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I was delighted to be part of The Mental Health Foundation’s design evolution. As the UK’s leading mental health charity, they needed to be brought up to date for a new generation and continue to stay at the heart of the mental health conversation.

 Although their marketing materials needed to be simple and easy to produce, I believed they could be more uplifting whilst still delivering sensitive information. I developed a new brand style which included more positive lifestyle imagery and a contemporary colour palette to help portray mental health as a normal part of our everyday lives.

It was essential to add more humanity to the brand. As well as using more emotive imagery, I developed a suite of emojis focusing on the range of personal emotions we are all capable of. 

The iconic logo, required an update not a rethink. I re-crafted the graphic and encapsulated the initials within a circle. This not only future proofs their logo for social media use and draws the eye neatly to the marque, it also signifies that mental health is within each person and is what makes us all whole. I also modernised their typography, with a more refined font chosen to be their key typeface across all platforms.

Motivated by the stories I heard while working with this client, I also created a short film around the Foundation’s focus for that year – depression. I applied the idea that depression is a shadow many people carry with them every day. After consulting several volunteers via a MHF workshop, I developed the concept and worked closely with Phil Doherty and 3rd Stage Dance to bring this idea to fruition. The film ‘Shadow Dance’ ran across the charity’s social media channels at a time when dance and performance videos were growing in popularity.

I’m pleased to say it really connected with our audience.  The comments we received online confirmed that we had portrayed a serious and sensitive issue in a truly effective way.

With social media a growing issue in mental health, this area of comms could not be ignored. I help develop a simple stand out campaign to support the MHF’s mindfulness drive. Focusing on daily colourful messages to remind followers to think about themselves, this added to the new phase of ‘effective positivity’ I consistently applied throughout this brand.