TURN®’s sporty identity by Albert Villegas and Sergio Lairisa takes pilates in a fresh direction

When developing the identity for TURN®, a nomadic high-performance studio that uses the Pilates technique to achieve performance-driven results, Albert Villegas and Sergio Lairisa noticed that the same colours, typography, and tone kept cropping up in the world of Pilates. It’s true, pilates is everywhere right now, but, just because a fitness movement is ‘trendy’ doesn’t mean its look has to be so too. Like founder Sandra Llovera, Villegas and Lairisa were keen to break away from the usual aesthetic. “Pilates has traditionally been marketed to a predominantly female audience, and we wanted to challenge that stereotype,” says Lairisa. “It’s a demanding sport, requiring significant physical effort, and we realised that wasn’t being reflected in the visual language.” TURN® is targeted towards elite athletes, so its responding visual identity steps away from convention. The typography, for example, is bold and impactful. Optimo Type Foundry’s Plain, “which conveys strength and rigidity,” is paired with Maxitype’s monospace typeface, OCR-X, “which adds a technical, precise feel.”