London-based branding agency Bear has created a new identity for British Gymnastics that incorporates stunning swirling graphics, both still and motion, created by photographer Giles Revell in collaboration with 3D artist Ben Koppel...

"We had seen some imagery on Giles' site which we used as reference material for our vision of what we wanted to create," explains Eddy Edwards of Bear of the work. "He had collaborated with Ben Koppel - capturing movements of dancers and athletes and created stills from the motion capture which were stylised and turned into sculptures. We knew we wanted to work with Giles and Ben to create animations that captured the movement of real gymnasts - the appeal for us being that it is absolutely appropriate to the sport and to Britsih Gymnastics."

British Gymnastics Animation from BEAR on Vimeo.

"I love collaboration and this seemed like an interesting fit - the idea of making form from movement," says Revell of the project. "When you're using technologoy to capture real movement and then abstracting and stylising that data, there's something more rewarding about that than building something out of nothing."

All of the swirling red and blue graphics represent actual gymnastic moves too - perhaps those more involved in the sport will know precisely which moves each image represents.

As well as the graphics, there is, of course a new logotype:

There is definitely something about seeing the word British in a mid blue that reminds me instantly of the British Gas logo, but the logotype does have a rhythm and precision about it that seems appropriate to the sport it is designed to embody. To craft it, Bear worked with typographer and logo specialist Rob Clarke (do click through to Clarke's site - the amount of household brand logos he's worked on is quite something). Note the ligature formed by the t and i in both words. The idea is that the i looks a little like a gymnast's routine-finishing pose.

The new identity will officially launch this weekend at the Echo Arena in Liverpool where the nation's artistic gymnastics Olympic hopefuls will hope to impress selectors ahead of the Olympic team selection and announcement on July 4.

bearlondon.com

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