DAILY FIT Gym Brand and Interior Design: Letters That Sprint Forward, a Flame That Burns

Letters that sprint forward, a flame that burns

In 2019, Xinming Design created the visual identity and interior of DAILY FIT (每日健身), a fitness club. The wordmark is a set of heavy capitals slanted to the right; the strokes of A, Y and F are cut by diagonal slashes rising to the right, like a body sprinting off the start. The colour shifts from mint green to sky blue, for change and progress every day. The flame symbol is three tongues of fire burning upward, for burning fat and for passion. For the interior, the studio delivered the floor plan, renderings and construction drawings, and the club was built to the drawings: mint green, golden flames and blue green marble run from the storefront and reception to the cycling studio, yoga rooms, boxing ring and locker room.

A place to come back to every day

DAILY FIT was a new fitness brand. The name came from the client: DAILY for every day, FIT for a healthy body; the Chinese name 每日健身 means daily fitness. The line Premier Lifestyle Starts Here also came from the client.

The usual look of a gym is black, red, muscle and sweat. But the word daily points somewhere else: not one all out effort, but showing up every day.

So the project had two questions to answer:

· The wordmark: how can a name carry the speed of sport without looking rough?

· The space: how can people want to stay a little longer every day, rather than face rows of machines?

Letters that sprint forward

The answer starts with the letters:

· Slant: the whole word leans to the right, like a body leaning forward at the start;

· Slashes: the crossbars of A, Y and F are cut by diagonal lines rising to the right, leaving gaps; the tops of the letters are cut at an angle too. Every cut runs the same way, like one gust of wind blowing from lower left to upper right;

· Gradient: the colour moves from mint green on the left to sky blue on the right, so by the end of DAILY FIT the colour has travelled too.

The slashes are speed; the gradient is progress. The wordmark forms a horizontal lockup with the Chinese name 每日健身, and a stacked lockup with the script line Premier Lifestyle Starts Here.

A flame that burns

The flame symbol is three tongues of fire burning upward: the middle one tallest, the two outer ones curling inward. It stands for two things:

· Burning fat: a training body burning energy;

· Passion: the drive that keeps people coming back every day.

The flame is often stacked with the DAILY FIT wordmark and made in champagne gold as raised lettering, on the marble column at the entrance and on the locker room wall; on the storefront it becomes a light box.

Four typefaces, one set of colours

The design specifies four typefaces, each with its own role:

· Blanch Caps: slender capitals for headings;

· Teko SemiBold: heavy capitals for headings, in the same spirit as the wordmark;

· Vladimir Script: a script for the brand line;

· Ping Hei Light: body text.

The core colour is the wordmark's mint green to sky blue gradient, on a near black deep brown ground. In the space, deep teal, champagne gold, blue green marble and light wood join it, so the mint feels light and sporty but also calm.

From staff passes to the hoarding

Office and communication

· Staff passes and lanyards: a mint lanyard printed with the slanted DAILY FIT

· Banner template: diagonal colour blocks divide the frame, with FITNESS TRAINING and GO!

· Brand posters: the white wordmark over a dark gym, and a large wordmark on mint

Opening hoarding

· A row of mint and white panels cut on the diagonal, reading ADVANCE BRAVELY and GO! The diagonals of the hoarding run the same way as the slashes in the wordmark.

The staff pass, banner and posters on this page are proposal mock-ups; the people shown are stock imagery.

Colour and flame built into the space

Xinming Design produced the floor plan, renderings and construction drawings, and the club was built to the drawings. The interior unfolds area by area:

Storefront and reception

· The storefront is a full deep teal wall with the illuminated DAILY FIT 每日健身 sign above and a flame light box to the right; beside it, a tall panel reads THE MORE YOU GIVE THE MORE YOU GET.

· At the entrance stands a blue green marble column carrying the champagne gold flame and wordmark.

· The reception counter is clad in blue green marble with a diagonal gold line across it, running the same way as the slashes in the wordmark; behind it, DAILY FIT 每日健身 glows on a grey wall.

Lounge and greeting wall

· Next to reception is a sunken lounge, with deep teal sofas around a round ottoman. A huge glowing flame is printed on the glass of the lounge, and the cycling studio shows through it.

· On the other side, two moss green walls each hold a zebra sculpture, with the words hello and GO! Seats made from tyres, vending machines and a water bar are here too.

Training areas

· Cycling studio: purple and blue neon, with a capsule shaped light frame on the front wall.

