Case Study
BOS|FIT
BOS|FIT was a planned fitness center/gym in Boston, MA. I was approached to help them develop a logo for use in finding investors, with plans to help them design their website and contribute design elements for their physical location (once procured) as well.
Client
BOS|FIT
Project Type
Branding
Role
Logo Design
Year
2017
Background
BOS|FIT’s planned business model revolved around the idea that if customers came to the gym and followed the personalized fitness and nutrition plans developed for them by the trainers, they would achieve their fitness goals or receive their money back. This goal-oriented nature was foundational to their identity, and it was something they wanted their logo to communicate.
The client also provided two logos they loved for use as design references—Titleist, and Under Armour.
Additionally, due to their limited budget, the client wanted a single-color logo to reduce printing costs for apparel and ensure ease of use with other planned providers.
Ideation & Iteration
When I went to work ideating on how to represent the client’s goal-oriented business model, I considered a few motifs: targets, arrows, line graphs (representing growth), and trophies (to represent success). After a handful of sketches, I settled on the arrow motif.
Following this, I developed two initial prototypes, each incorporating the arrow motif. Being single-color, they could be easily adapted for a variety of print applications. One took direct inspiration from the Titleist logo (Prototype 1) and necessitated hand/custom lettering to incorporate the arrow motif the way I wanted, the other was set in a modern sans-serif font (DIN Condensed) with minor modifications (Prototype 2).
Prototype 1
Prototype 2
Continued Iteration
After the first phase, client preferred Prototype 2, but requested a variation incorporating a second color for use where their budget and planned providers allowed. I ideated on a couple different color combinations, and provided the client with four additional prototypes based on the sans-serif version—adjusting the design to use a dark grey and bold blue to create contrast while remaining legible. This allowed “weaving” the arrow in and out between the letters to add depth in a couple different ways (Prototypes 4, 5, & 6).
Prototype 3
Prototype 4 (Final Version)
Prototype 5
Prototype 6
Outcomes
The client chose to go with Prototype 4, with the plan to use Prototype 2 on apparel and other products as necessary. My personal favorite was Prototype 5 due its combination of added depth from “weaving” the arrow, the increased legibility of the “F” character, and increased symmetry compared to Prototype 6.
While the client was unable to secure investors and make further progress on opening up their own gym, they went on to use the BOS|FIT logo I designed for their personal training business, and on business cards.
I personally appreciated the opportunity to play with hand/custom lettering, and create prototypes with very different visual aesthetics while maintaining similar conceptual motifs.