PEDALHEADS

I was the only in-house designer at Pedalheads and created tons of content including social, wayfinding, character design, and COVID response assets.

Role

Creative Director
Visual Designer
Animator
Illustrator
Character Designer

Agency
In-House
OK Dave

Client
Pedalheads

Date
2019 - 2022

THE PROBLEM

Pedalheads never had an in-house designer before despite their heavy needs. They have internal manuals, recruitment advertising, in-person camp assets, registration ads and general ads. They were also recently rebranded and were trying to find who they were amongst those big changes.

THE SOLUTION

I needed to do a brand and competitive analysis to find where they sat in the market. Then I needed to find a way to create all the collateral they needed promptly. On top of that, they were looking to add characters to their brand which was a large task by itself but one I was excited to tackle. It was a lot of pieces but the final puzzle was a delight.

Illustration, Graphic Design, Artist, Visual Design, In-house, Character Designer, Animation, Motion Graphics, Motion Graphic Artist, Canadian, concepting, Wayfinding, signage, experienced, swimming pool, Pedalheads, Kids, Childrens branding,

Character Designs

Pedalheads was rebranded by Rethink right before I joined but they lost the kid characters that Pedalheads had had since their conception. I created a brand new suite of characters to match their fresh new face including monsters and instructors!

The amount of work this took deserved its own page to break down the process and let those crazy characters shine!

See characters

Signage & Print

Pedalheads had massive print needs thanks to their in-person programming. They needed pull-up banners, sandwich board signage, and other wayfinding and that’s just for their regular programming. Once their brand new pool at Park Royal launched, I needed to make an exceptional amount more. We’re talking changing rooms signs and decals, murals for the walls, foyer designs to make the entrance on-brand, and pool rules posters in multiple languages.

Illustration, Graphic Design, Artist, Visual Design, In-house, Designer, Animation, advertising, Motion Graphics, Motion Graphic Artist, Canadian, concepting, Wayfinding, signage, marketing, swimming pool, Pedalheads, Kids, Childrens branding,
Illustration, Graphic Design, Artist, Visual Design, In-house, Designer, Animation, advertising, Motion Graphics, Motion Graphic Artist, Canadian, concepting, Wayfinding, signage, marketing, swimming pool, Pedalheads, Kids, Pull up banner, banner
Illustration, Graphic Design, Artist, Visual Design, In-house, Designer, Animation, advertising, Motion Graphics, Motion Graphic Artist, Canadian, concepting, Wayfinding, signage, marketing, swimming pool, Pedalheads, Kids, Poster, pull up banner

Park Royal Pool Wayfinding Mockups

  • Reception

    I wanted the reception to immediately reinforce the brand. The mall didn’t allow much of anything on the exterior so having a strong presence when the client enters was crucial. The rings around the icon are a very common graphic for Pedalheads so having that present would be a great assurance that they were in the right place.

  • Hallway

    The hallway to the change rooms will be passed through by everyone so it’s a great place to add some of the characters. It also needed to have obvious wayfinding to help rushed parents quickly find their way. I included both the text and the icon for the gendered washrooms since some of their clientele struggled with English.

  • Girls Changeroom

    Since pink was one of the brand colours I initially thought to make the different washrooms colour coded but thought twice about the stereotype of pink being a girls colour and blue being for boys. Where we can, we should correct these mindsets and, although the washrooms share a colour scheme now, I think it was the right choice.

  • Boys Changeroom

    This, like the girls’ washroom, has bright graphics alternating on the changeroom doors and bold colours to help shape the otherwise stark white space.

  • Changeroom Pool Entrance

    The changerooms also needed to be visible from the pool deck so the same wayfinding is applied here to keep it consistent. The large Pool Rules poster is immediately to the exit of the change area so parents and kids have no excuse not to familiarize themselves with it.

  • Pool Deck

    The pool deck also has gender-neutral washrooms on deck that have a similar treatment to the changeroom doors. On this wall, we keep only the key wayfinding areas in colour to help kids find their way back.

  • Pool Deck

    There was an opportunity on these larger walls for some graphics but we didn’t know how much of the vertical wall space would be used to store equipment like life jackets or pool cleaning tools so it was a fairly loose mockup. The Ogo character on the wall was something I pushed for while the logo was more of a client request but I’m always happy to mock something up to show the client in-situ results.

Photos Of The Finished Pool

  • Reception

    They opted for the rings but asymmetrically instead of centred around the icon as I proposed. They also, frustratingly, used the wrong version of the icon here.

