The Outdoor Archive
(Actual Source Edition)

The ultimate collection of a century of outdoor magazine and catalogue covers, featuring seventy-one vintage and contemporary brands, including Salomon, The North Face and Snow Peak, among many others.

285remaining of 500 £75.00

Overview

For decades, outdoor brands have put dramatic and daring images on the covers of their magazines and catalogues, pushing the limits of photography and graphic design. This definitive collection, drawn from the Outdoor Recreation Archive at Utah State University and spanning a hundred years, features a stunning array of covers that crosses generations, sports, styles and continents, holding something for creatives and nature-lovers of all pursuits, persuasions and professions.

These arresting images are organized by medium across ten sections to show how graphic design has been boldly employed in the field of sports, while accompanying guest texts – by creatives, designers, sportspeople and industry experts – offer a fascinating insight into sports-cover creation over the decades.

The book, as well as the custom-designed cover and slipcase for this special limited edition, was designed by Actual Source, a collaborative design practice based near the Outdoor Recreation Archive’s home in Utah. Their multi-award-winning studio has extensive experience in the outdoor field, collaborating with Rapha, Hypebeast, ON Running and Nike, while also operating as a leading-edge online shop, selling books, apparel and crafted objects. Actual Source has brought its unique vision to the rich material of The Outdoor Archive and created a book-object-resource much greater than the sum of its many parts.

Specification

280 x 215 mm
384 pages
Hardback
Limited edition
White screenprinted cover design
Corrugated board slipcase with Kraftpaper overlay and sticker

Two different paper stocks
4 x 8pp inserts on different paper sizes

Welcome to The Outdoor Archive progress area. Check back soon for project development updates.

Estimated delivery
Spring 2025

Last date to check addresses: 22nd March 2025

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How it works

A general-release version of this book publishes in Summer 2025. This limited edition is available only from Volume and will ship in late Spring 2025

Estimated delivery

Spring 2025

Shipping

Tracked worldwide

The images, from grainy climbing photographs to homely camping illustrations and cinematic landscapes, are organized by medium. Lead-in texts provide an overview of the scope and opportunities afforded by each, while interspersed throughout are a series of pieces written by guest contributors. Specially commissioned, these personal reflections – by more than twenty industry leaders, designers, creatives and sportspeople, including designer Nicole McLaughlin, creative Ronnie Fieg and climber Ashima Shiraishi – home in on a particular image and explore what it means to them. Four 8-page inserts, meanwhile, printed on a different paper stock and at unique page sizes, offer a peek inside the catalogues. A concluding ‘Making Of’ section gives a behind-the-scenes look into the Archive itself.

The Outdoor Archive reminds us of what matters most: our experiences in nature, and the gear that makes it possible

Chris Burkard, Outdoor photographer

Limited to only 500 copies and available only on Volume, this special edition features a cool and confident cover design that uses earthy, natural tones that connect strongly with the outdoor subject matter. The slate-coloured textured cover board plays backdrop to a beautiful and enigmatic mountain image, applied on top using a screen-printing technique. The overall effect is at once simple, vaguely abstract and intriguing.

The book is housed in a corrugated board slipcase, with a Kraft-paper finish. These tactile elements reference both the functionality of outdoor product design and Japanese-style archival slipcases. The front and back of the slipcase feature a selection of the magazine and catalogue covers rendered in black and white – a teaser of the compelling and varied imagery on show within.

I see the latent seeds of the high-fashion ‘gorpcore’ movement yet to come; a fashion movement that claims that nature is everywhere. It’s in the cities, it’s in the suburbs.

Avery Trufelman, Podcaster and radio producer

As I peruse this collection, I’m intrigued by the lifecycle of the brands themselves – the reasons behind their rise, fall and sometimes resurgence

Jeff Staple, Fashion and footwear designer

Motivated by nostalgia and a desire to pass down institutional knowledge, archivists play a significant role in the evolution of the outdoor industry by chronicling its past

Amelia Arvesen, Outside Magazine

Meet the team

Chase Anderson is the Industry Relations Manager for the Outdoor Product Design & Development programme at Utah State University (USU).

Clint Pumphrey is the Manuscript Curator and Program Chair for Archives Outreach and Instruction at Utah State University (USU) Special Collections and Archives.

Actual Source is the Utah-based design practice of Creative Directors Davis Ngarupe and JP Haynie. Along with a community of enviable collaborators, they design and produce books, visual identities, websites, packaging and apparel.

The Super Shinobi II cover illustration (Japan), 1993

Sega Mega Drive/Genesis
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2 exclusive editions

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220 of 1000 remaining

The Outdoor Archive (Actual Source Edition)