New 2024 4FRNT Graphics: Lookbook

bustedpivotoh shit I didn't realize it was that creeper ass pedo dude.

Haha nah nah he's not OldStoke, fuck that dude.

GrandThingsI'm not saying they're the same, but it is absolutely analogous. The corny/shitty/copied graphics they put out every year highlight the fact that, just like Montec, they care more about making money than listening to community feedback and making cool products.

INB4 you say "wOwoW a CoMpaNy tRyInG to mAkE money"

I'm not trying to say this is a bad way to run a company, just highlighting this dissonance and pointing out how hypocritical they are when they post threads like this.

@JLev doesn't own 4frnt anymore I don't think. But also jskis are one of the few companies where there's like 3-4 (or more? Idk) topsheets options for whatever profile you want. I fuck with some ngl. But I genuinely do think they have great unique shapes and they aren't just a graphic company even tho that's likely why they make most their sales.

bustedpivotoh shit I didn't realize it was that creeper ass pedo dude.

Bro what lmao

J_skisVery insightful and constructive feedback thank you hahahah

It really is constructive, brand image and the awful graphics are the biggest problem. You can keep your head up your ass though because obviously none of this matters to you, or the morons you sell to. 🤔

When I think of Jskis this is the sort of uncouth marketing that comes to mind. Hope this helps clarify things for you Jason.

Wow I didn’t realize mediocre and completely inoffensive graphics could be so triggering lmao

I’ve had 2 pairs of 4frnts and they are sick skis, and I’ve heard great things about Js in terms of both performance and durability. Both of these companies were founded by newschool skiing legends who were a part of the genesis of the sport.

everybody is absolutely entitled to their opinion but aggressively attacking these companies is a total hardo cool guy look, and if anything this thread has made me want to support them more

Lenny-It really is constructive, brand image and the awful graphics are the biggest problem. You can keep your head up your ass though because obviously none of this matters to you, or the morons you sell to. 🤔

When I think of Jskis this is the sort of uncouth marketing that comes to mind. Hope this helps clarify things for you Jason.

Nice! Great example of a campaign from 2 years ago that we definitely fucked up on, publicly and privately apologized for, worked with the people we hurt to remedy it, donated to the cause we were piggybacking off of AND learned invaluable lessons that inform our decision making process now.

Wait... who's got their head up their ass again?

**This post was edited on Aug 16th 2023 at 8:52:11am

hi_vis360total hardo cool guy

It me

Hahah why get mad, when you can get rad?!?!

GrandThingsAnd there's the krux of this issue... You listen to CUSTOMER feedback, but pretend to care about COMMUNITY feedback. I agree, you're never going to please everyone, especially not the picky losers like us on Newschoolers - and if you did, you probably wouldn't be around very long.

But if you're asking for feedback, you can't post shit like "The reason we didn't include more "garbage" options in the poll is to discourage pointless comments like yours in the NS forum".

Your brand is cringe and your graphics suck. It is what it is. If that's what you have to do to thrive as a business, that's fine, just stop expecting us to suck your dick because you're a JLev company.

Thanks for turning a conversation into your own ignorant spiral of pointless trolling. pull your head out of your ass and try to contribute something reasonably constructive...if you can

The J thing is a very interesting approach in the ski industry. It's impressive that they can look at the industry with such a range of lenses and create something for so many different skiers. I think you would be hard pressed to find many skiers that love every graphic, but this plays to the success as well. Something for everyone, but that something is a very unique piece of art, not an earth toned Fischer ski.

With 4FRNT, i find that the art direction is more unique than the rest of the industry but less dramatic than the J skis approach. They stand out on the hill, feel true to the brand, and give the skis character that's lacking in a lot of other topsheet design. This is the freedom you get when your not selling a million units a year.

sskThanks for turning a conversation into your own ignorant spiral of pointless trolling. pull your head out of your ass and try to contribute something reasonably constructive...if you can

The J thing is a very interesting approach in the ski industry. It's impressive that they can look at the industry with such a range of lenses and create something for so many different skiers. I think you would be hard pressed to find many skiers that love every graphic, but this plays to the success as well. Something for everyone, but that something is a very unique piece of art, not an earth toned Fischer ski.

