Jake edwards
What started out as a hobby for Jake Edwards has evolved into a full-time profession in recent months.
The South Australian is a graphic designer specializing in the design of racing car liveries and is the driving force behind LOUDPEDAL Race Design.
It’s a role he discovered after working as a sign writer and sign writer, combining his skills and passion for motorsport.
“Ever since I was a kid I’ve always played with designs,” Edwards said.
“I’m actually a sign drummer by trade, and then I started writing signs for a while.
“That’s where I got all the design skills, the signage skills, and I kind of put it all together in one package and that’s where I ended up. “
“It was trying to combine all the elements into one thing that I could focus on that ticked all the boxes of what I was good at and where my passions were.
“As I learned each skill along the way, it ended up forming a bundle.
“I’ve been working on it for a few years, not really promoting it, just sort of doing it for friends and keeping it pretty small, because it was after hours.
“But I was fortunate earlier this year to be in a position where I could work full time, and now I’m trying to push a lot further and focus a lot more on it.”
Edwards has experience designing speedway liveries and recently an off-road buggy, but is keen to expand into circuit racing.
He has set up his operation in such a way that, although based in South Australia, he can assist clients all over the country and even internationally.
“We mainly focus on the design of the livery, the graphic design for the race, the racing style,” he explained.
“We also ship printed packaging kits; we make the design, print it and send it to the customer.
“But we can also just design and send the print-ready files to the client’s signer.
“We also do a little bit for the sites; posters, social media design and websites as well.
“Some people already have a pretty good idea of what they want, others have no idea,” he added.
There is also a bright future for the racing car design industry, according to Edwards.
The introduction of car wraps has lowered the entry point for competitors in the lower echelons of sport, and their continued development serves both to reduce costs and to facilitate their application.
As a result, a whole new clientele is slowly opening up.
“In recent years, in particular, it has spread to club and hobby level,” he explained.
“As signaling technology improves, I think it becomes a lot easier for people to showcase their cars better.
“If you think years ago it was pretty hard to race your race car; it would have to be taken to a special place, whereas with the vinyls that we have these days, we have the chance to be able to design it, print it and send it.
“In many cases, we can design it so that the customer can complete it themselves with minimal hassle.
“As it gets better and you can get some new special effects and things like that, I think that’s probably the main area of growth in how that will change in the future.”
For Edwards, this is an exciting prospect as he sees the industry evolving over the next few years, while doing a job he loves.
“It’s very rewarding to do something that you are passionate about,” he said.
“It’s one of those things you don’t want to take for granted because it’s so unique that a lot of people wish they could do it,” he added.
“It really is a dream job, if you even want to think of it as a job – it doesn’t look like a job because it’s so nice and it’s something you want to do anyway.”
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