What was the challenge?

Not only is sportswear one of the most competitive sectors in the retail market, it’s also full of some of the most successful brands on the planet. So how do you launch a new brand successfully into this market and give it real standout?

Inspired by the herculean nature of the challenge, we jumped at the chance to help. We needed to make this new active sportswear for women brand feel fresh and surprising but, at the same time, comfortable and supportive, just like the new attire.

What was our thinking?

We began the process with brainstorming sessions to pinpoint some meaningful differences.

Our client, who took part in the sessions, is a professional athlete who wanted the design output to be uncomplicated, evoking both strength and speed.

After much deliberation, we took our inspiration from nature. The crane is a truly impressive creature; strong, graceful, beautiful and devoted. The perfect symbol for a sportwear brand for women.

What did we do?

Going forward, we explored ‘forward-leaning’ typography, with a minimal, modern structure, paired with bold photography, mostly in black and white. From there, we created the striking brand identity that met all the expectations of our client.

Japanese art perfectly embodies the striking balance between aesthetics and grace that we wanted to capture. Our crane illustration followed the Japanese style for purity and elegance, reflecting the qualities of the bird we had chosen to champion the brand.

A carefully edited colour-palette was also created to facilitate the transition from brand mark to embroidered stamps. Our selections encapsulated the essence of the brand without obvious gender cues.

What did we achieve?

Together, we created a brand with dynamism and energy that could easily be rolled out to any application from digital assets to sports socks. Right from the get-go, the crane was flying!