Project Brief

Rockhopper Fitness is a startup independent gym located in the Sugar Land – Richmond – Rosenberg area in Texas.

The owners needed to distinguish themselves from corporate gym “chains” to attract their targetted audience.

They asked Aeon Multimedia to create a distinct ‘look” (brand) for the gym following a strict set of guidelines.

Aeon Chief Creative Officer and founder Carl Accardo started with their logo.

We always start with getting our clients to fill out a company avatar form to determine their target audience. When working with clients, they have one vision in their head and we often have another. Our job as designers is to fine-tune the rough concepts a client brings to us and turn their idea into a marketable image. It is important that we work together to make our two visions become one. On this project, the gym’s owners had a specific idea in mind for their corporate mascot, a rockhopper penguin.

Once he had a thorough understanding of what the client wanted, we began sketching out numerous versions of a penguin that could be incorporated into their logo designs. As with all logo design projects, there are several steps taken to get to the end result. The first step is to provide the client with several unique designs to choose from. The client reviews the supplied samples and narrows their choice down to 3 designs. The client also provides feedback on the design samples they wanted to see further completed. After reviewing the clients thoughts on the initial round of designs, the requested revisions were made and additional changes/suggestions were added to some of the designs beyond what the client had requested. Designing a corporate logo is a fluid process. We often start with one idea in mind and as the process matures, the concepts change to fit with the updated vision. After the second round of designs were completed, a final version was tweaked and chosen to be the icon for their brand.

CLIENT BIO

INDUSTRY

Health and Fitness

LOCATION

Sugar Land, Texas

SERVICES

Logo/ brand design

Exterior signage

Window signage

Printed marketing materials

Photography

Printing

Final logo design

Exterior Signage

Once the final logo was signed off, Aeon started working with vendors on fabricating exterior signs for the gym. The gym location was on the end unit of a strip mall and had two sides that faced road traffic. Both LED storefront signs needed to be large enough to be seen clearly from traffic passing by on the feeder streets as well as the interstate that is in close proximity to the location. Measurements and photos were taken of the exterior of the building to get an idea of how large the sign would need to be. The digitized designs for the logo were superimposed onto the photographs and exact measurements were made. The mock-up artwork was supplied to a sign fabricator to accurately reproduce the signs to match the artwork. Once completed the two matching signs were installed on the exterior of the building.

Exterior LED sign schematic

One particular challenge was the outside of the gym….a series of fifteen 5 foot x 10 foot windows. The total size of the window design was roughly 75 feet wide by 10 feet tall. The windows coverings were to serve several purposes. They needed to cover the windows for privacy of the members, block out harsh sunlight that was present during the afternoon and evening hours, and to help advertise the gym to the cars and pedestrians passing by.

The solution? Carl scheduled a photoshoot with the owners and some of the members to create a mural that not only displayed the interior of the establishment but also people working out as well as the services that the gym had to offer. The photos were enlarged and incorporated into the design.  This effectively turned the windows into a giant billboard to advertise the gym…easily seen from passing cars and foot traffic alike.

Exterior sign rendering

Final sign design and installation

Print media marketing materials

To round out the project, printed business collateral was created for promotions and information packets for new members. Business cards, folders, postcards, t-shirt graphics, and posters as well as other promotional materials were developed for the gym.

As a full-service design studio, Aeon was able to fill several business “branding” needs for Rockhopper. This helped maintain a consistent “look” and prevented duplication of effort.

New member information folder