Walter Lynch

Spec project — animated brand identity

RIFT — a sneaker brand that moves before you do

A self-initiated identity for a fictional street-running label: logo, palette, motion and a poster campaign, designed as one system.

RIFTSAME GROUND · NEW ANGLES

RIFT is a fictional brand created as a portfolio spec project.

The product

The mark, on the shoe

RIFT running sneaker in black knit with orange and cobalt split-lightning mark and lime outsole

Colour

Five colours, three of them loud

Volt Orange

#FF5A1F

Cobalt

#1F4BFF

Acid Lime

#D4FF2A

Night Ink

#0B0B0D

Court Paper

#F4F1EA

Campaign

Out on the street

Three RIFT wheatpaste posters in orange, cobalt and lime on a concrete wall at night

Process

How RIFT was built

  1. 01

    The idea

    RIFT is built on one thought: the same street, run from a new angle. The mark splits a lightning bolt into two shards that don't quite meet — motion caught mid-step.

  2. 02

    The mark

    Two parallelograms, one rotated 180° from the other. Simple enough to mould into a rubber heel tab, sharp enough to read at app-icon size.

  3. 03

    The colour

    Three loud colours on near-black. Orange for heat, cobalt for speed, lime for the night run. Any one of them can carry the brand alone.

  4. 04

    The motion

    The shards fly in from opposite corners, collide with a lime flash and a shockwave ring, then the wordmark slams in letter by letter.

  5. 05

    The campaign

    Wheatpaste posters, one colour per drop. The logo animation becomes the opener for every social clip and in-store screen.

Build a brand like this See logo animation