The Team creates new brand for Parkinson's charity
Creative communications consultancy The Team announced today that it has created a new brand for the Parkinson’s Disease Society. From April, the charity will be known as Parkinson’s UK.
The Team has reinvented the charity’s brand. It researched audiences’ perceptions, created a comprehensive brand strategy, produced the charity’s new name and strapline and designed its new logo and visual identity.
The Team engaged with staff, supporters, healthcare professionals, people with Parkinson’s, their families and carers throughout the project to create the new brand.
By engaging with people at the heart of the charity, The Team produced the ‘Parkinson’s UK stencil’ – a font designed specifically for the charity to illustrate how people come together as a movement.
It tested three font options with all of the charity’s audiences. The decision was made according to the design that had the broadest appeal, that appealed most to new audiences and potential supporters, would best standout in a competitive sector and was true to the charity’s brand values: short, simple, bold, bright and human. The stencil concept was the option that best brought out the “human” side of the brand and gave it warmth and personality.
The charity’s main colour is cyan. The only other colours it uses are black and white. The whole identity has been designed to reflect the charity’s brand values.
The logo is made up of the Parkinson’s UK name and a strapline. The name was chosen because it is short and simple and reflects where the charity operates. The strapline is designed to communicate the charity’s personality: ‘Change attitudes. Find a cure. Join us.’
They are shown together on a three-degree angle to illustrate that the charity is moving onwards and upwards. People affected by Parkinson’s are at the heart of the new brand, which uses photography of real people, rather than models, holding placards with personal messages of hope and determination. They include: ‘Together we can beat it’; ‘It doesn’t stop me’ and ‘A cure cannot wait’.
Karen Rose, 47, is a member of the charity’s Bristol branch and has young onset Parkinson’s. She was involved in the development of the new brand. She said: “My husband Mike and I felt privileged to be featured in the new photography. The photographs show the positive, friendly support that is there for everyone affected by Parkinson’s.”
Dan Dufour, a consultant and charity specialist at The Team, said: “The new brand has been designed to be something that people can be part of – it shows an active, passionate and determined charity, driven by people coming together.
“This wasn’t just a visual identity and logo – it has helped the charity define its vision, mission and core values.
“It was crucial to involve supporters and people affected by Parkinson’s in developing the new identity because it is their brand – their involvement in every step of the process has made this project incredibly rewarding and unique.”
The Parkinson’s Disease Society asked The Team to create a new brand because it felt the public, GPs and other health professionals did not know enough about Parkinson’s or about what the organisation does. It wanted a brand that clarified its vision – to find a cure and improve the lives of everyone affected by Parkinson’s.
The Team interviewed and held focus groups with the charity’s different audiences and found that everyone explained the organisation in a different way. People said the name was old-fashioned and the visual identity was conservative and inconsistent.
The brand was designed to support the charity’s five-year strategy, which includes raising more than £110m to help raise awareness, fund research and find a cure for Parkinson’s.
Steve Ford, chief executive of the Parkinson’s Disease Society, said: “I am really excited by our new identity – Parkinson’s UK. It highlights our commitment to change attitudes to Parkinson’s, fund cutting-edge research to find a cure and inspire more people to support us.
“We want Parkinson’s UK to be a movement – something everyone could be involved in. The new brand will give people affected by Parkinson’s a stronger voice and make sure that everyone knows that because we are here, no one has to face Parkinson’s alone.”
