Type 1 Diabetes Grand Challenge
| BRANDING | LOGO | GUIDELINES | TEMPLATES |
“Claire and her team at West9 Design worked with multiple partners to develop a new and distinct brand for the high-profile Type 1 Diabetes Grand Challenge partnership. The new brand successfully conveys the partnership’s spirit and ambition, elevating it beyond the day-to-day work of each three partners.”
Client
The Type 1 Diabetes Grand Challenge is a collaborative venture between Diabetes UK, international diabetes charity JDRF and the Steve Morgan Foundation. The initiative was designed to bring the best researchers together to develop new treatments for those living with type 1 diabetes. A game-changing donation of £50m from the Steve Morgan Foundation enabled the acceleration of the advancement of research in this area.
Jemma Sullivan, Head of Brand at Diabetes UK, found me through an ex-work colleague and invited me to put together a proposal for a full branding project for the Grand Challenge. The brand needed to sit separately from the individual charities and speak directly to the academics the Grand Challenge was looking to bring on board. The aim was to encourage researchers to apply for funding and collaborate in the Grand Challenge with a view to moving closer towards a cure for type 1 diabetes.
Brief
The partnership required a new brand identity for the Type 1 Diabetes Grand Challenge. The brief included the need for a full brand identity and guidance, initially for use to build the accompanying website and then across all marketing materials and comms touchpoints. As well as a detailed set of guidelines in place for the web design team they had lined up to create the new website, the stakeholders wanted a full brand strategy to help them get clarity on their values and mission for the initiative.
There was an urgency to the project because the web design was booked to start in the autumn and the designers needed the brand guidelines to work around. Given the scope of the project and the tight timeline, I pulled a team together to ensure I could meet the full brief in time and my proposal was accepted. I managed the project and led on design with assistance from Tim Bond. Richard Excell (an experienced brand strategist) facilitated the brand strategy workshop and report.
Creative
We kicked off the process with the brand strategy workshop with a group of key stakeholders from Diabetes UK and JDRF. We explored the key elements of the brand strategy, looking more closely at the vision, mission and values of the initiative.
The workshop then formed the basis of a brand strategy report from Richard which informed the intro section of the brand guidelines and the findings from the workshop helped define the brief for the visual design.
With the fundamentals in place, we got working on the creative. Tim assisted at this creative concept stage and we finessed two design routes which I presented to the stakeholders. They chose a concept based around the triangular relationship between the charities, the Steve Morgan Foundation and researchers, which had been first mentioned when the Grand Challenge was originally launched.
The shape involved dots to represent the separate parties, the D for diabetes and connection illustrated by the triangles which worked together to form a fast-forward sign. The overall effect is one of acceleration, demonstrating how the £50m donation from the Steve Morgan Foundation has the power to increase the pace of research and ultimately bring us closer to a final cure for type 1 diabetes.
These elements combined with a powerful colour gradient which included blue (for the charities) and red (for the Steve Morgan Foundation) blending into a positive pink to demonstrate the innovative and hopeful nature of the Grand Challenge. The look is bold and clean, sufficiently serious to appeal to the audience of academics but also exciting and strong.
Lucy and the team went away with a comprehensive brand guidelines document including outlines of ‘who we are’ and ‘how we communicate’, brand assets and brand in action examples showing what the visuals look like in context. The brand toolkit I created included logos, favicons, icons and templates for the e-newsletter, letterhead, PowerPoint presentations and social media graphics.
I was also able to advise the web design team, giving feedback to ensure consistency of brand and supplying images which sat within the framework of the triangular imagery we created for the guidelines.
Impact
The branding was completed in time for the web development project and the website is now live.
I have since helped Lucy with further branded templates, including Word documents for use in internal reporting.
“Claire and her team were a pleasure to work with at each stage of the brand process – from discovery to creative to delivery – and our fantastic new brand and assets demonstrate their expertise and professionalism.”