· Running area: a row of treadmills faces a white fluted wall with a raised DAILY FIT, flanked by blue green marble columns.

· Strength area: machines and benches on dark grey flooring, with walls zoned in mint and purple.

· Boxing ring: a mint ring floor, a deep green wall with a full gallery of black and white photographs, and a mint punching bag.

· Yoga rooms: rows of mint yoga mats on light wood floors, with barres, exercise balls and deep teal wall niches; yoga illustrations hang on the walls, and pale gold flames on the columns.

Locker room and women's area

· Locker room: deep green walls and square tiles, a backlit round mirror, and the champagne gold flame and wordmark on the wall.

· Women's area: a WOMEN sign at the entrance, and a children's play corner beside it, so children have somewhere to play while parents train.

· Wayfinding: gold arrows with bilingual directions on the walls (Rest area, Locker Room, Water bar).

Every area has its own mood: neon purple in the cycling studio, deep green in the locker room, light wood and mint in the yoga rooms, zebras on the greeting wall. Yet they all share one set of colours, and the same flame appears in each.

The interior images are renderings made before construction; the Big Ben posters, street sign and photo gallery in them are decorative placeholders.

Deliverables and extensions

Visual identity

· Horizontal lockup of DAILY FIT with 每日健身; stacked lockup of the wordmark with the brand line

· Flame symbol, and the flame with the wordmark

· Typography: Blanch Caps, Teko SemiBold, Vladimir Script, Ping Hei Light

· Colour: mint green to sky blue gradient, deep brown ground

· Applications: staff passes and lanyards, banner template, brand posters, opening hoarding

Interior design

· Floor plan

· Renderings: storefront, reception, lounge, greeting wall, cycling studio, running area, strength area, boxing ring, yoga rooms, locker room, women's area

· Construction drawings (built to the drawings)

· Brand elements in the space: illuminated signs, flame light boxes and raised flames, slogan walls, wayfinding

Looking back

Three points are worth taking from this project:

1. One movement runs through the wordmark. Every slash points the same way, so the letters seem to sprint forward; the diagonals on the hoarding and the reception counter carry the same movement.

2. Turn the identity into building material. Mint becomes walls and yoga mats; the flame becomes a light box, a glass graphic and raised metal letters. The space does not need logos everywhere to feel like one brand.

3. A mood for each area, held by one set of colours. Neon purple, a deep green locker room and a zebra greeting wall each have character, but one palette keeps them from feeling scattered.

The wordmark of a fitness brand works best when it is already running before people walk through the door.

How to verify

· Brand: DAILY FIT (每日健身)

· Year: 2019

· This case page: www.xinming.sg/en/portfolio/3198.html

Further reading

· Maxine Health Brand Identity: An M and a Tick That Form One Heart (www.xinming.sg/en/portfolio/3137.html)

· Alfred Piano School Brand Identity: An A with a Scroll and a Stave (www.xinming.sg/en/portfolio/3148.html)

· GODLUCK Coffee Brand Identity: Two Feathers That Form a Coffee Bean (www.xinming.sg/en/portfolio/3150.html)

FAQ

Who designed the DAILY FIT brand and interior?

The visual identity and interior of DAILY FIT (每日健身) were designed by Xinming Design in 2019. The interior was delivered as renderings and construction drawings, and the club was built to the drawings.

What does the DAILY FIT wordmark mean?

The wordmark is a set of slanted capitals; the strokes of A, Y and F are cut by diagonal slashes rising to the right, like a sprinter leaving the start. The colour shifts from mint green to sky blue, for change and progress every day.

What does the DAILY FIT flame stand for?

Three tongues of fire burning upward, for burning fat and for passion. It appears on the entrance column, the storefront light box, the lounge glass and the locker room wall.

What are the DAILY FIT brand colours?

The core is a mint green to sky blue gradient on a deep brown ground; the interior adds deep teal, champagne gold, blue green marble and light wood.

What did the project include?

For the identity: the wordmark and lockups, the flame symbol, typography and colour, and staff passes, banners, posters and the hoarding. For the interior: the floor plan, plus renderings and construction drawings for the storefront, reception, lounge, cycling studio, running and strength areas, boxing ring, yoga rooms, locker room and women's area.

Which brands can learn from this case?

Gyms, yoga studios and fitness studios; new venues that need identity and interior design together; and sports brands that want a logo with a built in sense of speed and direction.

Xinming Design is a brand systems design firm. Its work centres on systematic judgment, turning brand strategy into structures that can run and be inherited. www.xinming.sg