With 4FRNT, i find that the art direction is more unique than the rest of the industry but less dramatic than the J skis approach. They stand out on the hill, feel true to the brand, and give the skis character that's lacking in a lot of other topsheet design. This is the freedom you get when your not selling a million units a year.

Dog, I'm not trolling - they literally keep posting shit like "FEED ME" and I'm just trying to point out why I have issues with their company. I agree it's a unique and interesting approach to the ski industry but ....that doesn't necessarily make it a good thing. (Paying riders vs. royalties is another example here. Great for their company, not great for the riders. Similar issues with the whole Sander Hadley ordeal.)

I just often feel that they expect to blindly follow them and be like "yes yes 4FRNT and J skis are awesome!!" regardless of what they're actually doing. I was actually excited to take a look at this 4FRNT lookbook because I was hoping there would be some new and cools stuff - but there's not. Do you disagree that these new 4FRNT graphics look like copied graphics from other brands, or things that have been re-used every year?

If their graphics and approach to the industry are cool to you, that's great, but what really frustrated me is when they post threads like this or ask for feedback, they don't respond to the actual criticism.

Lenny-It really is constructive, brand image and the awful graphics are the biggest problem. You can keep your head up your ass though because obviously none of this matters to you, or the morons you sell to. 🤔

When I think of Jskis this is the sort of uncouth marketing that comes to mind. Hope this helps clarify things for you Jason.

Awe, were you offended? Poor little puss.

GrandThingsPaying riders vs. royalties is another example here. Great for their company, not great for the riders. Similar issues with the whole Sander Hadley ordeal.

Stoked you brought this up because this is a super commonly misunderstood aspect of the brand that I'd love to shred light on:

Let's start with one consideration, we are NOT an athlete first brand, meaning that we don't intend to support "career skiers" and have never had the goal of partnering with someone who has olympic dreams.

This company was founded to blur the lines of customer vs pro, and be more inclusive by featuring normal skiers on our social, website, emails. We want to work with people who are inspirational because they make skiing a priority in their lives, but still have lives, dreams, jobs, etc outside of skiing. Think... people on Newschoolers.

That said, we DO work with a really rad team of athletes who we support through product, money on a per-project basis (last season we sent over $20k to support athlete film projects) and through royalty payments for graphic collabs.

Graphic collabs vs traditional "pro-models" is definitely a double-edged sword for athletes. By spreading the love and collaborating with different athletes every year, we enable to tons of athletes who otherwise wouldn't be able to get their name on a product to have that experience, and to get paid for it.

The flaw that some people see with this system is that it doesn't allow athletes to create a career in skiing, because it's not a guaranteed thing every single season. This goes back to our goals and intentions of supporting the underdog, and giving them opportunities that they likely wouldn't have with another brand.

To clear up the Sander topic: We worked with Sander briefly in 2018-19 and in that short time he helped us develop a new ski, we helped him start a web series (and paid an animator to make a logo) and were working together to create a collab graphic that he would have been paid royalties for when Dynastar presented him with a better offer. There were some major miscommunications related to timelines during this period that I (Taylor), Jason are Sander are all at fault for.

Since working with Sander we now work with each athlete at the beginning of every season to draft up agreements so we're all on the same page and can hold each other accountable in the relationship. We're obviously still learning, but this has been a big asset in maintaining positive athlete relationships over the past 4 seasons.

Holy fuck sorry for rambling. This one's been stewing for a while haha

GrandThingsDog, I'm not trolling - they literally keep posting shit like "FEED ME" and I'm just trying to point out why I have issues with their company. I agree it's a unique and interesting approach to the ski industry but ....that doesn't necessarily make it a good thing. (Paying riders vs. royalties is another example here. Great for their company, not great for the riders. Similar issues with the whole Sander Hadley ordeal.)

I just often feel that they expect to blindly follow them and be like "yes yes 4FRNT and J skis are awesome!!" regardless of what they're actually doing. I was actually excited to take a look at this 4FRNT lookbook because I was hoping there would be some new and cools stuff - but there's not. Do you disagree that these new 4FRNT graphics look like copied graphics from other brands, or things that have been re-used every year?

If their graphics and approach to the industry are cool to you, that's great, but what really frustrated me is when they post threads like this or ask for feedback, they don't respond to the actual criticism.

