Putting people at the center of healthcare
Union Health set out to strengthen its relationship with the communities and patients it serves. The opportunity was to create a brand identity that communicated a more human, patient-centered approach to healthcare while establishing a stronger and more cohesive visual presence.
The result is a brand system designed to feel trusted, genuine, energetic, caring, compassionate, bold, open, inviting, and warm.
Healthcare is built on relationships.
For Union Health, the brand needed to communicate that those relationships between patients, providers, families, and the broader community are at the center of better health outcomes.
The challenge was to move beyond the expected visual language of healthcare and create an identity that felt more personal and human while still communicating the qualities people expect from a healthcare organization: trust, confidence, expertise, and reliability.
The new identity also needed to work across a complex healthcare organization and create a consistent foundation for future communications.
The Idea
The central idea was putting people at the center of healthcare.
The new symbol brings together two stylized “U” forms to create a human figure with open, outstretched arms.
The gesture is intentionally simple and optimistic. It represents connection, care, and an organization opening itself to the people it serves.
At the same time, the conjoined “U” forms create a direct connection to the Union Health name, giving the symbol both an emotional and strategic relationship to the organization.
The concept was tested through both an internal employee survey and research conducted within the Wabash Valley community, helping validate the direction with the people the brand ultimately needed to represent.
The Brand Guide
The identity was built around a balance of humanity and trust.
The symbol establishes the emotional center of the brand: a recognizable human form that communicates openness, connection, and patient-centered care.
The typography reinforces that idea.
Poppins provides a geometric foundation with humanist characteristics, rounded forms, an open aperture, and a tall x-height. The resulting tone feels contemporary and accessible without becoming overly soft.
The Brand Symbol
Building Internal Engagement
A rebrand is only successful when people inside the organization understand it and feel ownership of it.
To help introduce the new identity internally, a motion-based “splash reel,” and logo animation brought the core design elements together in a more energetic and accessible format.
Rather than simply presenting a new logo and color palette, the animation gave employees an engaging introduction to the thinking and visual language behind the new brand.
The Visual Language
The broader identity was designed to feel approachable without losing authority. The visual characteristics were defined around:
Trustworthy
Genuine
Energetic
Caring
Compassionate
Bold
Open
Inviting
Warm
These qualities became a filter for the visual system, helping ensure that individual design decisions contributed to the same overall perception.
FONT
Poppins is a geometric sans serif font, with influences from both humanist and grotesque typefaces. Its design features include slightly rounded corners, a tall x-height, and an open aperture.
LOGOTYPE
The “U” is subtly modified with a sharper right edge, creating a visual tension between soft, open forms and more precise geometry. The result brings together two qualities that are essential to healthcare communication: Compassionate + trustworthy.
CHARACTERISTICS
Trustworthy, genuine, energetic, & caring. Compassionate, bold, open, inviting & warm.
PRIMARY COLOR PALETTE
Union Health’s new brand color palette grounded in blue, the universal color of healthcare. The analygous hues stretch from blue-green, (the color of health and vitality) to blue-violet (symbolically trustworthy and reliable). The splash reel below was created to highlight the core design elements, a fun introduction for internal employees.
The Result
The Union Health rebrand creates a visual identity grounded in a simple belief: Healthcare should be centered around people.
The new symbol makes that belief visible.
The typography balances warmth with precision. The color system brings energy and trust together. And the broader identity provides Union Health with a cohesive foundation for communicating across its organization and community.
The result is a brand that feels human without losing authority, contemporary without losing trust, and compassionate without losing strength.
ROLE: Creative Direction · Brand Strategy · Art Direction
FOCUS: Healthcare Branding · Brand Identity · Design Systems · Typography · Internal Engagement · Production Management