Nord

Client
NORD Gyms

Type
Gym Branding

EPF2 engaged us to create a complete brand identity for their first Scandinavian-inspired gym in Crouch End, North London. The brief was to establish a premium wellness brand that deliberately avoided typical gym aesthetics, reflecting the quality of the equipment and interior design whilst positioning for expansion across North London.

Creative Approach
The name ‘Nord’ means ‘North’ in Nordic languages, creating a double meaning that references both Scandinavian design principles and the gym’s North London location. With ambitions to scale across the area, the name positions the brand geographically whilst embodying the minimalism, functionality, and quality of Nordic design philosophy.

True to its Nordic roots, Nord offers facilities uncommon in London gyms: sauna, cold plunge pool, and heat therapy alongside premium training equipment. The ‘360° Personal Training & Wellness’ tagline reflects this holistic approach, where expert one-on-one coaching combines with restorative therapies under one roof.

The client’s background in outdoor bootcamps informed a key design decision: enclosing the logo in a box to signify the shift to indoor training. The two-storey structure of the first location inspired the stacked composition, with ‘No’ positioned above ‘rd’ to reflect the building’s architecture.

We developed the strapline ‘No Ordinary Gym’ to reinforce the premium positioning, with a clever execution where ‘No’ and ‘rd’ from ‘Ordinary’ form the logo. The brand colour palette deliberately avoids conventional fitness norms, instead drawing on a refined nordic colour palette and typography.