LogoLounge 5

about fi tness. “It was a bit too futuristic,” he says, “probably better

for a Star Trek uniform.”

The fi nal two designs were the ones the clients liked best. The one

they were leaning to combined the letterforms F and E. It canted

forward, suggesting action in its solid, muscular form. It worked

as a word mark as well as a sports mark, as Glitschka wanted, but

he felt his fi nal solution was still the best one.

“I wanted movement and activeness—that’s where the wing

comes in. But it also builds in the hidden E and F. The shape of

the shield I modeled after the human torso,” he explains. For color,

he selected green to suggest health and fi tness. “Other fi tness

groups were using plenty of red, so I pushed in the other direc-

tion.” A benefi t to the minty green he selected is that it shifts very

little in tone whether it is on a black or a white background.

When a team of long-time

Gold Gym’s franchise

owners in Salem, Oregon,

decided that their experi-

ence and talents could

support the opening of

their own gym, Fitness

Experience, they knew

exactly what they wanted

in a new logo—or, at least,

they thought they did.

Of course, their business was all about health and vitality. But

designer Von Glitschka could see another level of benefi t to

their work.

“What is the fi nal goal of the people going to the gym?” he asked

himself. “I didn’t think we should focus on what they do at the gym.

It’s not about a little muscle guy lifting weights, like in the Gold’s

Gym logo: I defi nitely wanted to avoid that and told the client it

was not right for them. The question should be: What do people

really want from working out?”

Glitschka had in mind a logo that was more of a sports mark than a

gym logo. He also wanted a very simple, fl at mark that could work

anywhere-on a t-shirt, in embroidery, on a screen, anywhere.

“At the gym, the employees can come right alongside the cus-

tomer and train them. It’s a very simple process, not complex at

all. The act of working out is hard, though, and that’s what I wanted

to pick up on—being lean and mean,” he says.

The designer created five different comps for the client. One

design contained the actual shape of a human in action—sort of

in step aerobics mode. Another (created by friend and designer

Jeff Nine, who he brought into the project for consultation) used

a red circle to contain an abstracted F that mimicked a heart rate

display on a screen.

A design that showed a human form with outstretched arms had

good proportions, Glitschka felt, but he didn’t believe it said much

Fitness Experience/Gold’s Gym

Logo Design

Von Glitschka, Salem, Oregon

114

This experiment is a mono-

gram, but it also displays a

wing shape. The designer

wanted the client to have a

solid icon that could be used

on t-shirts, signage and other

marketing materials.

Von Glitschka’s fi rst trial

design for Fitness Experience

had a step aerobics feel.

The designers liked the pro-

portions of this design but felt

it was a bit too futuristic.

This monogram design

suggested action with its

forward lean.

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