Riverwood Psychological Services Project
A referral from a client in Australia got me in contact with Riverwood Psychological Services. They were looking to have a rebrand to engage adults in their local area for their services and also to medical practitioners who can refer patients to their clinic. As members of the Australian Psychological Society and situated in New South Wales, they required a logo that promoted a strong, modern, professional and trust worthy look what could be reflected in future brand material. One of the request they had was to not use the colour red, which I fully agreed with, as when you are dealing with a subject such as delicate as mental health its important to be mindful as the colour red can be quite bold and brutal with its references regarding the medical industry. Ask yourself, would you go to a psychology clinic that has red in its logo?
My approach to this project was to also not use the shape of a human head or a brain as this comes across too medical and I think from a subconscious perspective, for the client, it was best not to be so blatant in to what the clinic promotes. Therefore I decided initially that an abstract approach was better suited by combining the right balance of simplicity and complexity. The other approach I decided to take was to experiment with real world objects to represent psychological issues such as jigsaw puzzle pieces, sparks and thought bubbles. However development of the logo funnelled down to the abstract way of thinking rather than using a real world object. The final logo was an abstract approach combined with a letterform. I used the letterform of an ‘R’ which obviously stands for Riverwood, but I used the negative space inside the ‘R’ to represent the mind and inner thought. The mind being represent by an abstract scattered pattern to represent the unpredictability of different mental conditions. Ultimately the idea behind the logo is a metaphorical representation of someone with a mental condition. For example, even though we know the overall shape is of an ‘R’ and looks like a ‘R’ from the outside, inside there is busy inner thought process happening. Just because people look OK on the outside, thats not necessary how they feel on the inside.
I wanted the colours in the logo to be uplifting, positive and calming and to appeal to both genders hence the use of a soft light blue and bright pink. These colours bring a piece of mind to potential clients but also strength and dependability. I wanted the typeface to not only be modern but also have a hint of clinical-ness, and not to be overly playful to just give that subtle feel that its still a medical clinic and a business.
Riverwood Psychological Services also required an additional tri-fold pamphlet to be given to clinics and surgeries in the Riverwood area which features their new logo and brand direction. I was provided with their existing pamphlet design which was overly busy and in my opinion beared no connection to a mental health clinic or industry. Therefore with the limited information on the existing pamphlet I redesigned it using the new brand identity. The result is a fresh, easy to read and simple information piece which appeals to potential clients and medical professionals alike. Overall it was a fun yet eye opening project to work on considering the seriousness of the subject matter.