Gym & Tonic
A members-capped strength club that hadn't opened its doors yet — and needed a site that felt as selective as the membership.
Client
Gym & Tonic
Category
Fitness Brand
Timeline
15 Days
Services
Web Design, Art Direction
Gym & Tonic came to us three months before opening, with a waitlist running entirely on Instagram DMs and a founder who kept describing the club in the same four words: strength, conditioning, recovery, mobility. They didn't want a typical bright, mirror-selfie gym site — they wanted something that read as considered as the membership cap itself. The brief was blunt: “make it feel like you can't just walk in.”
Three decisions that shaped the site.
A duotone system, not a bright one
Most boutique gym sites lean bright and crowded — sunlit floors, big smiling groups. We went black and acid-lime instead, running every photograph through the same duotone treatment, because a members-capped club should look considered, not open to everyone.
A floor plan, not a feature grid
Instead of a four-icon amenities grid, the 'Method' became a numbered list that mirrors how the founders actually pitch the club in person, and the five training rooms became a horizontal filmstrip you scroll through — closer to walking the floor than browsing a catalogue.
Coached, not counted
Trainer bios run as an editorial list — a name, a specialty, and a circular photo that zooms on hover — instead of a wall of headshot cards. It reads like a small coached roster, which is what the club actually is, not a generic staff directory.
Brief to soft-launch.
15 Days
Start to soft-launch
Days 1–3
Discovery
Audited the Instagram waitlist messaging and founder interviews; landed on the four pillars — Load, Recover, Refuel, Repeat — that became the site's spine.
Days 4–7
Design System
Built the black/acid-lime duotone system and paired condensed display type with an italic serif — deliberately distinct from the pastel wellness look most boutique gyms default to.
Days 8–13
Build
Built the marquee, the room filmstrip, the trainer rows and the count-up stat band, then wired the founding-membership enquiry form.
Days 14–15
Review & Soft Launch
Two rounds of revisions with the founders, copy tightened line by line, soft-launched to the existing waitlist.
What the site actually did.
Soft-launched privately to the existing waitlist before the club's doors opened.
Founding memberships, capped
To fill the founding cohort
Of enquiries came from mobile
Average time on site