Cláudia Marques | Go Carer

Project: Brand design for GoCarer, a UK autism healthcare provider

Year: 2017

Role: Graphic Designer

I was commissioned to design a logo and brand guidelines for Go Carer - a team of autism experts, therapists and carers dedicated to creating the best possible outcomes for individuals and their families.

For a month we worked collaboratively to create a brand worthy of this incredible mission. The team at GoCarer were an amazing client and I'm immensely proud to have taken part in a bit of their journey.

Brand discovery

GoCarer was a brand new business, meaning there were no existing weaknesses or strengths to explore. We had to start from the very beginning and I had a lot to learn.

Challenge:

I needed to understand the business model, motivations of the founders and ambitions for GoCarer in a short period of time. These were all critical being able to develop a brand that aligned with the business objectives and had longevity.

My approach:

I gave the team at GoCarer a form with questions that I normally hand clients at the beginning of any branding work. Had them describe their business, their USPs and collected some existing ideas they had on logos they liked and thought would appeal to their audience.

Defining brand values

GoCarer came up with the interesting slogan of "care where-ever and whenever" that really spoke to their ability to home visit but also 24/7 online support, that differentiated them from other more traditional care operations. They also wanted their brand to be less about society and more about the individual, as they were occupying a different space than their competitors. The goal was to speak to autistic kids and their parents, who want them to be the best they can be.

GoCarer came up with the interesting slogan of "care where-ever and whenever" that really spoke to their ability to home visit as well as offer 24/7 online support, which was what differentiated them from other more traditional care operations. They also wanted their brand to be less about society and more about the individual, as they were occupying a different space than their competitors. The goal was to speak to autistic kids and their parents, who want them to be the best they can be.

Condensing the teams thoughts into 3 groups of values

Together we refined these values to be:
Quality, Positivity, Humanity

Together we refined these values to be: Quality, Positivity, Humanity

GoCarer mentioned Airbnb as a company and logo they admired, "for its simplicity, easiness to identify, the intelligent connection between the letter "A" and the love heart shape which communicates its brand" and also the Rio 2016 olympics logo. I wasn't too familiar with that work so I researched it and found it tremendously inspiring. It was so right for the "humanity" value they were trying to convey in their brand. The designers for the olympics logo found their inspiration in the shapes of the city of Rio de Janeiro, from the "calçada" (typical Portuguese floor) to the figure of Christ the Redeemer.

I threw in Volkswagen as a reference for quality. I figured there may be some value in the balance between a really expressive, playful brand and some symmetry and geometry to convey the seriousness of the business.

The team mentioned Airbnb as a company and logo they admired, "for its simplicity, easiness to identify, the intelligent connection between the letter "A" and the love heart shape which communicates its brand" and also the Rio 2016 olympics logo. I wasn't too familiar with that work so I researched it and found it tremendously inspiring. It was so right for the "humanity" value they were trying to convey in their brand. The designers for the olympics logo found their inspiration in the shapes of the city of Rio de Janeiro, from the "calçada" (typical Portuguese floor) to the figure of Christ the Redeemer.

Compiling visual references for the values we outlined

Competitor analysis & moodboarding

After setting on brand values and having a good sense of their aspirations, the obvious next move was to moodboard and understand the competitor universe.

With their guidance, I looked into companies they considered to be either direct competitors or at least inspiration in the way they operate and position themselves. For example, Deliveroo wouldn't be a competitor as a care provider but a good inspiration in terms of operating "anywhere, anytime". I've then taken upon myself to explore brands who I thought conveyed the values we were aiming for, in order to pitch a direction to them. In that, I also took the chance to research potential mascots as they've shown interest in having one from the very beginning.

After setting on brand values and having a good sense of their aspirations, the obvious next move was to moodboard and understand the competitor universe.

Care industry competitors

“Anywhere, anytime” industry: fun, relaxed

“Anywhere, anytime” industry: sober, functional

Logos that encapsulate the feeling of care

Logos that encapsulate a special, unimaginable world

Visualizing the idea of spectrum

Guinea pig as a mascot inspiration

Octopus as a mascot inspiration

Visual exploration

Having agreed on brief and visual inspirations for both logo and mascot, it was time for me to start sketching and envisioning their brand.

