case history: tennis to the max

case history: tennis to the max

How to communicate the energy and depth of what Tina Greenbaum and Fred Sperber do with their tennis players?  Their venture, Tennis to the Max, capitalizes on Tina's psychology background and Fred's tennis career to focus students on their mental game.  The psychology of what happens on the tennis court, especially when the stakes are high, is an issue much discussed by players, but rarely addressed specifically and rigorously by tennis coaches.  It is a kind of shadow game, what players think and the impact that has on the game, and this image of shadows was what gave us the clue to finding Tina and Fred's Visual Voice.

We began with a logo design, text only since imagery was to come, and played with a somewhat heroic stance, the shadows strong and the letters popping off the page.  It seemed to capture both the energy of the game and that unspoken psychological aspects on which Tennis to the Max focuses.  Wide white tennis court stripes informed our thinking as well.

As we focused on web design, color required our first attentions.  Looking at local tennis courts, remembering courts from our past, and pulling imagery from the web, we were surprised by the range of colors they come in.  More than we expected, but less than a dozen in any case: just right for a palette to serve our purposes.

A web search was sufficient to find our imagery, the stock photo shops full of high quality material.  We rotated the photos to create dynamic diagonals, and cropped out the player's faces to focus on their shadows, creating finally a host of website headers in addition to the printed pieces.

Here's what our client thought:

"Roel, and his partner Polly are a remarkable duet. I hired them to build a creative website for me and they really delivered (www.tennistothemax.com). What I loved about working with them is they were one-stop shopping. From concept, to copy writing, to technical savvy, they were there to hold my hand and walk me through a very complicated process. I truly felt "they had my back." I would highly recommend imagine RED to anyone wanting a superior product."