NEVER
Brand Identity & Creative Direction
NEVER is a Melbourne-based clothing brand offering both performance and lifestyle running apparel. Conceived as more than a fashion label, it needed to act as a lifestyle platform that resonated deeply with a rapidly emerging local audience embracing movement, energy, and identity. Think youthful exuberance, cultural and athletic diversity, creativity and expression at its core – imagine a running community akin to the crowd at a warehouse rave.
The creative vision was to build a visual and strategic system that felt both minimal yet maximal, emotionally charged, culturally relevant yet not trend-bound, and versatile enough to scale across product, campaign and digital touchpoints, all while being proudly Melbournian.
Apparel
Art Direction
Brand Identity
Brand System
Creative Direction
Digital
Packaging
Strategy
ADDITIONAL PROJECT CREDITS
Fergus Brown (Designer & Technical Product Development)
Saskia Lloyd (Junior Designer)
Riley Wolff (Digital Photography)
NEVER set out to establish a new voice in athletic apparel that moves beyond conventional sport branding. Rather than leaning on familiar cues of comfort, performance, or heritage, the brand needed to communicate edge, experimentation and a community-driven energy – one that could speak to lifestyle runners as much as it could to elite athletes. The challenge was to craft a visual identity with attitude and performance credibility in a growing running apparel landscape.
The identity embraces a brutalist and experimental visual language rooted in architecture, movement, and scientific references. Logotype treatment utilises bold, block-like forms, extending into holding shapes, patterns and abstract brand graphic systems. A vivid, digital-first colour palette riffs from classic junior athletics ribbon colours, while pared back typography ensures that copy is presented with clarity even within complex compositions. Supporting imagery draws from scientific imaging techniques, bringing together a system that is coherent yet ultra-flexible, dynamic but structured.
NEVER’s launch of their debut cut-and-sew collection in A/W 2025 presented a culturally aware, visually contemporary brand with a clear Melbourne personality, and a strong foundation for growth. The system spans apparel, campaign visuals, print collateral, digital formats, and product packaging, each unified through a shared visual language. The flexibility of the identity system gives NEVER creative freedom to maintain a distinctive voice, grow their seasonal collections, and draw a strong community around the brand amongst an ever-growing running apparel market.
The identity embraces a brutalist and experimental visual language rooted in architecture, movement, and scientific references. Logotype treatment utilises bold, block-like forms, extending into holding shapes, patterns and abstract brand graphic systems. A vivid, digital-first colour palette riffs from classic junior athletics ribbon colours, while pared back typography ensures that copy is presented with clarity even within complex compositions. Supporting imagery draws from scientific imaging techniques, bringing together a system that is coherent yet ultra-flexible, dynamic but structured.
NEVER’s launch of their debut cut-and-sew collection in A/W 2025 presented a culturally aware, visually contemporary brand with a clear Melbourne personality, and a strong foundation for growth. The system spans apparel, campaign visuals, print collateral, digital formats, and product packaging, each unified through a shared visual language. The flexibility of the identity system gives NEVER creative freedom to maintain a distinctive voice, grow their seasonal collections, and draw a strong community around the brand amongst an ever-growing running apparel market.