Equestrian Center ZduchoviceWhere flying on a horse is possible.

Equestrian Center Zduchovice — project image

At a glance

Design thinking
One minimalist horse could stand for sport, breeding and the lodge and still look modern, so the C only suggests its head.
Problem
Top-level sport asks for a modern look, the breeding and the lodge for warmth. One identity had to hold all three.
Approach
We agreed the brand keywords with the client first, then drew and redrew the monogram by hand.
Outcome
One identity runs from the arena gate to the website. Sixteen mark variants cover any new competition series.
Role
Lucie as the only design and project lead, working directly with the client.
What we designed
  • Positioning
  • Logo design
  • Visual identity
  • Signage / Environmental
  • Merchandise
  • Website design
Platforms
  • Arena and gates
  • Merchandise
  • Social media
  • Website
A dark green ECZ billboard on a city street asking “Are you the next star?” beside a show jumper framed by stars and an aerial view of the grounds.

The keywords decided the mark before it was drawn.

Nine words went on the board with the client. Sport and team, human touch and nature were chosen to lead, and heritage and innovation to support. A minimalist horse followed from that order.

Nine brand keywords on dark green, with sport and team, human touch and nature highlighted as the core three.

The monogram was redrawn by hand until the C suggested a horse and still read as a letter.

Each round tested how far the C could suggest a horse before it stopped reading as a letter, and how the wordmark should sit beside it.

Three versions of the ECZ monogram with the Zduchovice equestrian center wordmark in gold on dark green.

The decision

The client chose the hand-drawn mark for the horse’s head in its curve.

The client singled out that head as the part that felt most like the centre. The symbol and the pattern were then built from it.

The C suggests a horse’s head without drawing one, so the mark stays minimal.

ECZ was chosen for its clarity and sound. The star above the C returns in the claim “Are you the next star?”

The final ECZ logotype in gold on dark green: the monogram with a star above the C, “2004” and “Equestrian Center Zduchovice”.

One curve, repeated until it became a pattern.

The symbol takes the horse’s head and star from the C. Repeated, it becomes a pattern in the dark green, sand and mint of the palette.

The ECZ horse-head symbol with a four-pointed star, shown on sand, dark green and pale mint tiles.
The symbol on sand, dark green and mint.
A repeating pattern of small horse-head symbols and stars on dark green, one symbol in gold, above the line “Are you the next star?”.
The pattern, with the claim in the brand typeface.

Each horse was drawn in detail, then cut back until the silhouette read at a glance.

Every round removed lines and sharpened the rest. The curves were tuned to feel fast but controlled, and a star above the head links each horse to the logotype.

Two rows of three cream horse drawings on dark green, a head and a jumping horse, with circles marking the parts reworked in each round. The last drawing in each row has a star above it.
Two horses, each redrawn in three rounds.
A grid of twelve tiles in gold, dark green and cream showing four horse marks: a head with a star, a jumping horse with a star, and two striped abstract heads.
The marks on gold, dark green and cream.
On cream, the curved shape of the horse’s head in dark green with a four-pointed star above it, both marked with construction circles.
The star sits above the curve of the head.

Each competition series gets its own horse mark, so a new series never needs a new logo.

A checkerboard of sixteen horse marks in dark green, gold and cream, each with a small star.
Sixteen variants of the same horse.
A grid of ECZ Instagram posts announcing competitions such as Z-Riders Tour and Channel Star, with rider photos and dark green and sand panels.
Z-Riders Tour and Channel Star posts, each with its mark.

The identity carries from the arena gate to T-shirts.

Flat designs for the ECZ competition gate and a winner’s stand in dark green with the gold mark.
Gate and winner’s stand designs, at arena scale.
Four ECZ T-shirts on a wire grid: black shirts with the gold monogram and wordmark, a white European Championship Zduchovice 2025 shirt, and a white shirt covered in the symbol pattern.
The monogram on black, the pattern on white.
An isometric 3D map of the equestrian centre with arenas, stables and labelled buildings.
A 3D map so a first-time visitor can find the arenas and the stables.

The centre sits in open country, and its main arena is built for international shows.

An aerial photo of the equestrian centre at dawn: arenas, stables and halls among green fields, with mist over the hills behind.
The grounds from the air. Photograph: ECZ.
A rider in a black jacket clears an oxer on a bay horse, with national flags and trees behind the arena.
A round at the CSI2* show. Photograph: ECZ.

Each activity gets its own section, so nobody reads past the sport to find the lodge.

The European Jumping Championship 2025 gets a page of its own, with a countdown and programme.

The Equestrian Center Zduchovice website: a homepage over an aerial photo of the grounds, and a European Jumping Championship page with a countdown and programme.
A scroll through the Equestrian Center Zduchovice homepage, from an aerial photo of the grounds under the centre’s name to the activities, the surroundings, the lodge, the site plan and the community photographs.

The homepage gives a whole section to the people who come to the shows.

It uses the centre’s own photographs: young fans at the rail, riders on the podium, a course walk and champagne after a class.

Young fans in red caps wave Belgian flags and film on their phones at the white arena rail.
Three riders with trophies and pale blue CSI2* Zduchovice sashes stand on the podium, horses and green hills behind them.
A rider in a green jacket walks the course on the sand arena beside a man in a green vest.
Three young riders in sashes spray each other with sparkling wine after a class, laughing.

Next project

Nij ClinicsA calmer fertility clinic website for visitors who arrive anxious.

Nij Clinics — project image

More work

All projects →