Branding: Adventure Company

Second Mountain provides soul-rejuvenating outdoor adventures using the ancient principles of Shinrin-Yoku to help women reconnect with nature and themselves.

Client: Donna Borden, founder of Second Mountain

Deliverables: logo and business card for small business

What we did.

Brand Deep Dive: We asked the big questions: What are your values? Why do you exist and who for? While the launch of Donna’s business is still a few years off—it really is her second mountain to climb after retiring from her current job—nailing down the brand visuals and messaging now will play an important role in her pre-launch marketing.
Visual Identity: Taking stride from the deep dive findings, we began work on logo concepts, asking for feedback at each stage, making sure the final product would be a perfect representation of the Second Mountain brand. Typography also plays an important role: bold, yet fun, with a splash of personal adventure, we paired a modern san-serif with the handwritten-styled tagline. An almost equal amount of energy was put into crafting the color palette. Taking inspiration from nature, a complimentary mix of muted blues and greens were the winners. The final visuals are flexible and scalable and ready to be applied to business cards, merchandise, social media and, eventually, a website.
Brand Guidelines: Every business needs a brand style guide. It is a rulebook that collects the brand’s look and assets all in one place. It builds brand consistency which promotes customer brand recognition. Bold Dotts Design offers a mini one-page version or the full guidelines book.

Why it works.

The Second Mountain visual brand is a custom representation of the company’s mission: to deliver soul-rejuvenating adventure. Featuring the pines and blue skies of the Rocky Mountains and juxtaposed with the path to adventure, the logo is made to be used as a whole or in part. The colored hills can be separated from the mark to fill a background or be used as a brand pattern. The tagline can be used alone on merchandise. The badge logo was an important version to include as it’s compact, works well for social media profiles, and can be easily centered for embroidery on hats and other apparel.