Adam Wyatt has cycling in his blood. When an opportunity presented itself for him to revitalize a local bike shop, he jumped at the chance. Adam is someone who values both the benefit of cycling, and being ingrained in his local community. Because of that, he is the perfect choice to be the face and force of a local shop, and bring life to a cycling and geographic community.
Three Points Cycles is located in Brunswick, Maryland. It’s a town with a history and identity related to trains, and had jumped early on the rails-to-trails concept, and Three Points Cycles supports those that connect its local town center with the miles of beautiful, surrounding outdoors.
Because Adam took over, he inherited a version of a logo that didn’t resonate with the shop’s, or the town’s, true identity. It had a generic industrial feel, but did nothing to honor Brunswick’s strong identity. Adam approached me with an idea for an update already in mind, and some examples to illustrate his vision.
I went to work and sent over some early drafts. I believed that Adam’s first thought was too complicated to be presented in an effective logo, and graciously, he agreed. I am wary when taking on ‘buddy’ projects for this very reason – when things go smoothly, they go super smoothly, but it takes a trust and maturity to end successfully when there are bumps in the road. Adam and I have a history of working well together, and I was able to evolve his concept to something more clean and usable, while still retaining the shop identity that began our discussion.
Brunswick is literally at the convergence of three transportation routes; Three Points is a phrase that already resonates with the residents there. As Adam and his community know, it’s not just bringing things together geographically, it’s bringing together a community.
Three simple chain links, pointed towards the center, express this sense of convergence and community without asking the viewer to take in too much. Having a visual identity that’s approachable, welcoming, and inclusive proved to be more effective than one which is either too generic, or too literal.
Additional details were important to include – the name of the town in which Adam is extremely proud to live, work, and play; Est. 2009 to indicate that this is simply a change of ownership and a refresher, and that Three Points has, and will continue to, serve the community.
A clean, simple, yet identifiable design can be used with our without the circumference details, and a one-color iconic design gives Adam the freedom to use this across placements – and one day, maybe even get it laser cut out of sheet metal – paying homage to the original industrial sign that once graced his front window.