5 Things I Like About this New Uncommon Practice Pilates Brand

This week we launched a new brand for Denver Pilates studio Uncommon Practice Pilates, and I dig it most of all because Emily, the owner, says that her students are telling her that “it’s so us.”

To me, that’s the Kind & Funny magic that comes from focusing intently on brand strategy first when doing any kind of design—marketing and messaging is always better when you think in-depth about who you are, who your audience is, and how to best show up and communicate with them.

We got to build this website on the incredibly strong foundation of Emily’s vision for her business and for her Pilates community, and it was a blast to do that with her.

Here are 5 things I like about this rebrand:

1. Emily

Emily’s story of how she came to Pilates in search of healing for chronic back pain is inspiring on its own, but the way she has translated her experience into a mission to make movement more accessible as studio owner of Uncommon Practice takes it to another level. Emily’s ethos is that Pilates workouts can be adjusted for any student so that they can find more strength, balance, and flexibility that will benefit them in other parts of life.

It’s far from the way Pilates often gets presented, as a tortuous workout for people in peak physical condition:

This sketch came out after we’d started working on the brand, and it was such perfect timing because we were already working against a lot of these, and we didn’t feel worried at all because the Uncommon Practice Pilates studio is the complete opposite experience.

2. Pilates

I learned through this process that there is clearly a reason so many PTs recommend Uncommon Practice Pilates for their patients.

I’ve been improving from back pain for several years now. Changing how I lifted weights helped, not golfing too much helped, and not sitting at a desk all day has helped a lot. In only one class, the way that Pilates uses resistance and movement helped me SO MUCH. It was like it pointed out to my brain all the little muscle imbalances I have from things like sitting and baseball and rock climbing, and as I keep paying attention to those while stretching and working out and standing, my balance and posture gets better.

Now that the brand is launched, Kel and I are going to do some intro classes at Uncommon Practice where we learn how to adjust movements for our respective injury histories and personal goals so that we get the most out of classes. It honestly is a fun, challenging, supportive, healing workout, and I was pleasantly surprised to find out how much I like it!

3. The Movement on the Website

The visuals on the website were all Kelly, and I think she nailed it. She wanted to have people moving so that the site was vibrant, and to show that classes at Uncommon Practice are intended to have a real impact on the way you move in your life. It was also important that people were not always symmetrical or in sync, which is something you see if you Google Pilates and look at five different studios, because symmetry and one-size-fits-all is not the vibe at Uncommon Practice.

Using colorful lines and gifs is a tactic that softens the admittedly intimidating Reformer machines, and makes the sense of movement fun, playful, and spontaneous. Kel does a lot of iterations in her initial design concept work, and this was definitely one of the eureka moments when you know it’s right exactly when you see it.

4. The “Why We Love Pilates” Page

Sometimes a look and feel is enough to appeal to your target audience, and that’s awesome if it can, but Emily has a passion for reaching people who are in pain and wouldn’t normally turn to Pilates, so we decided that we would build a welcoming educational page to provide a bit more information for anyone who is on the fence.

We presented that information through the lens of the emotional connection that Emily, her instructors, and her student community have for Pilates, as well as the range of personal reasons that people come to the studio. Any terminology is explained casually in order to make it less intimidating, the images aren’t staged to show perfection, and the package choices make it easy to take your next step.

If Uncommon Practice were intended only for high-performance athletes, we would have a different page here. But since it is for anyone who wants to feel better in their body, inclusivity was the direction, and I like that.

5. The blog

It is no secret that advertisers use babies and dogs to generate positive associations to a brand. Kind & Funny is not above this behavior. In fact, we embrace it.

Kelly is a master at using dog gifs to support a call to action (scroll to the bottom here and here), and this site gave her the first opportunity to put a baby front and center on the blog. Little Henry looking happy in the Pilates studio is a beautiful touch that conveys the warmth of the family business, the lack of pretension that you’ll get walking into the Uncommon Practice Pilates studio for a workout, and the joy of being in that studio surrounded by a supportive community.

If you’re thinking about trying Pilates now, I think you should, and I think if you’re in Denver you should try Uncommon Practice.

Do you need a new brand from Kind & Funny? Do you like Pilates too? jed@kindandfunny.com.