Running Man Logo | Logo Design Case Study

Client: Brett L.

Company: The Runner’s Workshop

Location: Australia, NSW, Sydney

Project Details: Custom Logo

Design Approach - From Our Lead Graphic Designer: "The client was looking for a logo that was high contrast and high energy. The yellow circle contrasts with the dark text, making the logo bright and eye-catching, while the sharp, defined shadows in the illustration of the running man emphasize the contrast in the rest of the logo. The staggered text creates a sense of motion and the running man illustration continues the line created by the text. This further highlights the sense of motion and energy in the logo. By combining illustration and bold sans serif text, we created a logo that feels corporate but also has a modern flair."

Brand Story: Online Start-Up Company - selling running and triathlon endurance products and coaching/training plans.

Brett contacted NB Media Solutions for some fresh ideas and insight on a new logo for his online start-up company, The Runner’s Workshop. Our lead graphic designer went through the various steps and processes to provide Brett with our innovative logo recommendations and ideas. Through extensive research, brainstorming and conceptualizing, our graphic designer was able to create a few logo variations for the client, each with its own unique imagery that relates to the company name. After communicating our design concepts to the client, the one logo image that stuck until the end of the process was, you guessed it, the running man.

Take a look at the successful logo design process that we had with our client:

Logo Design Research

Before we get started, we needed to acquire some additional information from our client in order to proceed with the brainstorming ideas for his new logo.

The questions we asked:

1. What text needs to be included in the logo? (This is usually the official company name and sometimes a short tagline).

2. Are there any specific fonts that need to be included in the logo?

3. Are there any specific colors that need to be included in the logo?

4. Is there any specific imagery that needs to be included? For example, do you need a visual representation of a leaf, a tree, a drop of water etc. somewhere in your logo?

5. What are 2-3 examples of logos that you like? This will help me understand the style you are looking for.

Brett’s responses included the logo examples below. He also mentioned that he preferred a darker font, but a yellow or orange background color to make the company name stand out more. Our lead graphic designer took everything that was communicated from the client into consideration to move forward with the next step of the logo design process.

Initial Logo Design Prototype

Other Logo Design Examples From Our Client:

Brainstorming & Conceptualizing

Our graphic designer took the recommendations and preferences from Brett in order to brainstorm and conceptualize potential logo designs.

After sorting through each design recommendation from Brett, we did some further research in order to gain some inspiration on how she could potentially transform his previous logo recommendations. She researched similar companies and industries whose logos entailed a similar font, colors and imagery that Brett preferred.

The running man icon was the winning idea for the prominent imagery in the logo.

Now that most of the research has been completed and we know what the client’s expectations are for the logo, it was time to get creative.

How do we design the running man in an appealing way?

Do we want him to be larger or smaller than the logo’s font?

Can we somehow incorporate the running man into the logo’s font?

When conceptualizing, it’s easy for some graphic designers to get too concerned with the style and imagery of a piece, instead of conveying a deeper meaning into the logo that promptly explains who the company is, what they do, what they stand for, and so on.

At this stage in the logo design process, our graphic designer is simply laying the foundation and potential for the final logo.

Here are the logo design recommendations that she created:

Each running man logo variation directly relates to the client’s company and tells consumers what the company does. Our graphic design agency used the colors, font and imagery that the client preferred, so now we wait to see his thoughts in order to move further into the logo design process.

Running Man Logo Variations

When designing a logo, there are various experimentations that happen behind the scenes.

Logo design is never a one-and-done kind of deal. The graphic designer is constantly going back to the drawing board to tweak the logo and make it better until the client is fully satisfied with the final design.

Our client’s response to the previous logo design recommendations was positive, and he wished to move forward and build off of the 4th running man logo design. To switch it up and explore design ideas even further, Brett insisted on using a shoe or road for the logo imagery instead of the running man.

Here’s what we created:

Running Man Logo Colors

The client ended up preferring the first logo design with the running man imagery, but challenged us further with a few color options to see which shade fit best with the given logo design:

As great as each different colored logo turned out, yellow was the winner for the client, after all.

Brett wanted our graphic designer to take it a step further and incorporate the running man into the “S” at the end of “RUNNERS”.

Here are the two logo design recommendations that we created:

Final Running Man Logo Design

It’s down to the final two.

Did our client choose the first or the second logo design as his last and final choice?

If you guessed the second, you’re right.

Our graphic designer incorporated the running man icon into the lettering of the company with both designs. In the end, all that mattered was the client’s preference and whether or not he wanted the running man icon to be more modern like in the first logo, or more realistic like in the second.