Innovation in Gym Design and Branding

“……it’s really new entrants that drive innovation…..” At 8:58 of the linked video(Link) Elon Musk defines innovation as that force which disrupts stagnant industries. If ever there was a sector of our industry which languished in stagnation the aesthetics and branding that we currently deliver to the fitness marketplace would stand paramount. It is precisely one of the factors that enabled innovators like Planet Fitness, and its brethren of low cost imitators to run roughshod over the “old guard,” those fitness brands with a sense of entitlement who were resistant to change and lacking vision.

And therein lies the conundrum. Innovation requires a complex set of forces to become manifest, less quantifiable, more inspirational. Vision, courage, passion and a desire to create a transitory experience, in this fitness business that would be to usurp the competition. Hence, why Planet Fitness and their close allies, the chains, disrupted the fitness arena, the historically entrenched gym brands.

And Little Has Changed

Some of you who’ve been following our posts (and I thank you all) know that we have an alternate view of gym design, that is, we believe that gym design is not decoration but branding first and subsequently a tool of marketing. That is far different than the actual industry practice which relegates gym design to the role of decoration.

So let’s be candid and I’ll preempt the following by saying that I’m not being sarcastic or cynical, let’s call it academic observation.

Our problem is that gym decoration is the prevailing practice adopted wholesale across this industry in contrast to that which we should be doing which is creating aesthetics that embrace branding and marketing strategies.

I’m talking Crossfit and their sparse utilitarian boxes, the big-box clubs with their two paint color schemes and “edgy/ slogan/logo,” the elitist luxury gyms that look like boutique hotels with chandeliers and bamboo flooring, and those gym models floating in the middle, rudderless, employing antiquated fluorescent lighting, refrigerators brimming with muscle milk, suspended Rite Aid ceilings, alternating paint colors on their walls emboldened with rhetorical motivational meme’s and graphics. Goodness fitness people, let’s get our heads out of the sand and take a reality check. How did all this come to be acceptable gym design and branding?

Takeaway: 

Our header image (above) is an interior shot of Elon Musk’s Space X Dragon V2 capsule interior. It goes without saying that is innovative design, visionary design, PR and word of mouth worthy design. If there’s a takeaway to this post let it be that the Space X Dragon V2 capsule interior should be the pedigree of aesthetics you aspire to when developing your new gym brand. Why would you do that? Simple. Upstage the antiquated gym aesthetics embraced by your competitors and dominate your gym marketplace in the minds of consumers.

Innovation in Gym Design and Branding

Credit to the following images belongs to the innovative gym owners and developers who choose innovation over decoration and are delivering some of the hottest new gym models to the fitness marketplace.

Articulate Marketing – Mid City Gym, New York City, NY

The retail display of this fitness brand is not dissimilar to the chic and sexy displays employed by the many luxury department stores a few blocks away on Madison Avenue. Note the articulate marketing effort in this display. The framed opening, the uber-cool background, the hidden lighting and the application of pattern and texture.

Transcendent Design – Source Fitness, Saint Clairsville OH

The Crossfit feature of this suburban gym brand defies the mantra of the underfunded minimalism and roughshod aesthetic of the Crossfit genre. Powerful geometric graphics and red strobe lighting unite in an arresting design that transcends the warehouse vernacular typically embraced by this devout fitness community.

Signature Aesthetics – VP Fitness Providence RI

The entry stairwell of this former NYSC in Providence RI has been transformed from a non-event to a tool of sales and seduction telegraphing to members and prospects that a very cool gym lies at the top of the stairs. The blue, black and silver color scheme exactly reflects the owner’s brand, reinforces the full service fitness model and is a signature aesthetic of the member experience.

The common denominator which links all of these gyms is that they’re innovative and branded designs far more recognizable in their markets and performing exceedingly well against the big box clubs and chains.Cuoco Black 2015

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