A couple of weeks ago, we wrote about the opening of Human Motor Works, the biking, running and swimming specialty store located in Fort Wayne. Now that it’s officially open, we’d like to describe some of the branding and environmental design that we concepted including signage, wall art and informational installations.
Much like the new name and logo speak to a community-minded venture, we wanted the touchpoints of the retail space to feel friendly to HMW’s range of customers—and have a spark of motivation. Since it’s not a chain store, we took the opportunity to design some things specifically with our city in mind. A simple color palette of lime green, black and light gray with minimal touches of other colors was used throughout whether on photography or illustrations, to keep every corner consistent.
When it came to illustrations, we started with the simple premise of street and directional signage. There were three icons developed for the tri-sport focus and from there we created a handful of simple, bold images and sayings referencing the spirit of HMW through recreation, sports culture and local trails. These “mini-posters” first showed up on the outside windows and then became the main repeating wrapping vinyl along the inside walls. I think Nate and I had a lot of fun re-interpreting “logos” for all of our Fort Wayne trails. Part of this graphic style also involved minimal, yet thought-out use of the race-y green and black checkered squares used on some wall corners.
Photography has its place in the store, too. With images, we wanted to keep true to HMW’s mantra of “Hug the road. Feel the Trail. MAKE YOUR MOTION.” To us, that meant showing things from a biker or runner’s perspective, out in the the open. At the entrance to the store is a large, black-and-white photo of the bike lane on Berry Street heading into downtown along with some brand copy. Toward the back of the store is a larger vinyl application of a winding road that covers the door.
Also towards the back is a handy reference sign dedicated to bike repair and the different levels of service you can request. It feels so much better than a flimsy sheet of paper on the counter!
And when you stop in (we hope you do!), make sure to glance at those nice hanging signs that designate each section of the store. Tell’em OLG sent you, then ask about “getting fit for the perfect bike”.
