Bridging the Gap
Case Study

Co-founders Amy and Astrid and I worked together on a website to mark the launch of their first fitness and wellness gym. The website introduces their unique combination of community, strength training and physical therapy while making it easier for anyone—at any age or level—to join.

We wanted the website to not only to establish a virtual homebase, but to convey their expertise and generate new leads thus taking some work off of their extremely full plates. In the early days while Amy and Astrid spent their days securing their gym’s new address, I started the process. We aimed to make a website that would be at once beautiful, easy to use, and future proof.

Website
(We updated it in 2023)

Services
Brand Strategy, Art Direction, UX/UI, Web Design, Graphic Design

Photographer
Brianna Marico

“We had spent hours trying on Squarespace experimenting and found ourselves frustrated and overwhelmed by how many options there were. We had done branding exercises, but had no idea of how to communicate these things in a cohesive way that said who we were and what we offered.

That's when Wendy saved the day.”

Astrid Casteneda
Co-Founder of Bridge Performance

In The Beginning
Before any designing began, I reviewed their branding and facilitated conversations where we took a deep dive on their mission, vision and approach to training while paying special attention to what qualities make them unique.

One of those qualities was the way that Amy and Astrid strive to make an inclusive business where their clients feel seen and cared for. They founded their gym because they saw a common issue in the fitness industry where coaching and workouts often force people to conform to unrealistic and unsustainable standards that lead most people to burn out or give up. They had a different approach to completely change that.

Bridge Performance uses a community based and holistic approach to training and they prioritize their relationships with their clients. They take the care and time to learn about their clients and explain things. If someone wants to lose weight, they don't want to just give them a diet and workout, but instead try and change their relationship with food. If someone struggles with accountability, social group classes are there to encourage, motivate and support them. If someone is experiencing pain, they don’t make them opt out of movement, but give them tailored exercises they can do to get out of pain.

In Amy’s words:

“It’s in the way we coach, communicate, educate, we don't want to just send you away sweaty, we want to make sure we are pushing you towards wellness autonomy.”

Their passion, methodology and approach broadened my understanding of their work and left me genuinely inspired. After we had these early conversations, Amy and Astrid understood their business in enlightening new ways. Together, we were able to define objectives like what is the purpose of their website and what is most important to communicate through it.

Learning more about our audience
Just as Amy and Astrid cater to the unique needs of their clients, the website was designed to address the specific needs of its visitors. The main mission of the website is to attract new clients. This started with identifying exactly who their audience is and what they look for in a gym.

I started by conducting a workshop to create personas (fictional representations based on different types of clients) to understand their audiences' different needs. Amy and Astrid already had a group of very dedicated clients, majority of which identified as female. These individuals were ready to join Bridge Performance, so we created one persona to represent them, another for semi-regular clients and a final persona for new potential clients. The potential clients would ideally include everyone, but to get specific, we developed this third persona to represent people over 50 years old who have heard of BP through word of mouth and were interested in learning more. Through the workshop, we discovered that they view fitness as anti-aging and are very keen to have a workout routine. They have a fitness mentality that “an object in motion stays in motion and an object at rest stays at rest”. However, the overwhelming majority of this group find weightlifting very intimidating and want to feel comfort, safety and very personalized instruction.

The goals for the website really took shape after the workshop and we made it an objective to be inclusive of older individuals especially because much of the fitness industry either overlooks or completely erases them. We believe that when you see yourself represented, you feel seen and welcomed so we gathered authentic testimonials from clients over 50 and used inclusive language and photography.

We showcased their client Shelly–a 72 year old woman who had two total knee replacements–and used her image and testimonial on the homepage. We set up a photoshoot where we used Amy and Astrid’s real clients who spanned all ages and backgrounds. We featured older clients working out in group classes amongst younger clients and participating in all aspects of the gym culture.

“Wendy took the time to get to know us, our business and where we wanted the business to go.”

Astrid Casteneda
Co-Founder of Bridge Performance

Positioning
Bridge Performance’s existing branding had attributes like fresh, strong, energetic and vibrant. While we kept to those adjectives, we wanted to position the brand as warm, inclusive and welcoming.

After a quick market analysis of 12 national and local fitness gyms, we conducted a positioning workshop to understand how Bridge Performance could stand out in the market. We found that on the national level we were strongly aligned with a brand like Classpass whose website felt modern, friendly and easy to use, while we opposed brands like LA Fitness which felt dated, uninspiring and conventional. On a local level, we were felt closest to Crowncity Crossfit and Sancuary Fitness and furthest from Hardbore Fitness Pasadena. We gravitated towards Crowncity Crossfit’s messaging and photography which felt uplifting and inclusive. Meanwhile we were polar opposite to Hardcore Fitness Pasadena which felt extremely aggressive, intimidating and intense.

Moodboarding
Next, we took what we learned from the positioning and moved to clarify our approach through moodboarding. We collected visual examples of branding, photography, typography, color and graphics that resonated with the BP brand. These examples served as our Northstar–they inspired us, aligned us and most importantly influenced our website’s look and feel.

