CHAITANYA GADDAMWAR
Project Duration: 1 month
Role: Brand Design Consultant
Agency: Neo Graphique
01. What is MuscleBar Sports Club?
MuscleBar Sports Club is a joint venture between MuscleBar Fitness and Poonawalla Gymkhana, created to improve overall wellbeing through sports and fitness. It offers a wide range of activities including open-air gym training, CrossFit, calisthenics, combat sports, yoga, and multiple sports such as cricket, football, table tennis, pickleball, and padel tennis. Designed for a broad age group of 10 to 60 years, MuscleBar aims to be a one-stop destination for fitness, training, and active recreation.
02. The Challenge
MuscleBar Fitness already had a recognizable logo for its existing gyms, so the new MuscleBar Sports Club identity needed to feel connected to that brand equity without simply repeating it. The goal was to design a mark that echoed the parent brand’s visual language, while also being more timeless, versatile, and adaptable across various design formats from large size print to small digital applications.
During the audit, I highlighted a few key limitations in the existing logo that would affect the Sports Club rollout:
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It felt male-focused, which could limit appeal for a broader sports and wellness audience.
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It was not scalable, losing clarity when resized.
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It didn’t work well on small surfaces, making it difficult to use on items like social icons, apparel tags, or small signage.
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Readability was a challenge, especially at smaller sizes or from a distance.
The design challenge, therefore, was to create a logo system that retained familiarity, but improved inclusivity, legibility, and scalability, ensuring it could perform consistently across both print and digital formats.
03. The Solution & Concept
After several rounds of concept exploration and revisions, we arrived at a mark that stays connected to the existing MuscleBar identity while evolving it into something more universal and versatile for a sports club.
The final icon is built from three simple ideas that reflect what MuscleBar Sports Club stands for:
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M letter: keeps a clear link to the parent brand and builds familiarity.
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Turf-inspired geometry: a nod to the club’s sports environment and on-ground energy.
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Open arms posture: represents fitness with joy, freedom, and lightness, the feeling of a win, a good workout, or simply showing up.
By combining these elements into a clean, geometric symbol, the identity becomes timeless, scalable, and easy to reproduce across both print and digital formats, including small applications like social icons, badges, and merchandise.
