Visual style of CrossFit event
Abstract
The topic of this bachelor’s thesis is the process of creating and designing the visual style of CrossFit races in the Czech Republic. The theoretical part is focused on corporate identity and the individual aspects that help create it. It further defines the brand as a visual element along with a visual style, through marketing communication focused on social networks. It also includes the definition of the sport, the necessary requirements for holding races, licenses and permits, the issue and the reason why this sport cannot be at the Olympic Games. The practical part analyzes the organization of CrossFit races using the tools described in the theoretical part, defines their shortcomings and possible ways of their effective solution. It also contains an analysis of CrossFit plants and their search. It also describes the whole process of creating a new concept of plants and its unified visual style, including complete graphic design and its subsequent application. Keywords: marketing communication, visual communication, graphic design, media design, CrossFit, sporting event, visual style, brand, social networks
Keywords: marketing communication, visual communication, graphic design, media design design, CrossFit, sporting event, visual style
CrossFit definition
CrossFit includes constantly changing functional movements performed at a relatively high intensity. All exercises are based on functional movements. It thus reflects the best aspects of gymnastics, weightlifting, running, rowing and other disciplines, also referred to as the key movements of life. The movements indicate the greatest possible load over the longest distance, so they are ideal for maximizing the amount of work done in the shortest possible time. The intensity of the exercises is crucial to the results and is measurable as work divided by time or performance. The more work you do in less time, or the higher the performance, the more intense the effort. Using a variety of approaches to professional training, functional movements and intensity leads to a huge improvement in fitness. “
CrossFit new Olympic sports ?
CrossFit as a stand-alone sport cannot be included in Olympic sports, within its versatility and by adding new disciplines every year. It does not have precisely standardized disciplines that would be constantly repeated, but this would make the sport lose its meaning. One of the biggest obstacles to the sport’s inclusion in the Olympics is the lead under one man, Greg Glassman. Unfortunately, CrossFit does not fall under any federation or board of directors in which annual elections would have to take place in order to be able to elect new board members. Another obstacle is greater and more transparent testing for the use of banned excipients. CrossFit is used by a company called Drug free, which does not provide a public list of banned and permitted substances unless you are a member of that organization. Testing would have to be provided by the World Anti-Doping Agency, which provides testing for Olympic athletes, and its list of banned substances is available to the public.
The new concept of organizing CrossFit competitions in the Czech Republic
The new concept represents a new form of organizing CrossFit competitions in the Czech Republic, which should be available for any licensed and unlicensed gym. It is about creating a certain chain of races, in the form of obtaining the titles of the best athlete for the gym in which the races would take place. The overall concept is based on the fact that races can be held in any gym or other place in its vicinity. All the requirements for holding the race are adapted to this concept, including the overall budget, the program of the race, the composition of the individual Wods, as well as the overall organization of the race. The aim is to create a larger number of individual races in different regions of the Czech Republic and thus consolidate the CrossFit community itself and expand awareness of this sport. In later years, this concept can be followed by new races in the form of individual gym fights, fights of the best athletes. from individual gyms or the declaration of the ultimate athlete for all gymi. The concept is to serve both for the promotion of sports, community support, as well as raising the level of Czech athletes and their preparation for international competitions. Through these races, it is also possible to create a certain symbol in the form of the best athletes who will have the best results and use them to promote this sport in the Czech Republic.
Moodboards
In the final logo and symbol I tried to write certain characteristic elements from the whole sport, therefore it is a reflection of several elements. In their search I tried to focus on those that are really used in this sport every day. One of them is the very greeting shown by the gesture after completing the demanding Wod, the greeting is done with a tap of the fist, see below moodboard 1. Furthermore, the “Grip” grip itself, or the locked “Hook Grip” thumb, is a method used to grasp the barbell used in certain exercises. It is also a reflection of the overall energy, which is very specific and you can already recognize only in this sport. It is both the energy of the community itself, which is immediately apparent when entering each gym, the tension that arises in the races themselves, when you are mostly your own opponent, and the energy after the completion of Wods. From this part came a symbol that represents the overall visual form.
The second moodboard points to certain foundations of the whole sport and its atmosphere. CrossFit’s largest base is its community. It consists of both people who move around the sport and people you practise with and meet in individual gyms, where all the members help each other, encourage each other and create a certain sports family. The Olympic weightlifting discipline named the market, English for “Snatch”, is also captured here as a representative of a certain pillar, which is later expressed in the overall logo.
