FORD STUDIO ART
CHALLENGE
A martial arts entity that is embarking on its independence. How do we create a visual identity that communicates to the types of students that it serves?
OUTCOME
Identified the organization's teaching methods and understood the student's commitment. We focused on an identity design built around the development for future growth. We encouraged a culture of empowered learners, confidence in uncertainty, and to learn independently inside and outside the dojo.
Discovering the Brand
Our goal was to have a clear understanding of the problem, the audience, and the solution. Tim brainstormed with the founder, Robin, to understand her goals and what took priority. We also led discussions on who needed to hear their message.
Together Tim and Robin created brand attributes to define and differentiate the entities' position and commitments. Tim put together a user profile to understand student's pain points, demographics, and psychographics for their audience.
Brand Attributes:
STRONG
INDEPENDENT
EMPOWERMENT
CONFIDENT
TRADITIONAL
BALANCE
Positioning
The brand's attributes lead us to the entities positioning statement.
Yama Gawa allocates traditional martial arts to independent combatants in a balanced and strong environment while helping them feel empowered and confident.
Creating the Logo
A solid mountain (Yama) can move by a formless river (Gawa). The icon represents the perfect balance of hard and soft techniques. The three pillars that make up the mountain represents strength, empowerment, and independence. Below is the river's waves moving it forward. Three waves represent confidence, tradition, and balance. The sun represents the origin of their traditional martial arts, Japan.
The Brand Systems
The color palette inspired by mountains, red sky, and snow shows a minimal range of contrast. The colors are a piece of the old entity reintroduced with a new hue. Gill Sans, their primary typeface, was used to read from far away while maintaining a modern and classic design balance. We used this throughout the marketing collateral to uniform the layouts and build a cohesive user experience.
