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[dropcap style=”dark” color=””]W[/dropcap]e’re always stoked to see our logo in the wild, captured on the streets, or in photos. It’s taken on a life of its own and meant something to many different generations. To coincide with the new Slam clothing that has arrived we took a step back to consider the logo from other perspectives. Visually it remains unchanged from the first time it ever appeared. Chris Long designed the text-block logo for Slam founder Paul Sunman when he first opened the shop in the basement of Rough Trade Records on Talbot Road. One year later this logo began its journey into a world wider than West London when it first appeared in print…
THE FIRST SLAM CITY SKATES AD IN BMX ACTION BIKE MAY 1987
This ad appeared in the May 1987 issue of BMX Action Bike. This was the first issue of this publication to feature the words ‘Read and Destroy’ on the cover. Skateboarding was still supplementing the bike magazine. Less than a year later RaD would become the dominant name on the masthead and a new era would begin. The Xerox-assisted mail order advert above was assembled by Paul, a functional half-page beacon boasting the extensive inventory of this basement start-up
One thing that set this image apart from other product-heavy adverts from the get-go was the corner stamp appearing next to the already-established Rough Trade logo. The association with the record store carried weight but the Slam logo itself already had a certain authority. In the words of Dan Adams who was part of the Slam family from the beginning, “There are logos sometimes that just work, it’s not possible to say why they do, they just do, and this is one of those”.
“THERE ARE LOGOS SOMETIMES THAT JUST WORK, IT’S NOT POSSIBLE TO SAY WHY THEY DO, THEY JUST DO, AND THIS IS ONE OF THOSE”
Dan has good reason to clearly remember this logo appearing. When the shop first opened he was the one who painted a 1.5 metre squared version of the logo next to the Rough Trade signage outside. He did a massive blow-up of the logo as a template and employed good old-fashioned signwriting techniques to announce Slam sharing the building. He even got some static from the business next door for some errant white paint making its way onto their shopfront. Dan is currently steering the RaD archive into book form. He describes the Slam logo as being “not unlike the RaD logo. It has an integrity and visual impact that makes it stand out”. As RaD evolved so did Slam and In 1988 a new Covent Garden location was announced.
THIS KEN PARK ADVERT ANNOUNCING THE NEW SLAM LOCATION APPEARED IN RAD MAGAZINE IN 1988
This “New & Improved” advert contains a lot of information. Ken Park is doing a one-foot egg-plant on the Slam-built Latimer Road vert ramp designed by Dan Adams. Phil Chapman and Shane O’Brien are called out as sponsored riders, and the upcoming new location that would replace the West London shop is announced. The black and white of this ad emphasises how bold the logo could appear to be and this monochromatic working of it would continue. Tim Fowler who worked for Slam City Skates as a graphic designer when our mail-order ads were an integral part of the business spent more time playing with our logo than most. He said it would always conjure up the feeling of DIY creativity and camaraderie. Tim, who now fittingly works for Rough Trade records, said “Everything this logo represents stems from the idea of creating something exciting and new, all from the basement of the original shop in Talbot Road”.