MAAP Brand Guidelines: Form + Function

MAAP brought design to the peloton.

MAAP is a lesson in design-forward performance. Founded in 2014 by Oliver Cousins and Jarrad Smith in Melbourne, the independent brand set out to make premium road-cycling apparel that balances aesthetics and technical detail — “riding makes everything better.”

Its brand identity is modern, premium and design-forward — bold, contemporary colour-blocking across race kit and an off-bike lifestyle range, backed by real performance credentials: MAAP became a WorldTour apparel partner in 2025 (the Jayco AlUla / Liv AlUla Jayco teams) and runs a documented recycled-fabric program.

(Honest notes: the founders are long-time friends and industry colleagues — not brothers-in-law. The name isn’t an official acronym (loosely rooted in “Melbourne Apparel”). LTP Group is a manufacturing partner, not an owner. And there’s no official brand hex, so the colours here are an unofficial interpretation.)

MAAP lives in a bold, modern palette. Click a swatch to copy the hex.

MAAP’s identity is bold, modern and graphic — an ink, a bold blue, a sunset orange, a steel, and a cream. The palette leans on a bold blue with a sunset orange on ink — the register of contemporary colour-blocking and confident race kit. It signals design, performance and modernity rather than tradition. The honest caveat: with no published brand hex, these tones are an original, unofficial interpretation, not first-party values.

The lesson is bold, blocked colour signals design-forward performance. MAAP’s world is a modern race kit. For designers, it is a reminder that a bold blue and a sunset orange on ink read as contemporary and confident — right for a brand that put design at the front of cycling. The takeaways: use bold, blocked colour; keep it modern; and treat any single hex as unofficial — using ink for small text so the brights stay bold.

The register is a modern grotesque — clean and confident.

MAAP’s identity carries a modern, confident, design-led spirit — bold colour and technical detail. A clean modern grotesque captures the mood: it is confident and contemporary, the register of a design-forward performance brand. Set in a bold palette, the modern grotesque feels clean and confident — exactly the personality MAAP carries. It is contemporary rather than traditional, mirroring bold race kit. (MAAP’s real wordmark is a trademark we describe but do not reproduce, and the exact brand typeface is not ours to use.) Because the mark is not ours to use, the honest description is “a modern grotesque spirit,” shown here in a stand-in. The type behaves like the brand: modern, confident and design-led.

MAAP stands for design-forward cycling.

MAAP is a lesson in making design the identity. A bold, modern palette, form-plus-function kit and WorldTour credentials make design-forward performance the whole brand — contemporary, premium, capable. The design is the differentiator. The differentiator is a bold, modern, design-forward identity.

For designers and brand-builders, MAAP offers a clear takeaway: design can lead a performance brand. The lessons: put aesthetics and function on equal footing; prove it at the top (WorldTour); and extend into lifestyle. It is also a reminder to stay accurate: the founders aren’t brothers-in-law, the name isn’t a formal acronym, and the palette here is an unofficial interpretation. MAAP made design the brand — proof that design can be the difference.

Keep MAAP’s identity on hand — save it to a board in the Made Good inspiration library.