Surf culture
Photo Journal and Process Book that highlights one of my hobbies while also sparking a deeper conversation between those who are a part of the surfing community and those who are not.
Client:
Role:
UX/UI Designer
Year:
2023
The Challenge
The main issue in this project is that growing up in a beach town by the coast of California I was very familiar with surfing and its culture but, was oblivious to the toxic culture that people experienced as outsiders.
Process
To tackle this issue I first thought about the other perspectives in the community of surfing which led me to interview a wide range of people. The most significant being Kyla Langen who was a professional surfer but, turned into a surf instructor for the Queer and LGBTQ+ community. Talking to Kyla opened my eyes to how there was an entire world that existed in surfing that I was completely ignorant of. The perspective of Queer & other People who want to get into the hobby but are intimidated and scared of the ridicule and the intensity of the male-dominated sport
Solution
Over the semester I conducted research and put together the findings into a cohesive set of photo journals as well as a poster documenting all the highlights of the project. This project meant a great deal to me not only because it tackled an issue that I feel should get more attention than it has but because it also is comprised of mainly pictures and stories from my hometown. I consider this an Ode to my hometown because of the history and the progressive changes that It has gone through. Although the town has changed from a surfer & local only place to a place where anyone can go surf and share the ocean it still feels like the same town that I grew up in.
Key takeaways
One of the issues that I came across while working on this project was that it was hard to gather all the photos and other pieces into a single place. I had to find the photos and then figure out the story by talking to those who were around. From these photos, I would then need to find references. The next hard part was to schedule an interview around the busy lives of others.