How BMX culture taught me design as a visual language

Growing up, my family spent most of their time in questionable financial territory. Three kids plus a matrix of creative budgeting to give us the semblance of a normal life. And to my parents credit, it worked. I never felt deprived and I got a crash course in the value of a dollar.

So it was a huge deal in 1996 when, as a 6th grader, I got a GT Dyno BMX bike from them.

Back then, GTs and Dynos were the top of the heap, the holy grail. These bikes were different. They had a cool shape, they were louder in their design, they had personality and an edge to them. Mine was a bronzy gold with a metallic sheen to it. It said DYNO across the bar in big, red lettering. It came with a part called a gyro, which allowed you to spin the handlebars all the way around without the brake cables tangling. This might as well have been part of a spaceship. I still remember having an excuse to go out to the garage just to gaze upon my glorious hunk of metal.

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