DS: research RSB

rail side benchers; a lifestyle company

The owner and my friend Travis Carroll recently started
his own lifestyle company, "Rail Side Benchers". By the
definition I was given by the owner Travis a bencher is
someone who goes out to train stations/tracks or really
anywhere you can find train cars that have been tagged
and documents artists work on those cars. Rail Side Be-
nchers is Travis Carroll's tribute or reflection of that type
of life. His designs and imagery are very true to the 
community he is trying to support. Using iconography 
that is common within the culture and using it to connect 
to those who share the same passion has had a positive
response. In addition this whole line of clothing is trying
to reach or build up a untapped community that is very
open to supporting each other. 

products; what they provide

Travis as of now sells Shirts and photo prints, but he will
be providing some interesting products in the near future
to create a buzz for his business. The idea is to provide 
more shirt options, hats, more prints, and special offers
for this refresh. 

type of vendor; local / web based service

As of right now Travis is doing this from home and most
likely it will stay that way. With the mass movement to 
purchase clothing and most products online it is a strong
reason to just keep it in that venue. 

competitors; large and small competition

The mass movement of urban graffiti clothing has been 
a recent trend, companies such as Rebel8 and Us vs Them
has lead to a bigger convergence of urban style within the 
younger generations. Also with the Banksy film and others
more people are interested in the lifestyle of urban artists.
Companies large such as Rogue Status to smaller newer 
business's such as LOAD LIMIT have popped up creating 
some decent competition or possible friends for Travis. I 
think since the community is so conjoined there is a good
possibility that Travis could contact and grow his business 
just by contacting these larger or similar groups of people.

why does rail side benchers matter?

As explained briefly before the community of urban artists
is growing exponentially and there are niches within this 
culture. Some of these niches are respected by the com-
munity in a whole, such as benchers. Most of the time it
is because benchers that people's work gets recognized on
social media sites such as flicker and tumblr and because
of their "position" within the culture they are respected. 
Benchers tie the community together and provide a bind
between artists, one that can lead to awesome collabs 
that wouldn't have happened without the benchers help.
This creates a great opportunity to build travis's brand 
because its is so niche but also respected that it can lead
to a good strong following and repeat customers. 

what i can provide; what can i bring to rsb

So after a couple talks and brain storming I believe I
can bring in some really cool design tools that can really
push Rail Side Benchers to the next level. First we have 
to really push his brand and create some brand standards
for Travis to follow that way it is a cohesive company. It
will start with building a stronger logo that represents his
brand a little stronger. Then I think there is a lot poten-
tial within his packaging and just the way he provides his
product to his customers. Then after we have a strong 
hold on how his brand and packaging will work moving to
getting the brand's awareness up. So I believe that if we
moved to doing more social media work it could provide 
the publicity that he would need, also it would be a way
to connect to the pre-built society that urban artist use
in the first place. Since they all use most social media
sites it would only make sense. I think he could really use
it for his benefit, he has the ability to really work both the
benchers side of things and the profitability of the shop.
Also building him a better site would be something in the
works to help him attract people to buy his products. 

what travis thinks; in person interview

Travis is very excited to have me working with him on
building his brand. It is something that he would love to 
have more insight on or help to get his business really
push started. We talked about possibilities and solutions
to problems he would have as a low budget owner until
it business really picks up. We thought of ways that could
really entice customers to repeatedly order from him and
how he could reward those customers. We want to really
tap into that community and bring it together so the 
design and way he deals with his business have to reflect 
that want. So there are some questions to be asked but
I am positive I can come up with some really creative
solutions that both of us can really be excited for.