I do 100% disagree with you that the 4FRNT graphics look like things that have done before...they seem to be onbrand for 4FRNT but definitely don't agree with you comparisons earlier in the thread. in fact, here are pollards graphics(https://ericpollarddesign.com/pages/ski-graphics) , i don't see any overlap at all except that he was also inspired by art on skis. I think you're just looking for something to get fired up about, so you're over there keyboard cowboying. but if you actually take a look at what has been done and what is being done, both these brands stand out as a positively unique anomaly in the sport.

J_skisFEED ME

J_skisNice! Great example of a campaign from 2 years ago that we definitely fucked up on, publicly and privately apologized for, worked with the people we hurt to remedy it, donated to the cause we were piggybacking off of AND learned invaluable lessons that inform our decision making process now.

Wait... who's got their head up their ass again?

**This post was edited on Aug 16th 2023 at 8:52:11am

that campaignwas the only W j skis moment, actually

sskI do 100% disagree with you that the 4FRNT graphics look like things that have done before...they seem to be onbrand for 4FRNT but definitely don't agree with you comparisons earlier in the thread. in fact, here are pollards graphics(https://ericpollarddesign.com/pages/ski-graphics) , i don't see any overlap at all except that he was also inspired by art on skis. I think you're just looking for something to get fired up about, so you're over there keyboard cowboying. but if you actually take a look at what has been done and what is being done, both these brands stand out as a positively unique anomaly in the sport.

Lol alllll good brother. I guess this is just where we'll have to agree to disagree. I genuinely hope you have fun season shredding on your Jerry of the Day x JSkis collab!!

I really like the bases on the devastators, the topsheets are pretty cool as well on all of em

SteezyYeeter

Schizo's alt confirmed

GrandThingsbut what really frustrated me is when they post threads like this or ask for feedback, they don't respond to the actual criticism.

Most ski companies don’t even have an NS account, 4frnt has responded to this thread multiple times, what exactly are you looking for?

J_skisNice! Great example of a campaign from 2 years ago that we definitely fucked up on, publicly and privately apologized for, worked with the people we hurt to remedy it, donated to the cause we were piggybacking off of AND learned invaluable lessons that inform our decision making process now.

Wait... who's got their head up their ass again?

**This post was edited on Aug 16th 2023 at 8:52:11am

Still you Jason. This is just a single example of you being consistently out of touch and uncultured. Glad you actually listened to the feedback though rather than just keeping your head up your ass like you are doing here now. I'm sure that was really tough for you Jason.🙄

Lenny-Still you Jason. This is just a single example of you being consistently out of touch and uncultured. Glad you actually listened to the feedback though rather than just keeping your head up your ass like you are doing here now. I'm sure that was really tough for you Jason.🙄

LOL @JLev being uncultured....dude is a mega part OF this culture

Lenny-Still you Jason. This is just a single example of you being consistently out of touch and uncultured. Glad you actually listened to the feedback though rather than just keeping your head up your ass like you are doing here now. I'm sure that was really tough for you Jason.🙄

Good job single handedly ruining a 4frnt thread ranting about fucking J skis. Nobody gives a fuck.

Farmville420I really like the bases on the devastators, the topsheets are pretty cool as well on all of em

The Dev is a really sick ski, definitely worth the look (beyond the graphics). It's what most of us in the office are skiing this winter and what most of our Team Riders run. Hit us up if you have any questions about the ski.

hi_vis360Most ski companies don’t even have an NS account, 4frnt has responded to this thread multiple times, what exactly are you looking for?

Always here to talk skis 🤝

SteezyYeeter

Actually made me laugh

Jskis X DopeSnow collab when???

LonelyJskis X DopeSnow collab when???

Already have an exclusive deal with Montec brewing. Sorry to disappoint 😕

@4FRNT I really like all the graphics individually, but they look kind of mismatched when they're next to each other.

Presenting the graphics individually with ascribed human-like personalities that match their ride, like you would on the ecommerce website, makes them go really hard.

When they are all next to each other like "this is our new lineup" doesn't do them justice. Seems like a newspaper ad for a ski swap or something. On one hand, branding can help. On the other hand, people buy the 4frnt graphics and skis because they have such unique flavor, people can see a reflection of themselves in the skis.

signtime@4FRNT I really like all the graphics individually, but they look kind of mismatched when they're next to each other.