Site Structure
We put our target audience of prospective clients into two groups and tailored the website to suit both of them. Since the majority of the website was designed for newcomers, we placed a “Get Started” button frequently throughout the website. The homepage served as both a landing place and a filter for both audiences to find what they needed. Those who want to dive deep and learn more about Bridge Performance before they make the decision to join, can read about the various programs, the backgrounds of Amy and Astrid and the philosophy of the gym itself. We categorized this group as “divers” because they would likely take the time and read everything. The second group we referred to as “swimmers and skimmers”, these were people that were interested and perhaps had specific information they were looking for, but wouldn’t spend the time to read everything. Because of this group we kept to strict word counts, used large titles and succinct summaries followed by detailed descriptions for efficient browsing.

Design
From their brand colors, we selected the energetic lime green as an accent color to draw attention to titles and links. We paired this with background colors like white and a neutral forest green.

For typography, we went with a large modern bold font for titles and statements. For body copy and details, we contrasted the title font with a friendly, round, wide font. We kept all buttons large so they command attention and feel prominent.

The Bridge
All prospective gym members would likely be local residents of Pasadena, thus it was important to make reference to Colorado Street Bridge–which is featured prominently in the logo and in the story of the Bridge Performance. The bridge not only was a metaphor to bridge training with therapy, but Pasadena locals feel a sense of belonging and ownership after seeing it. For example, after seeing the Bridge Performance logo, they would say things like: “This is my city, this is my gym.” To subtly make reference to the bridge, we used an arched shape to house some of our images.

Photography
Photography did a lot of the work in communicating Bridge Performance’s brand values, especially those of community and positivity. Working with photographer Brianna Marico, we captured people who represented a diversity of age, body type and race. We focused on capturing people in action, smiling, and interacting with each other. One of our objectives was to make ordinary people look momentous and powerful through the use of perspective, breaking the mold of unrealistic fitness standards.

We focused on getting images of Amy and Astrid working directly with their clients–making hands-on adjustments and encouraging them– thus capturing their coaching abilities and their love for what they do.

We Are In the Active Process of Becoming
Case Study

We Become is a bold new collective that uses somatic design to increase wellbeing for mission driven businesses, governments and nonprofits. Somatic design (also known as embodied design) is a healing centered method that focuses on the mind, body and spirit. Through coachings, consultations and courses, We Become works hard so people can experience more happiness, agency and belonging.

Overview
After going through a few iterations their first year, We Become was ready to grow, but they needed a hand. They were at a place where their mission and vision were refreshed and clear, but their branding was confusing, inconsistent and difficult to use. This misalignment was stressful for founder Em, who wanted their brand to feel more professional. Em felt they knew how their brand should look and feel, but couldn’t articulate how to get there or create it on their own.

We Become was about to launch the Embodied Action Lab, a community based six week course for working professionals to slow down, learn body centered skills and realign their ways of working. Participants were united on environmental and social justice values. Time was of essence because We Become was quickly moving into their next phase as an organization and thus wanted a rebrand to communicate to new audiences in an attractive, efficient and accessible way.

Over the course of 8 weeks, founder Em Wright and I collaborated and designed elements of the new branding system such as a logo, fonts, colors, graphics, photography, and iconography.

Services
Brand Strategy, Brand identity, Art Direction, Brand Design, Graphic Design

“Our initial conversations and workshops in particular were incredibly illuminating—the questions and activities helped surface information and ideas that may not have come up otherwise, which set us on a somewhat unexpected course toward exactly where we needed to go for the final design.”

Em Wright
Founder of We Become

Process
We started with a 4 week discovery phase where I conducted workshops in which I got to know Em and understand the goals and vision behind We Become. Our first workshop consisted of both standard questions and creative abstract ones that asked Em to describe We Become in new ways so we could generate a wide net of ideas to work with.

Core Concepts
Early on, we landed on the following core concepts to ground the brand in:

1. We are in the active process of becoming. We believe that We Become represents a flexible process rather than a hard destination.

According to Em:

“Humans have an inner drive to do and become more. We Become evokes possibility, improvement and growth towards goals around equity, justice, sustainability, repair.”

2. We–not you or me alone. The concept of “we” means we can’t do it alone, that we depend on one another. We Become believes in the power of symbiotic relationships and that the best growth happens in community with one another.

3. We Become’s work is multifaceted. It uses methods and tools from a variety of disciplines. The work is also highly collaborative with other design practitioners, partners and communities. Because of this, qualities like being highly adaptive, observant, open and intuitive are essential.

Sample of adjectives generated from a workshop

Focusing the Brand
At the end of this stage, we made a list of 48 adjectives that captured We Become’s new look and feel. From those 48 adjectives, we landed on these five to characterize the new We Become brand: connected, transformative, visionary, accessible and practiced.

Design samples from Black Womxn Flourish, Pause + Effect and Slow Grind

Brand Literacy
Next we practiced our brand literacy by researching and discussing organizations in the same space such as Black Womxn Flourish, Pause + Effect and Slow Grind. Looking at their work sparked ideas and gave us insight on the approach we wanted to take. It also aligned us as creative collaborators.

