Logo and Brand Identity for a Public Health Program in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Connect's ultimate goal is to reduce disease, decrease health disparities, and to close Tulsa's life expectancy gap. The program is a free support resource that tailors custom plans to qualifying North Tulsans.
My job was to create a unique, relatable, and distinctive identity that would establish trust and enable Connect workers to nurture relationships with potential clients.
By establishing trust, Connect can break through the typical apprehensions and cynicism their potential clients have with community resources.
Challenge
Working within many constraints while creating a brand strategy and identity that would be effective within a cynical and competitive market.
Outcome
I helped Connect develop a brand strategy, identity system, and basic messaging that is consistent with the brand’s values. This resulted in Connect transforming from a brand new program with nothing more than a list of goals and objectives, to a full-on brand with the potential to change someone's life.
Scope of Project
Brand Strategy
Identity System Design
Messaging
“Connect provides an individualized link to community resources for North Tulsans in a neighborly and inspiring way while helping them feel empowered and healthy.”
— Connect’s Internal Positioning Statement
Who, what, when, where, how and why? Developing a brand starts with strategy.
Connect was a brand new program, so we were starting from square one. Our kick-off meeting taught me the basics of the program. We talked about the goals, desires, and pain points of the program and the program's users. Then, we had a strategy and discovery session using my brand strategy framework. This helped us define and clarify all the core brand elements a business needs to succeed. We developed a mission, vision, values, ideal clients, brand attributes, positioning, brand personality/archetype, tag line and a basic messaging kit.
The importance of community was a common theme in focus group results. Connectedness, friends, family, and being a Tulsan were inspiration for establishing Connect's brand personality.
The Connect program doesn't have convenient access to creative services, so I thought it would be useful to define a brand archetype—a tool that describes the brand personality in a way that is relatable and easy to understand. This archetype empowers the Connect workers to embody the brand without the need of marketing "experts" or an overblown brand guide.
Connect's brand archetype mix of Everyman/Sage combines the expertise to teach, guide, and mentor with the familiarity and charm of a native Tulsan.
Who is this brand for? More importantly, who is this brand NOT for?
The discovery and strategy session helped us to define the psychographics (values, opinions, attitudes, interests, and lifestyles) of Connect's potential clients. This information can be game-changing for Connect's workers to have when attempting to build trust with clients.
Clients must meet several qualifications to be eligible for Connect services. This means that many of the demographics are predetermined. So, we decided to focus on the psychographics of qualifying clients. For example, Connect's ideal client feels like they're carrying the weight of the world. They work hard but can never seem to get ahead. Despite being overwhelmed, they still want the best for their family and community.
How do we want people to perceive the brand?
Connect's positioning can best be described as Approachable Hope.
The program's potential clients were skeptical and cynical toward new services in their area. Focus group data told us that, on average, North Tulsa residents perceived Mid and South Tulsa to have better healthcare. This perception was due to Mid and South Tulsa having highly reputable hospital systems. Fortunately, Connect was started by one of these reputable hospital systems that North Tulsa residents already trusted. The “social proof” immediately differentiated Connect from other services and allowed potential clients to lower their guard.
Connect’s services are also different from similar programs because they provide completely custom and individualized solutions for their clients. There is no one-size-fits-all approach.
Designing a logo and branding is a lot easier with a solid strategic foundation.
The insights we gained from the strategy and discovery session also inspired Connect’s identity system. Through a collaborative process, we were able to narrow down the visual style into a single direction.
The identity system included a logo, a color palette, typography, and established a basic visual style inspired by the many types of "connections" made by the program. Not only is Connect connected to a trusted hospital, but they also connect their clients to the services they need.
The Connect logo is a simple word mark set in a thick script. Every letter is connected. The C is customized with a loop to add some flair and to give the mark an extra touch of distinctiveness.
Extending the logo’s strokes to run off the page created opportunities to further the “connected” concept and added some playful flexibility to the logo.
When it came time to establish a color palette and photography style, we again decided to keep it local.
Connect’s color palette softens the colors from Tulsa’s new flag, then adds two very strong colors for distinctiveness—Cool Mint and Saint Pink. Photography was directed to include scenes and backgrounds of Tulsa. Preferably, portraits were to be actual Connect clients.
A brand messaging kit is an easy way to know what the brand should say and how the brand should say it.
With the new brand archetype established, I created a simple messaging kit that would compliment Connect’s new identity. The kit included: Mission, vision, values, tagline, anthem, internal positioning statement, differentiation statement.
“Connect is the only community resource that offers an individualized plan to a limited number of North Tulsans who want to reclaim their health and happiness in a time when bootstrapping isn't always enough.”
— Connect’s Differentiation Statement
