The Bond is a boutique gym in Oslo founded by an Australian trainer whose talent for connecting with people turned his expat venture into an instant success. The gym grew quickly because it formed genuine bonds with locals and athletes, and created an environment where trust and performance go hand in hand.

I collaborated directly with the founder and the Norwegian heavyweight champion Kevin Melhus, who was an active user of the gym and personal training service. This process involved research, interviews, and testing of campaigns and assets to ensure the brand reflected the real community around it. Every decision was informed by lived experience inside the gym and feedback from the athletes who embodied its values.

The open square in the logo symbolizes both structure and freedom, a frame that is solid yet never closed off. This idea is echoed in the graphic system, where typographic frames open up around words in the same way, creating a continuous metaphor for strength built through openness and transparency.

The tagline Build. Become. Bond. extends this philosophy into a modular system. Each word works on multiple levels. Build strength, resilience, commitment. Become disciplined, proud, unstoppable. Bond with your trainer, your body, your goals. Together they form a rhythm that mirrors the identity of the gym and the connection it creates.

These words were applied to black-and-white editorial photography of athletes in motion. Each image shows raw focus and effort, framed within the open rectangular shape that stretches across all three visuals. The shape ties back to the logo, visually reinforcing that every act of training is part of a larger story of discipline and growth.

The Bond’s identity system captures more than aesthetics. It expresses the mindset of a space built on trust, personal dedication, and the belief that strength grows stronger through connection.