PULSE | ATX
date. April 2024 - Establish a voice and identity for a new running community club in Austin, TX.
Role: Art Direction & Graphic Designer
The Process.
When Rei, from Pulse, reached out, he simply only needed a sign. He was ready to commit on spending on a sign that would be on the front of his shop and call it a day. However, knowing how costs lead on to way the likelihood of needing a logo and a brand down the line came to question and Rei soon realized he needed an identity before purchasing a sign.
The main objective for Pulse, the first club being in Austin, is to grow a community of people who enjoy running. There is no need for being an expert in the field, if you want a friendly community that pushes you to reach a goal, maintain a hobby, or simply train, Pulse is right there for you. The idea would be to have club locations with eventual indoor track fields for inclement weather, merch/nutritional shops, and hang out spots for runners, but does not exclude other athletes alike.
Drawing from inspiration of other running clubs across the nation like Cooldown Denver, The Loop, Fleet Feet, and Bandit – Pulse wanted to head in a sleek modern direction that harked to a retro feel. The main use of visual would be video and photography boasting earthy terrains and colors. Pulse needed to represent a pulse without being directly on the nose of a heart beat EKG. The final logo presented and pushed was one of a stylized 'P' line reverberating 3 times and connected by a triple helix in the middle. This is all encased in a 'pill' outline to contain what I call the "bug coin". The typography reflects an athletic slab serif, meticulously tracked out to give it and create an elevated lululemon and north face brand hybrid. In the eventual need of location specific logos, we went ahead and incorporated on a sample with Austins abbreviated version and should expect that each city that follows continues the format.
As previously stated, the brand boasts rich earth tone photos and some even boast a green two tone edit for variety. Since the focus of pulse is to be running through different terrains one of the stylistic illustrations is a topographic map used lightly for texture along with a dust filter that is worked in a custom PSD filter created for Pulse in order to have the same aesthetic and filter used on all photos going forward. The typography pushes the use of the grid within all systems. Overall one of my favorite identities to work on.
