Eat with your eyes

If you’re like us you know the importance of board graphics in our snowboard culture. Sure, the board has to work under our feet, be the right style, size, flex etc for us and what we want to do on it to the best of our abilities…and even push them.

But, who of us can’t admit that if it looks bad it just won’t do…and conversely if it looks dope to hell with if it’s right for us we want it!

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At Island we’ve spent years designing the best boards, using the best materials and techniques, so for the graphics we apply the same high standards and only work with artists who share our passion and bring it to each model in our line. Each artist and model is different, we may give them a brief, talk about the board’s characteristics, fire back and forth ideas, then let them do their thing…but what you might not know is that this is followed by hours spent ensuring it works with the shape of the board, fits with the binding inserts, etc…and then making adjustments to colours or patterns so that it works with our in-house printing process.

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All of our topsheets are printed in-house, with artwork applied through dye sublimation. Because the colours you see on a screen differ from what ends up transferring with sublimation, each new graphic needs to be printed and tested to see what the colours will ultimately look like. Sometimes it’s pretty close right out of the gates, but more often than not, there are quite a few test prints to get it right…this is another stage of the digital/analog process of perfecting each board that we are passionate about.

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To get the ink to sublimate how we want, the press needs to heat up to over 150ºC, making for a hot day in the office. When topsheets are being prepared, the fans are on, windows are open, and hopefully, we get a breeze flowing through. Summer is definitely the least enjoyable time for this.

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To see the journey of the artwork, like many parts of building a snowboard, is something pretty unique. For Island Snowboards, many of our designs have started in analog form: painted by brush, X-rayed, and even rubber stamped. In each case, the elements were taken into digital form, crafted into a design, then remade into something physical again to eventually be ridden on snow—a piece of art you get to use for fun.

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