Compass brand and platform creation

Role

Creative, brand and experience design direction

Challenge

Elderly Abuse Action Australia approached Wunderman Thompson to build and develop a platform to guide and direct people in the right direction when it comes to elder abuse information and help. 

The National Elder Abuse Knowledge Hub (NEAKH) was created to do just this, but this highly sensitive and often challenging topic needed to be treated in a unique and special way. The hub could not shine a light on the issue of elder abuse, but had to be an experience that made it easy and simple to find guidance on specific topics on Elder Abuse, and direction on where to find help.

A new brand needed to be created from scratch. Nothing like this existed before in Australia, and with several levels of Government stakeholders invested in the platform, the brand not only had to create cut-through in a sensitive environment, it also had to tell the story and role of the hub instantly to anyone viewing it.

Mission & Tone

After establishing rules around who we are, who we serve, and what we do, a mission and vision was developed to summerised into a mission statement during a collaborative workshop between the EAAA, The Australian Government Attorney-General's Department, and Wunderman Thompson. This statement would hold true throughout the brands development:

We want to inform, educate, engage & connect
By positioning ourselves as a trusted, supportive source for older people & who they intersect with Using a genuine, active and accessible voice

From this, guidelines around language and tone needed to be created in order to set the boundaries for the team on this sensitive topic. Simple and easy to understand rules were established that would be used throughout the hub, and any external comes that would be created to promote the hub:

Be compassionate
Be simple & direct
Use plain English
Be truthful
Be clear
Be hopeful
Be helpful

Compass

With a mission, vision and tone established, we began creating a name for the hub, that would simply and easily tell a viewer what the purpose and ambition for it was. This name not only had to explain what the hub was built for, but also have a unique enough hook that it stood out in comms and marketing. After extensive desktop research and competitive analysis in both the health and parallel sectors, two unique names for this sector were put into a targeted focus group; 

Heard - Hub of Elder Abuse Resources & Directory​ 
Compass - Guiding action on Elder Abuse

While HEARD was slightly ahead of Compass in the quantitative metrics, in reviewing the qualitative responses to both names, Compass was chosen for being more appropriate. Respondents recognised Compass as providing people with direction, and guiding them on how they can seek assistance, which is closely aligned to the objective of the website.

With a name established, it was time to bring the visual to life. To elevate the hubs single-minded purpose of providing clarity in the fight against a complex issue, we adopted a typographic approach. The Compass logo elevates simplicity and legibility. The subtle nod to the point of the compass on the descender of the 'p' denotes the desired outcome from our platform – a clear, informed sense of direction for the user's next step. The clean and modern approach reflects the sites helpful accessibility.

A colour palette has been developed using high-contrast colours for maximum accessibility, as well as a photography treatment that needed to not only solve for a diverse range of audiences, but needed to ensure we did not use images containing acts of abuse, anger or suggestions of violence, or a feeling of hopelessness.

Branding guidelines

A full and comprehensive branding guidelines websites was put together to point designers, writers and content creators in the right direction. This site houses relevant tools and information to help people looking to promote the work that Compass does. The brand site is thorough and delves into the brand story, aiming to help Compass employees and content creators become familiar with how they can leverage the brand to help the individuals and communities that need it. The site can be viewed below: