SomeOne has been working with a leading light in Hospice care, St Catherine’s, to radically reappraise the way people talk about and behave around end of life care.
Do you freely chat about death, dying or the end of life? Most likely, you—along with the rest of the UK—shy away from thinking about what happens when your time is up. So how to start conversations around the delicate subject of dying? We’ve created a progressively inventive way for St Catherine’s to engage with people.
To continue their pioneering work, they need continued funding, but if no one knows who you are, how can they help.
St Catherine’s Hospice Medical Director, Dr Patricia Brayden shares why we’ve decided to invest in a new look and feel for our hospice.
“Almost forty years ago, a group of pioneers realised that local people in Crawley, Horsham and East Surrey weren’t getting the expert care they needed when they were dying.
There was no local hospice, and hospitals simply weren’t equipped to give the kind of excellent care that people deserved. Instead of ignoring this, they acted and courageously fundraised for, and built a new hospice: St Catherine’s Hospice.
Since then, we’ve cared for thousands of people—and those closest to them—when life comes full circle.”
Why we did it
Forty years is a long time. Now, in a year when more people have been referred to St Catherine’s than ever before, they have invested in changing the look and feel of the charity.
The organisation did this because research showed—despite serving the community for more than thirty years—local people were not clear as to what St Catherine’s was, or how their expert services can help them.
The context
At a time when the NHS is stretched, the population is aging and people need Hospices most, but many communities simply don’t realise that they are there for them.
This also impacts on fundraising; all care is free thanks to the generosity of the local community. But if people don’t know the charity exists, how can they support it?
Put simply, something had to change and if St Catherine’s is to reach more people who need their help, they need to raise more money.
SomeOne were fabulous to work with. They totally understood the power of hospice care & why we needed to adapt.
What’s changed
St Catherine’s has followed in the footsteps of their founders and made some brave decisions.
SomeOne created an entirely new brand world for patient materials and digital channels, and re-evaluated how they work with in the community to make sure they will be able to respond to the ever increasing need for care.
Babies, and the brands associated with their care, get the lions share of attention, but the end of many people’s lives should, wherever possible, be as carefully managed as the beginning. We wanted to give St Catherine’s the amplified volume of voice it deserves
A clear strategy
All these changes come from a strengthened central strategy: ‘We’ll be there.’
They will be there at a time when other people don’t know what to say or do. They are not afraid to have difficult conversations that other people won’t and to be honest when answering people’s questions.
They will also be there, being clear about the need to raise funds from the community, for the community, because without St Catherine’s, life will be more difficult for people coping with death and dying.
‘We’ll be there, when life comes full circle’
St Catherine’s understand that living with a life-limiting illness or caring for someone with one, can be frightening, lonely and sometimes all-consuming but they want everyone to know they are there to help.
An entirely new design approach has been deployed across all communication channels—from patient information to café uniforms. Accompanying the new core brand assets is a respectful visual operating system that enables the brand to better engage with differing audiences—ranging from healthcare professionals to patients and loved ones.
The work that St Catherine’s does is often not talked about for fear of upsetting someone. But the conversation is essential to understand the brand and why it’s worth getting involved. We’re reigniting that conversation with a reinvigorated creative approach to all communications.
‘We’ll be there — when life comes full circle’
St Catherine’s understand that living with a life-limiting illness or caring for someone with one, can be frightening, lonely and sometimes all-consuming but they want everyone to know they are there to help.
“Beyond the fixed elements in the branding, the flexible property of the ‘signature line’ sets out to change across different applications signifying that, when life comes full circle, everyone’s path has been different. This ever changing signature informs the design of iconography and holding devices across the brand’s communications.” — Vyara Zlatilova, Lead Designer, SomeOne
An entirely new design approach has been deployed across all communication channels—from patient information to café uniforms. Accompanying the new core brand assets is a respectful visual operating system that enables the brand to better engage with differing audiences ranging from healthcare professionals to patients and loved ones.
I have so loved working with SomeOne; seeing the brand develop from scratch and I’m so grateful that they have found something that represents the charity in a way that’s both honest & ambitious.