Fondo was a venture-backed gamified fitness startup we co-founded together with Felix Geremus of Kaiserlicht. Our mission was simple: build a next generation indoor cycling game that evoked the magical feeling of riding outdoors. It started with a piece of technology we called RAILS, which allowed us to procedurally generate hyperrealistic 3D road environments using real cycling routes from all over the world.

The brand name was derived from the cycling community, wherein a "fondo" refers to a long-distance ride for recreational cyclists of all abilities. To juxtapose against the realistic backdrop, we opted for a bold, modern, friendly logotype and a versatile color palette that relied heavily on poppy accents. The art direction highlighted the joy of riding in nature, exuding a warm, considered, inviting, and aspirational visual tone, in stark contrast to the sporty, technical, overtly masculine world that dominated the indoor cycling space. Our symbol heroized the circle with its three concentric rings, each slightly wider at the top and bottom, creating a sense of motion reminiscent of spinning wheels. Carrying the brand identity forward into early product design, the first user interface concept was designed to be as minimal as possible, with a retro-style game treatment for the numbers and progress meters.

Brand: Fondo