True North is behind the new name and branding for the country’s largest ever health research programme, following a strategic pitch “involving 40 agencies.”
Our Future Health has been designed to find out as much as possible about how health changes as people age. It hopes that this will help people live healthier lives for longer by discovering and testing more effective approaches to prevention, detection and treatment.
True North was appointed to develop its brand strategy, name and visual identity.
In order to be effective, the programme will need to recruit 5m volunteers from all communities. It was this scale, plus the “newness” of the brand which presented the biggest challenge, according to Stuart Barnes, Strategy Director at True North.
“Taking part in the programme will need to become more popular than swimming. So we had to frame this as a simple collective action,” he said.
“This is a cause to which everyone can contribute something unique. And by doing so, know that they have done what they can to help their families and their communities live in good health for longer.”
Following extensive engagement with the public and stakeholders, the Manchester agency proposed Our Future Health as its new name, replacing its original tittle, Accelerating Detection of Disease.
It then developed a universal visual language, using mosaic-like patterned squares to emphasise how the project is “greater than the sum of its parts.”
“It serves as stylised representations of people, DNA and patterns of disease. The graphic tiles tessellate, interact and overlay onto black-and-white hero imagery of a diverse mix of individuals, becoming pieces of a much bigger puzzle,” added Creative Director Steve Royle.
Our Future Health’s Chief Communications Officer, Michael Warren explained:
“Our Future Health will be the UK’s largest ever health research programme and has the potential to transform the way we tackle serious diseases. Our brand reflects our ambition to bring together people from all backgrounds and communities across the UK to create community of volunteers that truly reflects the whole of the population.”
