Ours has done a range of work for The Program brands (Forum, Foursquare, and Special Blend) over the past few seasons. We have selected the Foursquare 2012 season to demonstrate the product and process involved.

 For Foursquare 2012, Ours designed all jackets, pants, print patterns, trim, apparel, and accessories. Working from pencil sketches all the way to final technical packages, Ours was involved in the creation of the product from the beginning to the end. We also consulted on brand building and the marketing direction for the Foursquare line.

 The Foursquare 2012 season saw a reduction in the number of pieces in both the Men’s and Women’s collections. The challenge for Ours was to ensure that despite developing a smaller line, the overall story remained clear and full. The creative direction was inspired by classic workwear and mountaineering outerwear.

 Ours was involved in colour selection as well as the creation of colour ways and colour stories. The colour palette was rooted in hardworking neutrals with bold pops inspired both by workwear and classic mountaineering brights. Ours developed three Men’s and three Women’s colour stories, and each story was linked to the others in the collection by a “floater” colour. This allowed each story to be defined discretely for strong relationships at the retail merchandising level, while still allowing some room for flexibility at the consumer level.

 Texture was important to the 2012 collections. Ours consulted on fabric selection and development, and designed all the print patterns for outerwear, liners, and accessories. In addition to classic workwear patterns like plaids and stripes, Ours developed a series of textural prints to add depth to flatter fabrics.

 All custom trim including zipper pulls, buttons, snaps, badges, and labels were designed by Ours. We incorporated a variety of fabrics, leather, and metal to create rich trim packages for each product level (top tier, mid range, entry level).

 Working from pencil sketches to final technical packages, we collaborated with Forum’s glove developer to choose custom fabrics and printing methods that help give the line a life of its own.

 Ours worked with the Forum 2012 colour palette to develop bold colour ways to produce a line of hand warmers that really pop.

 Ours incorporated existing graphics designed for Forum’s boards to tie the gloves back to hardgoods. As we repurposed the graphics, we carefully considered placement on the gloves to give the graphics a new voice.

 DC LiFE is interested in the idea that through increasing access to digital media and wi-fi, “our world has become a studio space.” The Studio shoe is about creating on the go.

 Seven is an important number to DC; it’s part of their logo and it’s integral to the brand’s heritage. Ours took seven pictures every day for seven days.

 We tweeted our favourite from each day, and then we used those images to create a package of seven postcards.

 The oversized postcards were boxed, wrapped, and shipped to a few lucky folks.

 The brief called for the line to be loosely inspired by education. Rather than focussing on scholarly references, Ours created a line around the idea of learning through our music culture. Ours used song lyrics that serve as life lessons as a starting point for developing a series of graphic T-shirts, sweatshirts, and accessories.

 Ours designed the product catalogue, and art directed the lookbook and the related photoshoot. We wanted to focus on the bonds that are created through good friendships. The shoot happened over a day in the woods, with nice weather, good people, and genuinely fun times.

 We produced several sketches and mock ups before we arrived at the final solution. In the end, we opted to use an interlinked type treatment of Geist’s name on the cover and to let the double moon visual illustrate the album title.

 Although there was a limited production budget, fortunately we were able to produce a digipak instead of a traditional jewel case. Matte printing was unattainable, but we felt that the depth and texture in the moon image would be lost by printing on a glossy stock. We worked with the printer and printed on the back side of the standard gloss stock. The result was exactly what we had hoped for and it was achieved within budget.