PS&Co Brand Studio rebranded Grey Bruce with a vision for a unified healthcare system

Context

The integrated multi-site acute care public hospital organization, formerly known as Grey Bruce Health Services, annually serves over 2 million patients. With significant growth anticipated in the Grey and Bruce counties over the next decade and a new hospital scheduled to open in Fall 2023, the organization retained our team for a complete branding overhaul. Despite its modern facilities and forward-thinking approach, the hospital was perceived as disjointed and rural, which hindered its ability to secure funding and grants. One of the major aims of the rebranding was to address this perception, ensuring a cohesive and connected healthcare system.

Design Methodology

Through a workshop organized in collaboration with the hospital, we helped them refine their vision, mission and values to align with their new strategic plan. The next step was to select a new name that would reflect the organization’s vision for the future and present it as a unified system. After discussions with stakeholders, educating them on the importance of a new name, “Brightshores Health System” was selected. 

Throughout our engagement sessions, everyone we talked with agreed that a new, more inclusive visual representation of the community was desperately needed. So a key part of our task was to develop a logo system that would be extremely simple given the range of places and mediums in which it needed to appear, while at the same time telling the story of brighter tomorrows. For the colour palette, we started with their existing blue as it had already been implemented via their wayfinding strategy, adding warm tones for a less institutional feel. The bold graphic elements and new visuals reflect and represent the new name and the cohesive strategic plan for the organization.

Result

Careful planning and quick turnarounds ensured the brand launched together with the opening of two new hospitals within the network to maximize brand impact and reduce any expenses associated with the name change. Within our publicly funded healthcare system, branding and design is often looked at as a “frill” that is a poor use of money. Considerable work needs to be done all through the process to bring along all the stakeholder groups from staff to patients to community leaders to explain the value that a well-developed healthcare brand can generate for the organization. With the time and effort well spent to educate and allay fears when the brand launched, stakeholders were able to see how the new branding positions Brightshores Health System as a modern organization with a unified team and a bright future for healthcare in the region.

Credits:

• John Furneaux RGD - Project Director
• Sarah Longwill - Project Manager
• James Bateman - Creative Director
• Chloe Lan - Senior Designer
• Corien Kershey - Brand Strategy