Logotype
The main essence of the entire logo has already been presented in the moodbords themselves, which reflect the uniform parts in the overall logo. The logo consists of the name itself, which was already presented, the dominant visual element, as well as two variable inscriptions in the form of the venue and the year. The dominant visual element represents a change in the form of the letter ‘m’ from the name ‘gyms’, for which the symbol representing CrossFit has been replaced. It is a fist symbol that reflects all the typical daily gestures of the sport, which have already been introduced in the moodboard 1. The second part of the logo, which is based on the moodboard 2, is its overall border, which symbolizes the community as a particular family and its solid foundations, here represented by the lower part of the logo.
Fonts
The selection of fonts has been adapted to the organisation of the sporting event, so that it fits the overall logo and reflects a certain dynamic movement and community coherence. The first font to be used both in the name of the event and in the communication channels themselves and in the visual style is the Rubik font. It is a family of heelless fonts with slightly rounded corners in a bold cut, the family was designed by Philippe Hubert and Sebastian Fischer. It is a simple and clean font, based on a Rubik’s cube, and is therefore suitable for the sport. People unfamiliar with the sport can imagine it as a Rubik’s Cube, when at first glance it appears as a kind of chaos of color, contrast, simplicity, movement and sections that, after the correct logical solution, creates a certain color image and shape. This is how the sport itself works, as it also consists of different exercises, movements, contrasts, skills and, with the right combination, will show the very essence of the sport. The second font that makes up the overall name is the Molot font by Jovanny Lemonado. A strapless font with certain sharp edges and containing only capital letters, its personality, strength and size defines perfectly the idea of where the sport takes place, or gym. Along with the Rubik font it creates a certain contrast, with the Molot font creating a dominant centre, a solid background, reflecting the overall community of sport, and the Rubik font representing the overall idea of sport.
Social media
Instagram Instagram is the most important channel of communication with the public and with the overall visual style of the events themselves. Here the greatest emphasis is placed on promoting the overall events and the sport itself. The very style of communication on this social network is a little different from other networks or channels both by the content itself and its presentation. Here you need to keep still active users who will enjoy the content and possibly want to share it further. These include the contributions of the events themselves, as well as some interesting things about the sport, the creation of funny and original videos or photos, the creation of various interactions with the watching users through, for example, surveys or smaller competitions. It is mainly a fresh and fun form of presentation to interest both the CrossFit community itself and users who are not familiar with the sport and are interested in the content. It is only an outline of the overall way of presenting the content, the development of communication in the future will depend on possible stats.
YouTube
YouTube will mainly be used to share short haircuts from the races, in the form of “highlite” and “aftermovie” videos, or to create so-called “Report videos” that introduce people through one person to the overall course of the races, their atmosphere, what happens around them and, for example, what happens behind the scenes. In the future, these videos can also be created through a popular or successful athlete, which would show the overall course of the races from his point of view as an athlete. Here we can also talk about so-called “Vlog videos”. There is also room for collaboration with other YouTube channels or directly with YouTubers from the sports sector, who would increase the possibility of video reach, both in terms of viewership and especially in terms of attracting new followers of the sport.
Other materials
Athlete name tags of individual athletes are included in the presses. Each athlete will receive their race name tag, which they will always attach to their race area. Another is a prise plate with price money, graphic processing of the winners’ grade, various posters used to decorate the overall event and to promote potential sponsors, as well as picture posters or banners that will draw attention to the ongoing races in the given city or region. Picture posters contain basic information about the races in question, i.e. the date of the event, the location and any links to social networks. These posters also work in width for possible use e.g. on a billboard.
Merchandising
Merchandising represents the largest application area of the overall visual style. Included in merchandising are all sorts of items most used in the sport. For example, this includes t-shirts of competitors, assistants, judges, commercial T-shirts, sweatshirts, pouches, socks, patches, pins, bracelets, caps, bottles and medals for winning athletes. Everything will be sold primarily on the day of the on-site events. If there is interest in merch outside the races, there is the possibility to set up a possible online shop via the website in the future. Merchandising offers some collaboration with the organizing gym in the form of merging the logo or its dominant colors into an overall visual style. As a result, each organizer’s gym would have its own original merch, which would serve both to promote the concept of races and individual gyms.
References
- VYSEKALOVÁ, Jitka, Jiří MIKEŠ a Jan BINAR. Image a firemní identita
- LOSEKOOT, Michelle a Eliška VYHNÁNKOVÁ. Jak na sítě: ovládněte čtyři principy úspěchu na sociálních sítích
- ŠTĚPÁNEK, Zdeněk, DVOŘÁK, Jan a JELÍNKOVÁ, Dagmar. Jak dělat dobrou re-klamu a nedělat špatnou I.
- KAFKA, Ondřej a Michal KOTYZA. Logo & corporate identity.
- Interview with Soňa KARÁSKOVÁ, the most successful Czech professional athlete of CrossFit