Presenting the graphics individually with ascribed human-like personalities that match their ride, like you would on the ecommerce website, makes them go really hard.

When they are all next to each other like "this is our new lineup" doesn't do them justice. Seems like a newspaper ad for a ski swap or something. On one hand, branding can help. On the other hand, people buy the 4frnt graphics and skis because they have such unique flavor, people can see a reflection of themselves in the skis.

With the Freeride Collection we design each ski individually with art that matches the characteristics of the ski. Getting 3 different artists' work to match up is definitely a challenge, we hear you! Maybe next season we'll release 1 ski at a time with backstory so you can see that indivudally that you like. The MSP and HOJI Collections we use 1 artists across the collection so thats a bit easier.

Apprectiate the input and stoked you like the graphics (individually).

As a longtime 4FRNT guy here is my honest feedback.

First off dont put a poll without negative feedback options, its insulting and looks like a cheap marketing gimmick instead of actually trying to get feedback from your customers. Just please dont do that crap.

The Hoji Collection is dope and the graphics actually have punch which is cool. I have to say the concept of animal faces coming out of the skis is starting to get kind of stale though. I get you want to keep on the brand but we have seen that general theme for a few years now.

For the MSP collection its a little too muted and just looks like some sketched generic mountains. I get the audience for these skies is typically older but again the concept is getting stale. It would be nice to see some kind of redesign for next year that gets away from "You ski on mountains so we put mountains on your skis...". If you are going to do this at least pick some kind of iconic mountain that stands out or can be recognized.

The freeride collection is the weakest to be honest. The switch has some generic space design we have seen a lot before, I cant really tell what is going on with the devastators unless I really zoom in on them and the Inthayne is more or less the same motif we have seen the past few years centered around some obscure logger with a chainsaw. With all the cool art and artists out there you could have really done something unique and special and it feels like a fallback to a generic graphic.

All in all I really would like to see a refresh of the graphics and have some new designs. This year it seems its either a tweak of past years motif or just a fallback to a generic type graphic. I get its been over 20 years and hundreds of ski graphics we have seen before but I am sure there is something you can do to stand out or find some unique style.

SuspiciousFishAs a longtime 4FRNT guy here is my honest feedback.

First off dont put a poll without negative feedback options, its insulting and looks like a cheap marketing gimmick instead of actually trying to get feedback from your customers. Just please dont do that crap.

The Hoji Collection is dope and the graphics actually have punch which is cool. I have to say the concept of animal faces coming out of the skis is starting to get kind of stale though. I get you want to keep on the brand but we have seen that general theme for a few years now.

For the MSP collection its a little too muted and just looks like some sketched generic mountains. I get the audience for these skies is typically older but again the concept is getting stale. It would be nice to see some kind of redesign for next year that gets away from "You ski on mountains so we put mountains on your skis...". If you are going to do this at least pick some kind of iconic mountain that stands out or can be recognized.

The freeride collection is the weakest to be honest. The switch has some generic space design we have seen a lot before, I cant really tell what is going on with the devastators unless I really zoom in on them and the Inthayne is more or less the same motif we have seen the past few years centered around some obscure logger with a chainsaw. With all the cool art and artists out there you could have really done something unique and special and it feels like a fallback to a generic graphic.

All in all I really would like to see a refresh of the graphics and have some new designs. This year it seems its either a tweak of past years motif or just a fallback to a generic type graphic. I get its been over 20 years and hundreds of ski graphics we have seen before but I am sure there is something you can do to stand out or find some unique style.

Agreed, we should have included some negative feedback options on the pole and will do so moving forward. It was a quick pole that was un-planned, but to be fair we didn't think this was going to turn into a 4 page thread. 🤷🏻‍♂️ Definitely trying to get your feedback and we're taking every post in here to heart, we love NS.

Great feedback on every collection. The balance between carrying an art theme forward year after year and paying respect to the history of our skis vs. bringing new and exciting concepts for a graphic is one we always debate. Sounds like you understand that but would love to see some new themes brought forward, we hear you and will consider that point when we look ahead to coming season graphics. Appreciate your input, and stoked you like the HOji Collection. That Renegade wolf looks insane in person.

IPA can ahh graphics