DESIGNER & ART DIRECTOR
CLAYTON W TAYLOR
Client: MAXTRAX Australia
Role: Design and Project Management
MAXTRAX Australia manufacturers polymer sand ladders for off road enthusiasts and race teams. In addition their products are used by the Australian military, NATO, and the United Nations. A sand ladder is a devise that allows vehicles to travel over deep sand, snow, or mud. They can also be used to get vehicles unstuck in sticky situations without the use of a winch.
Brad McCarthy, the company's owner, contacted me to design their new Rally Fighter vehicle for exposition use in the USA. Brad wanted only two things; he wanted the vehicle to make the best use of the company's identity for maximum exposure, and to pay homage to the company's Australian ownership.
MAXTRAX' s use of bright orange makes it easy to spot for great exposure, but the challenge was not making the best use of the company's logos, it was making the best use of the Rally Fighter itself.
The Rally Fighter has a very complicated body. A cross between a sports car and a desert racer, it's wild looks make for a head turning vehicle. However, a poorly designed graphic can weaken it's lines and take away from it's “fast” looks.
My design accentuates the Rally Fighter's lines by loading the rear heavy and slimming the design toward the front of the vehicle. A half-tone sand ripple under-graphic pays homage to the Australian deserts where the product was born and tested, and the Australian flag on the roof leaves no doubt about where MAXTRAX calls home. For detail I added a clear vinyl pattern over “Spike”, the company's mascot. The clear vinyl pattern over gloss vinyl is the only example I have seen of this technique and comes from my love of spot-varnish finishes in print.
The MAXTRAX Rally Fighter has been featured at the SEMA Show in Las Vegas, the Tecate SCORE Baja 1000, and countless other events. Check out the MAXTRAX Rally Fighter on Gizmodo here.
Below: Email campaign and web banners created for MAXTRAX, Australia.