Challenge:

I managed to get the GoCarer team excited in the moodboarding phase which was great news but we were still left with many different potential directions that I knew there was a risk we wouldn't be quite aligned in what ideas might be the strongest.

My approach:

Many designers are reluctant to show sketches that don't look good or look unprofessional, I personally will take anything that helps me explain an idea. I wanted to get to alignment fast and spare us all frustrating back and forth. I grabbed a notebook and a few A4 pages where I sketched all the ideas I could think of and presented them to the team.

My initial sketching brainstorm

Few of the drawings in the notebook

Starting to think about typography

Font selection

After the sketching phase I knew I wanted to start producing more Hi-FI, digital ideas - and I was going to need a typography to lean on. I pulled a few options for the team of humanistic vs geometric fonts to get a sense for preference. The team liked the geometric ones but I figured a single-story "A" would give it a cleaner, more modern feel and I wanted the letter "E" to have a bit more expression. Montserrat alternates offered the perfect solution with it's "E" cross-stroke being slightly slanted.

Exploring fonts: humanistic vs geometric

Montserrat alternates

Creating an emblem, inspired by the red cross

In my original sketching brainstorm the symbol of the red cross came up a lot as it is such a strong symbol. But it didn't feel quite right to use it, so I went and researched its origin. I've learnt that "in times of war, the red cross, red crescent and red crystal emblems mean ‘don’t shoot!’. They signify neutrality and protection.".

I found this history inspiring and gave myself a little prompt: how could I create an emblem that would signify care, nurture, growth, love, warmth..? I saw in the expressive "E" of Montserrat a starting point. I created my base atom from it and then superimposed duplicates to form different ideas.

Creating an emblem from the "e" letter

Exploring combinations

Placing shapes in a circle in search for an emblem

Building a mascot from the emblem

I figured it'd be great to create the mascot from this same "language", so I used the same technique to explore the different mascots we had discussed originally. The butterfly being one that we hadn't discussed but whose shape lent itself well to this process and something about their beautiful colours made it feel like an obvious option to me.

A butterfly shaped mascot

An octopus shaped mascot

An abstract character built on this same feeling of nurture and care

Adding colour

In parallel, I had already started to explore colour. I put together a palette based on word association but also considering all the references we moodboarded. Then I used tried those over a few ideas.

Color palettes from moodboard and brand key words

Applying color to the shapes

Butterfly concept in color, playing around with composition

Octopus concept in color, playing around with composition

Abstract mascot concept in color, playing around with composition

Throwing in a more sober, less child-like option in the mix

Expanding on composition, with use of typography and extra shapes

Logo lock-ups

The team at GoCarer liked this heart shaped figure the most, so it was time to explore composition and see how Montserrat Alternates paired with it. Together we made the decision to capitalise both "G" and "C" when referring to the brand.

Typography capitalization options

Logo lock-up exploration

Applying different color schemes to the logo lock-up

Go Carer's selection

In the end, I helped GoCarer pick 2 of these colors: we decided on the pink one for B2C and purple for B2B. With all final choices in place I put together a guidelines doc with all the details of how to use the brand, including all language we explored together and a few quick mock-ups to demonstrate potential brand use for them moving forward.

GoCarer's logo and mascot choice

Color choice: B2C (left) and B2B (right)

Mascot in color: B2C (left) and B2B (right)

Logo and brand identity guidelines doc

Logo placement mock-up: document header

Logo placement mock-up: business cards

Logo placement mock-up: marketing pamphlet

Logo placement mock-up: carer scrubs

Logo placement mock-up: Billboard

Logo placement mock-up: Facebook profile

Logo placement mock-up: website

I was very lucky to commission Claudia on a project to create the logo and style guide for my startup, GoCarer. Claudia worked diligently, methodologically and was completely aligned to GoCarer's strategy as she explored different styles and ideas.

The result is outstanding, and everyone at GoCarer is delighted. Claudia is a real pleasure to work with and I would absolutely recommend her service for any type of logo and branding work.

Kingma Ma - Founder @ GoCarer

aspirant surfer ✦ passionate musician ✦ hopeless feminist ✦ social justice advocate ✦ psycology buff ✦ eternal student ✦ chronic overthinker ✦ zero waste proponent ✦ trainee coffee dialer ✦

Daydreaming in London, United Kingdom

Daydreaming in London,
United Kingdom