Tough Mudder

The Toughest Event on the Planet

Visual Identity
Brand System
Web Design
Marketing Assets
Graphic Design
Actual photo from a Tough Mudder event.

Tough Mudder's Vision

Tough Mudder wanted to be 'The Toughest Event on the Planet'. They had an idea for an intense mud run with obstacles engineered by British Special Forces to push humans to their physical and mental limits. However, the real secret to their success was the fostering of a community of like-minded adrenaline junkies and weekend warriors. At its core, Tough Mudder was about camaraderie.

Tough Mudder Branding

When we started working with Tough Mudder late 2009, the founders, Will & Guy, were two recent Harvard grads with a great idea and plenty of drive. To get the company off the ground, Condensed first developed their branding, including the now iconic running man logo, which has been tattooed on countless biceps. We also developed their online presence and were their agency of record for their formative years.

For the logo illustration, we spent a lot of time figuring out what the perfect ‘mudder’ should be. He had to have an ‘every-man’ quality and look like he was in the middle of a long run. Finishing touches include military cargo pants and boots which tie in with Tough Mudder's ongoing fundraising efforts for the Wounded Warrior Project.We used a condensed font for TOUGH and a slightly extended font for MUDDER. The result is a seamless powerful look emphasizing the word TOUGH.
Tough Mudder’s logo has been applied in every way imaginable; from bumper stickers to business presentations, but the greatest compliment anyone has given our logo is getting it tattooed on their body; thousands of men and women have gotten inked.
The Tough Mudder website is the culmination of many hours of our design team listening to the Rocky soundtrack and 80s hair bands.
The creative director for Tough Mudder came to us with a piece of paper scribbled full of ideas for engaging with first-time visitors to the site. We chose the one we thought would have the most impact: an online quiz that shows if you're tough enough for Tough Mudder. We developed the concept, designed and programmed it, and also added custom reporting features and facebook integration.The quiz was insanely successful, it has been taken by over a million people to date and gained Tough Mudder over 700K opt-in email addresses for their mailing list.

The Results

In our 4 years of working with Tough Mudder we helped them grow from a grad student thesis project, to a global phenomenon with over $200 million in annual revenue.

"We decided to work with Condensed having been impressed by their initial proposal, as they had clearly invested much time and thought into understanding our needs and requirements. We needed a team with a creative graphic design background and strong technical skills who could create a visually exciting brand which would appeal to our specific target demographics. Although we were working to a tight schedule, we were impressed by the flexibility that Condensed showed in incorporating our last minute changes and amends efficiently and with good humor, and also by the wise and considered approach they took to dealing with our, at times unworkable, suggestions. They are a top team and very easy to work with. Top marks."

Guy Livingstone – Co-Founder Tough Mudder