  • Parent Area

    This is a simple space where parents can keep an eye on their kids if they want to. I made a poster to show the expected progress of the children through the levels.

  • Change Rooms

    While all the final choices for the pool graphics were done after I left they did keep true to some of the mockups. I wish that they alternated the patterns a bit more here.

  • Pool Deck

    I love that Ogo found was featured here. It adds a great backdrop to any photos the company or parents take and reinforces the brand.

  • Get Swimming!

    They love using simple taglines to hype up their kids. While I initially mocked this up in tri-colour it works fine in just pink.

Advertising the pool

I left Pedalheads just before the pool opened and Pedalheads hired the new agency I worked for, OK Dave, so I could help make their pool opening ads.

Working with copywriter Marcus Wreland and creative director Andrea Van Der Ree, I put together a set of ads that show how convenient the long class times and mall location are for parents. We used punchy lines that show a variety of tasks busy parents can get done during their hour off such as shopping, relaxing, or pampering themselves!

The animation is bouncy and bright, telling the story quickly to keep viewers engaged. I developed new parent characters to go along with the existing children which helped to grow their brand assets.

The static and in-person ads share the same aesthetic as the video ads but keep the messaging more simple.

There were static versions of the ads made to provide options to Pedalheads’ marketing team. Some versions of these ads were organic and others were paid to reach new audiences.

Illustration, Graphic Design, Artist, Visual Design, Visual Designer, Designer, Animation, advertising, Motion Graphics, Motion Graphic Artist, Canadian, concepting, Bus shelter ad, marketing, swimming pool, Pedalheads, Kids, Childrens branding,
Illustration, Graphic Design, Artist, Visual Design, Visual Designer, Designer, Animation, advertising, Motion Graphics, Motion Graphic Artist, Canadian, concepting, Bus shelter ad, marketing, swimming pool, Pedalheads, Kids, Childrens branding,
Illustration, Graphic Design, Artist, Visual Design, Visual Designer, Designer, Animation, advertising, Motion Graphics, Motion Graphic Artist, Canadian, concepting, Bus shelter ad, marketing, swimming pool, Pedalheads, Kids, Childrens branding,
Illustration, Graphic Design, Artist, Visual Design, Visual Designer, Designer, Animation, advertising, Motion Graphics, Motion Graphic Artist, Canadian, concepting, Bus shelter ad, marketing, British Columbia, Pedalheads, Kids, Childrens branding
Illustration, Graphic Design, Artist, Visual Design, Visual Designer, Designer, Animation, advertising, Motion Graphics, Motion Graphic Artist, Canadian, concepting, Bus shelter ad, marketing, swimming pool, Pedalheads, Kids, Childrens branding,
Illustration, Graphic Design, Artist, Visual Design, Visual Designer, Designer, Animation, advertising, Motion Graphics, Motion Graphic Artist, Canadian, concepting, Bus shelter ad, marketing, swimming pool, Pedalheads, Kids, Childrens branding,

Progression Poster

Also at OK Dave but separate from the advertisements, I designed a poster for their parent waiting area. Parents often ask when their child will advance in their lessons and it can take instructors a lot of time and effort to explain why a kid may not be ready to move up a level. The progression poster helps make things clear and efficient with a diagram of moves that each child has to be comfortable doing before they can advance. The text may look small but the poster itself is 4 x 6 feet large.

Illustration, Graphic Design, Artist, Visual Design, Visual Designer, Designer, Animation, advertising, Motion Graphics, Motion Graphic Artist, Canadian, concepting, Bus shelter ad, marketing, swimming pool, Pedalheads, Kids, Childrens branding,
Illustration, Graphic Design, Artist, Visual Design, Visual Designer, Designer, Animation, advertising, Motion Graphics, Motion Graphic Artist, Canadian, concepting, Bus shelter ad, marketing, swimming pool, Pedalheads, Kids, Childrens branding,
Illustration, Graphic Design, Artist, Visual Design, Visual Designer, Designer, Animation, advertising, Motion Graphics, Motion Graphic Artist, Canadian, concepting, Bus shelter ad, marketing, swimming pool, Pedalheads, Kids, Childrens branding,

I also made a small version of the poster that instructors could keep on their clipboards in case parents still approached them and they needed the visible aids. The text takes up a bit more space to ensure readability at this size.

