Aimee Gallo of Fremont-based Vibrance Nutrition and Fitness picked Design Kompany to design this new brand identity for her business.
It’s just finished, and will soon be applied to fitness clothing, bags, tea mugs and a folder Aimee gives you when you sign up to get started. [Did you know broccoli is an amazing source of calcium?]
It’s far too easy for us designers to go in with an idea in our heads about what we think a design should look like. But really, design isn’t about us. It’s about our clients–you. More specifically, it’s about what it is you want to tell your customers. Our job is to listen for that really well.
So instead of going around doodling up things we think about when we hear a great name like “Vibrance,” we do something different. We go to an art store and buy a blank sketchbook. One for every project. Choosing the book is the first step–anyone who likes to spend a lot of time looking at pens and stationery will “get” what I mean here.
Then we fill it up with visual notes. But only once we get to know our clients–you. The point is to really and truly understand what you offer is better and different. Marketing folks talk about this a lot, the “unique value proposition.”
The Design Kompany method
We start with lots of questions to get to the heart of audience, message and tone. Then refine. Find existing images that communicate the sort of “vibe”, make sure we’re all on the same page, then draw the right image to tell the brand’s story. For us, good design is good storytelling.
Creative team
The “Vibrance” part of this logo is hand drawn by Design Kompany’s summer 2007 intern Angela Tomson. Angela worked on this under the creative direction of DK’s Akira Morita and Dipika Kohli.
Read about how the same creative team drew up a brand identity for Spaccarotelli. More about our design approach.
UPDATE March 2008
Check out the new look of the Vibrance Nutrition and Fitness website! Graciously, Aimee has listed Design Kompany as one of the “friends of Vibrance.”
Design Kompany is responsible for assisting me in my stellar logo design. Working with Akira and Dipika was nothing short of sheer joy!
Their communcation and creativity allows space for a very natural, authentic process. Together we seamlessly created a brand that truly, effectively speaks volumes.–Aimee Gallo, VibranceNutrition.com
Thanks, Aimee!
UPDATE April 2008
Seattle Post-Intelligencer reporter Bob Condor interviewed Aimee Gallo about nutrition and smoothies. Here’s an excerpt:
Gallo said she urges her clients — predominantly “professional women who are busy” — to use smoothies as a quick breakfast or a recovery drink after exercise. The convenient breakfast fits into a key component of Gallo’s nutrition program of “small, easy-to-do steps.” A morning smoothie is a significant upgrade for the busy professional who doesn’t think she is a breakfast eater.
“A smoothie is portable too,” Gallo said. “You can take it with you in a travel mug with a straw. It’s much more balanced and nutritious than grabbing a bagel and cream cheese.” —Seattle P-I
UPDATE May 2008
We invited Aimee Gallo of Vibrance Nutrition and Fitness to Dream Kitchen to give a cooking demonstration on how to make a fast, healthy lunch. More about Dream Kitchen and the making of the short film ‘Wrap:’
Love the design, I think they did a great job!
very nice
hi,
i am taking a look at your portfolio…the logo job is amazing…i hope to make use of your services very soon. Marc, Germany
The new design is really nice. I am very impressed with it as it looks sleak and proffesional.
Hi all great information here and good thread to comment on.
Can I ask though - how did you get this picked up and into google news?
Very impressive that this blog is syndicated through Google and is it something that is just up to Google or you actively created?
Obviously this is a popular blog with great data so well done on your seo success..
I used to have medical questions about the effectiveness of protein shakes. I know from studying nutrition that most of it turns to fat. However, smooties made with the right ingredients are great…I use them all the time as a quick breakfast or after exercising. In fact, smootie bars located in a health club is becoming somewhat of a fad.
Wow they look good!
I really like the colors in it.. The veggies and the fruits bring a very nice note to it.
Wow,
What a wonderful job doing the arwork and logo for the company. I think you really got one thing right. and that is doing what the customer is looking for. Sometimes, in my fitness routine, I get hung up on what I want for the client, and I have to pull back. Evertime I’ve done right by the client, I’ve never had any complaints!
Sharon
Great job with the design! I think it’s definitely a mix of creativity, care-free thinking and bright, beautiful colors. You’ve definitely nailed it. I think a lot of people should take a more positive approach to fitness and health - just like the idea that your logo suggests.
Awesome! I took a look at their website and it looks great also. Hopefully everything will go well!
God Bless,
Taylor Thompson
Awesome! Looks good
I am not expert in designs but your logo suits very well with the theme. Perhaps our sites always need some extra importance and care regarding their designs. Even I am in the favor to have some Flash movie on the first page because visual message is always more effective.
I think you guys did an excellent job with this! The logo and brand identity you’ve created for Vibrance utrition and fitness communicate a very positive “vibe”, one that conveys a strong message that overall good health and well being and energy translate seemlessly to a “vibrant” life and lifestyle. The web site looks cool too - love the images on the home page of the up close zoomed-in bell peppers. Very nicely done all around. Kudos!
- Peter
Hey, love the design !! Good work.
I really like the layout and info you have for this site, i have a strong nutrition background, and i could tell you that everything i see an read here is just great,
great pictures, video, top notch..
Emily B
@Fitness Vancouver,
Thanks for the wonderful compliment about the video–that was something I got especially psyched up about.
@Peter,
Really appreciate the nice comments to us about our brand identity design for this company. That’s what we’re all about, you know. More stuff is in our portfolio
@Utah,
Thanks! I’m glad you like the vibe here. We have a very thorough process to get to the stage where we figure out exactly what that vibe needs to be.
@martialarts,
About getting into Google news and things of that nature… we’re really into blogging about things that matter to us personally. We tell our clients that authenticity is the number one thing these days that matters in branding. We have a large collection of blog posts and continue to write, so that’s giving our blog Desknotes some credibility.
Thanks for the interesting post. I really love the new design layout of the site. All the colors really bring out the site in my opinion.