Mick’s Movement
Branding, Logo Design
I’ve had the pleasure to know and work with Mick Torres since moving to Los Angeles a few years ago. Mick’s a talented actor and producer with an expertise in personal training and an aptitude for wellness. When he approached me to help with the branding for his new fitness program, I was 110% on board for the chance to collaborate within the realm of sports branding. The brief contained two main factors: the logo had to be a double-M design, and it had to embody ‘movement’.
While there were, and are, numerous ways to create an appealing double-M design, I knew that, of the two requirements in the brief, ‘movement’ was the key to getting this logo right. As is usually my method when initiating brainstorming sessions, I broke down this key idea into several different related words that came to mind: ‘fitness’, ‘push’, ‘cardio’, ‘go’, ‘explosion’, ‘motion’, ‘achievement’, etc. I gave each related word a simple visual, and began to see a trend in the motifs I would draw. Words were combined and visuals too: ‘forward motion’, ‘in motion’, ‘achieve goals’. I broke apart and remolded the idea of movement again and again, and each time I found myself back at the motif I had drawn initially: an arrow. Arrows - namely the triangle element of an arrow’s design - show movement, progression, forward thinking.
From there I began to create logos, based on the arrow. Some logos were more abstract, some more literal, and others ditching the arrow altogether in favor of something more fluid. Eventually, in the midst of my sketching, the idea of cardio sprang back into mind in the form of an echocardiogram. The arrow would show forward progression and advancement, while the EKG would reiterate the logo’s tie to physical movement and an elevated heart rate.
I scribbled down the idea, and the first version of the logo was born (figure #6). It had everything I wanted, even at its basest form. The design incorporated the EKG, the arrow, an athletic podium, a mountain, the ups and downs of following a fitness regimen - *Italian chef kiss* it was perfect. I went ahead and toyed with alternate versions, playing with the shape and line weight until I narrowed the design down to its best version.