Illustration, Graphic Design, Artist, Visual Design, Visual Designer, Designer, Animation, advertising, Motion Graphics, Motion Graphic Artist, Canadian, concepting, Bus shelter ad, marketing, swimming pool, Pedalheads, Kids, Childrens branding,
Illustration, Graphic Design, Artist, Visual Design, Visual Designer, Designer, Animation, advertising, Motion Graphics, Motion Graphic Artist, Canadian, concepting, Bus shelter ad, marketing, swimming pool, Pedalheads, Kids, Childrens branding,

Online Content

Back to my time in-house at Pedalheads now, I made a plethora of ads, both organic and paid. Parents need to be updated frequently with news of registration, camp changes, and company updates so Pedalheads uses their online communications often. Email newsletters are always going out and their social presence is very important to the brand. I used a combination of custom photography, graphic overlays, illustration, and animation to keep the feed engaging.

Photography, Illustrator, Graphic Design, Artist, Visual Design, In-house, Character Designer, Animation, Motion Graphics, Canadian, concepting, social media, content creation, experienced, art direction, Pedalheads, Kids, Childrens branding,

Illustrative Social Content

Photographic Social Content

Animated Social Content

Photography, Illustrator, Graphic Design, Visual Design, In-house, Email Newsletter design, Animation, Motion Graphics, Canadian, concepting, social media, content creation, experienced, art direction, Pedalheads, Kids, Childrens branding,

Email Newsletters

Pedalheads sends parents emails daily during peak season. To help combat email fatigue, I made a set of templates that keep variety in their messaging while being bright and on-brand. Some cards can be updated with fresh info and imagery, rearranged, and recoloured. There are fun graphics that can be used to separate information and shapes that can enclose important updates. Some are more simple for more junior employees to update and some are more complex to allow the marketing team some creativity.

Photography, Illustrator, Graphic Design, Visual Design, In-house, Email Newsletter design, Animation, Motion Graphics, Canadian, concepting, social media, content creation, experienced, art direction, Pedalheads, Kids, Childrens branding,
Mailchimp, Illustrator, Graphic Design, Visual Design, In-house, Email Newsletter design, Animation, Motion Graphics, Canadian, concepting, social media, content creation, experienced, art direction, Pedalheads, Kids, Childrens branding,
Email template, Illustrator, Graphic Design, Visual Design, In-house, Email Newsletter design, Animation, Motion Graphics, Canadian, concepting, social media, content creation, experienced, art direction, Pedalheads, Kids, Childrens branding,
Email template, Illustrator, Graphic Design, Visual Design, In-house, Email Newsletter design, Animation, Motion Graphics, Canadian, concepting, social media, content creation, experienced, art direction, Pedalheads, Kids, Childrens branding,

Covid-19 Impact

Pedalheads is an in-person service. Luckily they were able to run during Covid because most of their programming is outdoors which greatly reduced their transmission risk. Of course, there were lots of new rules put in place and with that comes tons of content creation.

Photography, Illustrator, Graphic Design, Artist, Visual Design, In-house, Character Designer, Animation, Motion Graphics, Canadian, concepting, social media, content creation, experienced, art direction, Pedalheads, Kids, Childrens branding, COVID
Photography, Illustrator, Graphic Design, Artist, Visual Design, In-house, Character Designer, Animation, Motion Graphics, Canadian, concepting, social media, content creation, experienced, art direction, Pedalheads, Kids, Childrens branding, poster

Instructors’ Pocketbook

Brand Guideline Update

I worked hard to steer the brand in a more bright and consistent direction which included teaching my coworkers how and when to use certain assets. There used to be a lot of word art and clip art in their internal documents and I like to think I helped make their training materials more tolerable. I think the brand looks fantastic now and, although the content has drifted since I left, it’s still much stronger than it was when I started there.

Learning Outcomes

This was the most autonomy I’ve had at a job and it was both empowering and overwhelming. I loved the freedom to make big choices without convincing creative directors and but there was no room for delay and zero support if things got busy. I worked in agencies before this and it was honestly a comparable workload which I wasn’t expecting from my first in-house role. I did eventually ask for a freelancer to help on occasion but it was during the busy moments so finding the time to brief them and teach them the brand standards was a hassle. If I did it again I would ask for the freelancer sooner so I could give them the rundown of the brand before I was in the weeds and have them on standby for when it got busy. I did learn some managerial skills from working with freelancers which was great growth for me I just wish I did it sooner.