Pentagram Creates Identity for Sports Supplement, ‘HOTSHOT’

admin June 20, 2016 Categories: Health & Beauty, Sports

Pentagram Creates Identity for Sports Supplement, ‘HOTSHOT’

Pentagram’s Daniel Weil and Michael Bierut have collaborated on the design of the brand identity and packaging for HOTSHOT, a new sports drink that is claimed to prevent and treat muscle cramps.

The supplement was invented by Dr. Rod MacKinnon, MD, a Nobel Prize-winning neuroscientist and endurance athlete, in collaboration with Bruce Bean, PhD, a neurobiology professor at Harvard Medical School. MacKinnon used his expertise to identify natural ingredients that enhance Neuro Muscular Performance (NMP) by targeting a specific set of neurons called TRP ion channels.

Drinking HOTSHOT before and after exercise is claimed to boost an athlete’s NMP to stop cramps.

The identity designed by Bierut and his team led by Aron Fay centres around a wordmark which treats the name as a palindrome hinging on the central “S”.

Set in Torque font, designed by Type Supply, the logotype features an inline that the designers say alludes to the nervous system. In terms of colour, the word “HOT” is set off in a bright red as reference to both pain and medicine, as well as the supposed ‘peppery’ taste of the shot.

On canisters, the name is stacked, with the word’s orientation flipped at the central “S” between “HOT” and “SHOT” so it can be read both ways. The team also designed a visual language for the brand, including custom icons that represent the things HOTSHOT does, like treat, prevent and recover.

The small bottle designed by Daniel Weil packages HOTSHOT in a canister-like shape. The molded cap features the “S” at its centre. The team also designed 12-packs that open up to double as point-of-purchase displays and shipping crates that wrap the wordmark around the entire box.