We found that we visually gravitated to the combination of flowing forms and futuristic design rather than design that looked static and conventional. We liked the play between graphics that looked at once soft and organic yet bold and contemporary because we felt they inspired curiosity while feeling inviting. The malleable shapes and gradients that we liked conveyed flexibility and adaptation–important brand concepts we established in an earlier workshop.

Left: Slow Grind, Right:Pause + Effect

Being Accessible, But Not Didactic
Pause + Effect’s branding started a productive conversation about where on the spectrum from visual ambiguousness to visual explicitness do we want to fall? How can our brand feel accessible without being too didactic in our design?

In designs pairing text with graphics or images–some were more minimal and vague, while others took a clearer, more literal approach. For example: on the left–the design by The Slow Grind visualizes the word “resilience” with a vibrant shape encased by two rings while on the right, Pause + Effect uses a collaged photograph of a person who appears to be meditating to express the words “Pause as a practice”. The forms and colors in the first design are more open to interpretation–perhaps the word “resilience” is communicated through the large strong red donut form, while the word “redefining” could be represented by the hoops holding the red donut. On the other hand, the second design takes less time to understand, the meditating person is in a clear moment of pause, out in nature with their eyes closed.

We discussed that while some We Become clients may want the certainty one feels with literal visualizations (like Pause + Effect)–we didn't, we wanted to give audiences more to chew on. While Pause + Effect’s design was effective in communication, the design felt too static and dated for the We Become brand. We needed more fluidity, poetry and intrigue. During workshops and classes, We Become’s clients are encouraged to be present in their bodies and practice new ways to connect to others in the workplace–something a lot of people may find new and uncertain about. We wanted our brand to include the often intangible and unfamiliar nature of somatic design, but in a way that wouldn’t turn off new audiences.

Sample of We Become’s moodboard

Moodboarding
The ideas and insights from our discovery phase set us up for our moodboarding exercise. Here we collected inspiration that ranged from illustration, graphic design, fine art and photography. Together we created boards based on our five attributes of connected, transformative, visionary, accessible and practiced. We searched for examples that looked and felt fluid, futuristic and inviting. We kept in mind the early concepts of “we are in the process of becoming”, “we are not alone” and “we are adaptive and intuitive”.

These examples served as our guide–they inspired us, aligned us and visually expressed some challenging concepts of somatic design that we were trying to give form to.

During this process, we explored how we can use branding to position We Become as an expert in somatic design? As we went we asked ourselves, what vision of the future are we designing for and how does that look and feel?

Identity
Using the moodboards for alignment and a jumping off point, we next aimed to create an identity that could act as a timeless and universal symbol–something we could see existing now, but also in the distant future. After many ideas and a lot of refinement, we landed on an identity that we felt captured all of our most important brand concepts all while looking friendly, contemporary and simple.

The design embodies the organic nature of somatic design, with two round shapes. To show the process of becoming, we made it so the first shape appears to be morphing so that it will eventually become the second shape. The identity implies change and adaptability.

Early sketches

Fonts
DM sans is the primary typeface used in the logo and throughout the brand. As a low contrast geometric sans serif, it is utilitarian, but still extremely friendly and inviting. We chose it for the logo particularly because of the circular nature of the letters like ‘o’ and ‘e’ which mirror the forms in the logo.

Meaningful quotes or stand alone statements however, we wanted a font that had an inviting element for newcomers of somatic design. We looked for fonts with a craftsmanship quality and found Kavivanar. Kavivanar is an unique handwritten font that is slanted, graceful and textural. The letterforms have a calligraphic pen stress that brings a fun rhythm and intriguing aliveness to the letters.

Color and Gradients
To modernize the brand, we embraced energetic colors that felt warm and inviting. We used soft, but confident, attention grabbing gradient backgrounds. These gradients communicated the fluid and intuitive nature of our brand and were designed primarily for digital applications.

Mockups
To show how the brand could be visualized, we applied the branding to a website, socials and presentations.

Photography
At the core of We Become’s brand is the desire for connection, belonging and collaboration. We showed this through evocative photography using hands and gestures between bodies. Diversity of people matter in our photography because it communicates equity, belonging and accessibility.

To demystify somatic design, we showed our participants actively engaging in the work together–through in person or virtual meetings. We opted for relaxed, casual images of people are best compared to overly posed, forced stock imagery.

The nature of We Become’s work is often messy, and creative. While the materials we use are often pen, paper and sticky notes, we use imagery like artistic mediums and hardware tools as metaphors to communicate the laborious and inventive process we go through.

Brand Guidelines
Finally, we made a branding guidelines document with simple, easy to follow design tips to create new We Become branded materials.

“I absolutely love our new logo and identity, and the materials and guidance Wendy provided gives me the confidence I need to apply our style to products and materials. I recommend working with Wendy if you want to build an enduring brand based on a solid foundation of your vision, values, and purpose—and have a lot of fun in the process!”

Em Wright
Founder of We Become