Extending the
Visual Identity
“>”>for a German Startup in Outdoor Sports & Adventures
The Story
Activebreak has the mission to make it easier and more transparent for outdoor enthusiasts to discover and book multi-day outdoor sports adventures with great partners throughout the world.
The founder, Mark, contacted me back in 2021 through a recommendation. He had a logo already created (through a contest on 99designs) and the website in an alpha version. I was initially recommended for the website iconography package, which gathered 100+ icons.
Eventually, our collaboration also included brand presentation decks, some fixes on the logo (poorly bent anchor points) – and even the Activebreak Brand Book. It was a fruitful and pleasant project-based collaboration that I am very thankful for.
The Icons: Research
Considering we were working 1:1 and that Mark didn?t have, at the point we have started our collaboration, any other stakeholders to bring to the table (he was collaborating with 2-3 developers and a UX designer), I have adapted the Brand Sprint Workshop into a form. We then debriefed the form in a video call.
Mark found this step very relevant for him to ask himself several further questions about the brand he?s bringing into the world.
After this, I have done extensive research on competitors and on the domain. I have learned quite a lot about all sorts of outdoor sports.
Technicalities
The package was built following a few principles:
Function prevails form and an icon?s unequivocal meaning prevails the package consistency principle.
The user?s understanding and a common cultural approach prevails the uniqueness of style.
The human silhouettes used for sports activities have the same head size.
It is a line package that always uses a 1px stroke.
It uses rounded corners and a flat perspective (2D, lateral view).
Active/focused states also use a filled accent color, displayed with an offset to left.
The Presentation Decks
It was an interesting position – to extend the brand identity beyond logo, digital product or the iconography package that I have just created.
I was not directly involved in the logo creation, nor in the user experience design process. And it was time for me to grasp and transmit the look and feel of the brand in marketing materials – respecting the brand?s personality and reflecting its values and mission.
I will just let the decks speak for themselves.
The Brand Book
Not often I get the chance to put in place the book of a brand I haven?t created from scratch. Working closely together with Mark and asking the right questions helped a lot.
Also the fact that I have built the big icons package – and the marketing visuals. Those were all adjacent visual elements that support the brand. Their creation helped me in not only understanding, but feeling the Activebreak brand.
I will again let the brand book excerpts speak.
The Next Steps
Activebreak is currently preparing its official launch. For this campaign, I have proposed to the client a creative concept. In my proposal, the teasing part of the campaign says: ?
?Take a deep breath?
And then the revealing is: ?
?Activebreak. Breathtaking.?
Playing with the notions of ?break? and ?breath? has a reasoning behind: Activebreak is a healthy break in your life – it is a breath of fresh air. Activebreak allows you to witness breathtaking landscapes in nature. Activebreak pushes your limits and brings you back to the joy of being. The slogan proposed is short and pinpoints a double meaning: effort (sports adventures) & nature?s beauty (outdoor landscapes).
All in all, this collaboration was a meaningful experience – gathering all sorts of collateral design results. It was a solid example of where an adjacent brand identity implementation can go. I wish the startup all the best with its upcoming business stages.
Case Study Summary
Client Location:
Germany
Business Type:
start-up, technology
Collaboration Type:
remote, freelancing (specialist & consultant)
Brand Values
? leave no trace
? live and let live
? community
Audience Segment
? off-time athletes
? bucket-listers
? young & free
What does the brand do?
platform for outdoor sports tours
Service Provided
? research
? iconography package ?+100icons
? creative strategy
? consultancy
? brand implementation:
? presentation decks
? brand book
? contribution to the Figma design system implementation
All the visual assets presented in this case study are the intellectual property of
Activebreak GmbH ? All Rights Reserved.
Thank you for allowing the use of the imagery to showcase my work.
Credits to mock-up creators and unsplash.com photographers for putting their work out there.
Many thanks – my portfolio looks pretty also because of you.
roxana.oroian at gmail.com
Thanks for reading – I hope it was relevant.
On the website you can discover
a few more case studies.
I consider all the results of my work
a co-creation alongside my clients.
The selection of studies is just a glimpse
of what my creative process can be.
Stay imaginative and open.
We can go places together.
