ROADHOG: Annual Report of Damage
A print magazine that treats demolition derby like an accident report: strict grids, color-coded sections and hand-sprayed stencil type.
Problem
Sports media is obsessed with performance stats and constant improvement. Demolition derby ignores all of that. It's a slow sport where the whole point is taking damage and breaking down. The challenge was to show that destruction in a calm, procedural way without turning it into hype or heroics.
Solution
ROADHOG is a print magazine designed like a cold, observational report. A rigid grid, strict color coding and hand-sprayed stencils show that what looks like chaos is really a managed system of rules, waiting and decay.
My involvement
I set the editorial direction, built the grid system across every spread, defined the color coding and spray-painted the stencil type by hand to give the layout a real mechanical texture.
- Deliverables
- PublicationMagazineEditorial
- Type
- University project (Commde, Chulalongkorn)
- Credit
- Article: Austin Cassel, Hangover Ag Society · Photography: Armando Ferrari, J.C. Hallman, Steve Melling, Brian Kelly, Saffire Becker
- Project Length
- 4 Weeks
Research & Rationale
Demolition derby is slow, repetitive and very local. It doesn't gain much from going viral online.
I chose print because, like the sport, it stays small and offline. The reader has to physically handle the record of the damage.
I treated the derby less as an action sport and more as a strict system of expected loss and mechanical sacrifice.
Process
To stop the magazine from feeling like a messy scrapbook, I used strict rules. Green marks analytical articles and high-visibility orange marks driver and mechanic interviews.
This color system gives the magazine a calm, procedural rhythm that contrasts with the violent imagery.
Design & Deliverables
To balance the clean digital layout with raw car culture, I took part of the production offline. Section titles like "FIRST DERBY" were spray-painted through physical stencils, dried in the sun and scanned back into the layout.
