Abstraxx
Dave of Abstraxx let us know what’s good with him and his company.
What are the aesthetics of Ventura, California?
One minute you could be in the slums looking at grimy housing, dirty streets, and bums on the corner begging for money. Then, drive up the block another 5 minutes and you’ll be by million dollar beach homes. It shows the hard reality of the good and bad in life. You got to Stand Alone and Conquer if you want a better life for you and your family.
What matters most to you when designing something?
When designing, I’d have to say it’s a tie between quality and difference. I always try to think out of the box but then again I want a quality design that one can clearly state a lot of time and effort was put into and not just something that was just copied and pasted together.
What’s so important to you about individuality?
With all the competition in the clothing industry today, you have to have individuality to survive. You have to have something that makes you unique, stand alone, and different from the competition. If not, you’re just going to be another clothing company tossed in the bunch.
How is that you find art in words and images?
Art is everywhere, from the grime in the streets to the structured lines of a house, the lyrics of a song, to the covers of a magazine. It’s everywhere, just take a look around and you’ll most likely find at least 10 items that are considered art.
Your slogans have a spoken style that defines your work nicely. How did that come about?
The first slogan was “Stand Alone.” I wanted something that could relate to me as well as everyone else in the world. I started the company by myself, designed t-shirts, belt buckles, catalogs, designed and built the website, etc. so the slogan “Stand Alone” meant a lot to me. As for others who can relate, you got to stand alone in this world to reach your dreams. There will be people surrounding you to help you on that journey but it’s you at the end, “Standing Alone,” completing it. As the company grew and I started receiving consumer feedback the slogan turned into Stand Alone, Be Different, and Inspire. A lot of kids were inspired by my story to start a clothing company and they reached out to my story and thought “If he could do it from scratch then I can too.” My advice would always be, “Stay focused and be different.”
How important is a logo for a company?
The company logo is very important to the company. It’s a symbol that represents the company as a whole. Our logo is reflected from the earth. The atmosphere, the city (land) and the core. All my designs are influenced from life so what better logo to have for a company but its main influence, the earth.
Can you think of a logo that doesn’t work for a company?
A lot of the companies out there today are just using the company name as the logo, and to me that’s pretty pointless. It’s like they took the easy way out to not design a logo. It’s sort of like an artist putting a 15 track album together but only making 2 hit songs on it. I know when I bought a CD like that I felt robbed. The company logo should be the identity of the company without words. Just like the Nike Swoosh. No need for it to spell out Nike. You know exactly what the company is with the swoosh.