Polar Collective is an open community of individuals who gather to explore the benefits of cold water dipping. Formerly the IceWomen of New Jersey, the community sought out a new identity that reflected their expanded offerings and their inclusivity. Along with a logo and style guide, a series of social graphics were created to engage with members and promote meet-ups and events.
"For me, this is more than a logo, it is a symbol of my practice and why I am so drawn to the cold.
To sit in cold water means sitting in discomfort, feeling all the pain, accepting it, breathing through it, and knowing that you will survive. To do this, you must first let go of the outer world. There’s no room for distractions here - no room for to do lists or that hamster wheel of thoughts. When we submerge into cold water we must sink into our inner world. In the stillness we can listen to our deepest self, the one that knows, the one that is connected to the natural world, and the one that can guide us into our unconscious and find what we are truly looking for. It is a quest for balance, using the elements as our guide.
The name polar is yes, a nod to the cold, but it is also an expression of our duality, polar opposites - the hot and the cold, the love and loss, the joy, the trauma, birth and death. We are all of this. We are Polar Collective."
To sit in cold water means sitting in discomfort, feeling all the pain, accepting it, breathing through it, and knowing that you will survive. To do this, you must first let go of the outer world. There’s no room for distractions here - no room for to do lists or that hamster wheel of thoughts. When we submerge into cold water we must sink into our inner world. In the stillness we can listen to our deepest self, the one that knows, the one that is connected to the natural world, and the one that can guide us into our unconscious and find what we are truly looking for. It is a quest for balance, using the elements as our guide.
The name polar is yes, a nod to the cold, but it is also an expression of our duality, polar opposites - the hot and the cold, the love and loss, the joy, the trauma, birth and death. We are all of this. We are Polar Collective."
-Abby Schmidt, founder of Polar Collective
Client: Polar Collective
Services: Branding, Art Direction, and Social Media Strategy
Community images provided by Abby Schmidt and Meghan Moses
Background photography sourced from Unsplash. Photographers include, but are not limited to, Ryunosuke Kikuno, Aniket Bhattacharyaa, Jack B, Dustin Baker, Daniel Seßler, Ryan Loughlin, Kristaps Ungurs, Deborah Diem, Neora Aylon, Milan Degraeve, Stuart Guest-Smith, Luka Verč, Ian Keefe
Background photography sourced from Unsplash. Photographers include, but are not limited to, Ryunosuke Kikuno, Aniket Bhattacharyaa, Jack B, Dustin Baker, Daniel Seßler, Ryan Loughlin, Kristaps Ungurs, Deborah Diem, Neora Aylon, Milan Degraeve, Stuart Guest-Smith, Luka Verč, Ian Keefe
