Mind Gym

Brand identity / Art Direction / Print / Digital / Illustration

Introduction

Using insights from psychology and behavioural science, Mind Gym transforms the way people think, feel and behave at work. I worked with Mind Gym to evolve a fresh, witty and versatile brand identity to express their unique DNA, and to unify their ever-expanding range of learning products.

Once the new brand was formalised in a set of guidelines, I oversaw its application across a huge range of digital and printed formats (from interactive documents, to posters, handouts, presentations, environmental graphics and more) that in turn encompassed a portfolio of over 100 bespoke products.

The story of the grey and the green

Mind Gym's mission is to help people use their minds more effectively, to get more out of life and give more to others. For their clients, this translates into the promise to transform the way people think, feel and perform at work. The need to address both ‘thinking’ and ‘feeling’, (or mental effectiveness and ‘getting more out of life’) called for a brand that can flex with agility between the cerebral and the emotive. The very name expresses a uniquely twofold nature: psychologists who create workouts; smart but with a heart.

Mind Gym's visual brand is designed around the need to hold these seemingly opposing qualities in balance. The subject of behavioural science can be serious, but teaching it often requires a playful. This balance shines through visually in every aspect of our design philosophy, and is epitomised by the mix of cool greys and zesty green that has been a key visual motif of the Mind Gym brand since they were founded.

Challenge

Forever locked in fierce competition with arch-rival publication The Cherwell, The Oxford Student needed to boost its profile and gain some much needed edge. Too closely associated with the Student Union that funds the newspaper and the hacky student-political types that frequented it, The Oxford Student needed to branch out from stuffy student politics and arcane ritual into the rich cultural life of Oxford.

Solution

Mind Gym's brand guidelines were devised to be more than just a corporate instruction manual. I wanted to create a document that would speak intelligently to designers, but that would also serve as a rich and inspiring showcase of the very visual principles that it espouses. To reflect the ethos that 'good design is for everyone', the vision, assets, and guidelines for the new brand were made as broadly engaging and accessible as possible. The brand guidelines were created and disseminated in a glossy landscape magazine format, as well as an PDF with interactive features such as a colour combination tool.

Outcome

"In his leadership of our rebrand process, Tom remained true to Mind Gym’s DNA, whilst creating a solution that is refreshing, witty and flexible enough to be applied across our ever-expanding range of materials."

Octavius Black
Founder & CEO, Mind Gym Plc.