The Brapstrap is Pit Viper’s dirt goggle that was built for keeping dirt and debris out of your face while racing. The goal of this project was to create an identity rooted in 80’s motocross graphics with an upgraded modern aesthetic. The goal was to emphasize the backyard moto culture, the DIY’er who builds sketchy ramps with questionable materials laying around their backyard, and the core community that keep motocross alive. 

The name Brapstrap is derived from the motocross term - “Brapping.” In motocross and the broader dirt bike culture, "brap" is a term and sound used to describe the aggressive revving or acceleration of a single-cylinder engine, particularly on dirt bikes. It often implies a feeling of excitement and elation associated with riding and riding style. The word can also be used as an exclamation to mimic the sound of a revving engine. “Strap” if it isn’t already obvious points to the strap that is placed around your face when wearing the goggles. Hence the name, Brapstrap. Geared for third place finishers, shitty ramp engineers and best crash winners looking to upgrade their visual experience, The Brapstrap was designed from the ground up with all the features a rider would need.

The Brapstrap logo is a modified version of the Star7 font originally created by GFRcreative. Chosen for its raceway look, the font was sheared to the right to give the feeling of speed. Within the negative space of the letters there is a continuous line with a starburst at the end. This addition to the logo was added to represent a fuel line running through an engine leading to the spark plug, where the spark creates the combustion needed to start an engine. 

Each individual goggle within this product line had a unique stand alone color palette. To outline these specific color-ways the design decision was made to create a customizable tri-tone color palette that could be modified per goggle model. The thought was to have “flavors” so that each package had a distinct look and feel, based on the color-way that was purchased. This was a fun concept on paper, but proved to be challenging when applying the branding to the product as a whole. To solve this problem, the decision was made to use a monochrome “hero” color palette that could be used for all applications of branding. This would allow for a cohesive feel across all marketing platforms. 

The main pattern used for this branding is OSB particle-board plywood. When building ramps as a DIY’er, plywood is your best friend. Used to construct ramps of all shapes and sizes, plywood is a synonymous material used by all adrenaline junkies looking to get maximum airtime. On every piece of plywood there is a stamp placed by the manufacturer that outlines the specifications of that material. This stamp was used as an opportunity to have a design element with motocross specific verbiage.

Because the packaging for this product was a large rectangle, it was designed to emulate a stack of plywood that you would see at your local hardware store. Edges of plywood are typically dyed a color to help lumber yards identify different types and grades of plywood, making inventory easier. In this case I used specific colors from the goggle color-ways to act as the “dye” and then placed all product information on top of the stack of plywood.

The Brapstrap. The Official Strap of Brap.