Mind

Background

Mind is the leading mental health charity in the UK, raising awareness and eradicating stigma surrounding mental health. They provide advice and support to empower anyone experiencing a mental health problem and campaign to improve services, raise awareness and promote understanding of mental health.

Challenge

In the 10 years since Mind last updated their brand, the attitude and conversation around mental health had changed significantly. New wellness platforms had evolved the mental health narrative into the mainstream, yet despite its authority and depth of knowledge, Mind had been left behind.

As fellow Mental Health advocates, we partnered with Mind to evolve their brand and recapture their fighting spirit with a contemporary tone and identity to reach more people who need them.

Brand Expression

We reimagined the already ambitious brand strategy and created a new brand purpose statement which is simple, powerful and actionable. It unites the organisation internally, externally and helps to broaden Mind’s reach.

To make the brand more inclusive, we created an accessible typeface and evolved the brand look and feel by adding a broader, more vibrant colour palette reflective of Mind’s new attitude.

Inspired by the original hand drawn symbol we've created a set of 'squiggly' elements, including hand-drawn illustrations (donated by DesignStudio employees), super squiggles and squiggly punctuation – allowing Mind to capture varied stories in a personal way.

“We wanted to build on existing elements but broaden Mind's appeal for today's diverse audience. After extensive research with employees, volunteers and people with lived experience, we brought fresh thinking to the visual toolkit. Each element has been designed to be more contemporary, unique and accessible, helping Mind express their authentic personality.”

Vinay Mistry
Executive Creative Director, DesignStudio

Results

Where mental health was once heavily stigmatised and way down the list in priority of charity causes, it has been catapulted into the spotlight. Against this backdrop, our work has armed Mind with a powerful, flexible and accessible new visual identity that has enabled them to reach more people who need their support.

Mental health charities are now third on the list of causes the public consider supporting and Mind's brand affinity and fundraising continues to grow. They're no longer a brand that struggles to connect with audiences. Instead, Mind is one that embodies its mission and fighting spirit, embraces and prioritises its audience and is leading global narratives around mental health to enact change.

“We’re thrilled to have worked with DesignStudio whose expertise has helped us bring to life our brand refresh. We wanted to retain certain elements including the iconic Mind ‘squiggle’ which was found to be much loved by our supporters. But our refreshed logo, fonts and illustrations are designed to be more modern, diverse, accessible and legible. In turn helping us to become more engaging and recognisable and reach new audiences so we can collectively fight for better Mental Health.”

Paul Farmer
CEO, Mind