortex commissioned me to redress some business stationery and marketing products. As discussed, the Client attracts a lot of attention at the various trade shows and exhibitions they attend. At their most recent show they went armed with a surplus of promotional packs to pass out to the visitors of their stand which consisted of business cards and a series of equipment showcasing postcards, both of which I was commissioned to design.

A lot of the work I am commissioned to produce is destined to be printed on paper matter or stored digitally in a server somewhere. That's precisely why Xtreme Vortex are a stand-out client for me as occasionally their commissions take my designs to other more peculiar places. For instance, one of my top 3 Most Unusual Commissions to date was to design replacement decorative graphics to adorn the exterior of the Client's inflatable laser tag arena. At the time the doors and pod walls of the inflatable featured a kitsch cartoon alien motif that didn't always align itself to the brand or organisation utilising the equipment. I was briefed to devise something more generic; visuals that sat suitably within the realm sci-fi laser-shooting action that also complimented the space-age industrial look of the arena itself. With a childhood crammed with video games and DVDs providing adequate reference material I was quick to generate graphics comprising over-sized dials and instrumentation, metallic air-lock door mechanisms and hazard-warning striping.

In addition to the laser tag arena design project Xtreme Vortex have involved me in styling the visuals of many other pieces of equipment in their warehouse. A number of side stall products have required artwork for their backdrops and face boards, products such as the inflatable Football Pool pitch required a logo style banner created to adorn its sides, and a plethora of customisable products such as the reaction game Batak and the table-top game Pluck A Duck have needed digital templates created to aid hirers in correctly designing their own branded artwork to fit within the product boundaries. This last commission has opened a whole new level of appeal to potential market of corporate hirers in particular.