Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals identity redesign
Ivan | Tue, 2011-01-11 21:50Landor Associates, a global brand consulting and design firm, and Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals, a non profit organization dedicated to saving and improving the lives of children by raising funds for children's hospitals, unveiled a revitalized brand identity and name, completed largely pro bono by Landor.
Old Children’s Miracle Network logo
New Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals logo
The Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals name is an evolution of the previous and better communicates what the organization does. It helps to clarify the mission, while retaining the equity and recognition earned over decades. Known nationally for the paper Miracle Balloon icons sold during fundraising drives, Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals’ iconic emblem was also modernized. Landor’s solution was a simple interpretation of the hot air balloon, keeping the original colors and upward movement, to represent the high hopes for all children that benefit from the organization’s work.
Mary Zalla, managing director of Landor’s Cincinnati and Chicago offices, said, “We wanted to create an identity for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals that would work as hard for them as they work against their mission to help children and families facing medical challenges. We love the new brand because it builds upon the existing equity of the balloon, and communicates the spirit of hope. We think the new identity communicates very well and we were so pleased to help this noble non-profit group utilize the power of design to further its worthy cause.”
In addition to the new name and identity, guidelines were developed for the visual identity, as well as for the tone of voice for use in materials. Since the organization relies heavily on co-branding with sponsors, Landor also developed guidelines for portraying the brand alongside others that support it.
"Working with Landor has been a wonderful experience," said Craig Sorensen, chief marketing officer, Children's Miracle Network Hospitals. "Our partnership began over two years ago, and Landor really got to know us over the course of this project. The resulting brand is one that both our Board of Trustees and Board of Governors are proud of, and one we are sure will help drive the Children's Miracle Network Hospitals mission forward."
So, how do you like it? Is it a successful redesign in your opinion?
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Wonderful. Love the minimal mark, and the font seems appropriate for the word mark. Nice departure/update. Simple. Clean. Clearly communicates the brand.
Depressive.
yes I'm brazilian xD
LOL! You always get right to the point, qwerty.
Bet that video cost upwards of 12... 13 dollars to produce.
Art, I'm foreigner (O'RLY) and my english is too bad to talk with our Mr. Ballmer... Need to make my best to express what I think and feel using few words...
xD
Why depressive?
Depending on the child age I think all of us (and them) could associate the logo with a body (as child line drawing) that trickles blood and became empty (you died)
It's obvious because you have an empty volume (it could be easily a body for child) as a serum plastic sac or blood sac (that all we see at any hospital) with some escaping fluid.
No one wants to feel without blood... or for other ages, empty.
Even the baloon could mean (for some ages) that the hospital is trying to take you to heaven, then you need to avoid the maximum of strong but negative associations.
Landor should study a new branding for the client IMHO.
yes I'm brazilian xD
I see what you're saying. It could be seen as an IV drip - when they stick the needle in your arm and give you blood.
WTF? Are we back to the "Web 2.0" look? What's with VAG Rounded in logos?
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i like the explanation of how they got there. but the execution is boring, drab and i feel it's very static. and the first thing i thought, based partly on the colors but mostly the yellow arc was mcdonalds.
i dont think its good at all. not even close.
I don't like it as well. It's not modern or stylish. Maybe kids will like it though.
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Put me down for a vote against it, too. Unless you're familiar with their old logomark, I don't think you'd get that the new one is supposed to be a balloon. Looks like a light bulb or an exclamation point.
i saw the balloon (after i saw mcdonalds) but all i saw was a balloon-animal kind of thing. they have effectively lost all connection to the old hot-air-balloon mark. which id consider a huge fail, considering that they apparently tried to pay some homage to it.
i also saw the lightbulb, as well as a novelty high-lighter. before i saw hot-air-balloon...
whenever i hear a firm called "a global brand consulting and design firm"
im immediately suspicious that the effort will be horribly overworked. and when you add "completed largely pro bono" it generally means they put their cheapest resources on it.
i think its also trying (self-consciously) to be far too sophisticated. and i dont see that, as an approach, appealing much to kids. i'd agree that the mark needs to appeal as much or more to the people and groups funding the organization. but i think this falls short there as well...
nothing about it says "children".
simply rotating the mark say 7 degrees, would add an element of playfulness...
sorry to spew all over the thread, but i think this was a fairly important mark. did it need an update? probably, yeah. but i think they went down and entirely wrong road.
from where i stand, this fails on the level of the gap redo.
i wonder if the first person to comment here (and the only positive comment) was someone who worked on the project ; )
I like this re-design. Viewed on it's own the logo can, perhaps look a little dull, but I think that the identity as a whole is clear, stands out, and is flexible enough to allow for the various uses and demands.
I'd agree, though, that unless you knew that the mark was a balloon you may see other things in it (I saw a lightbulb at first too). I don't know whether this is a purposeful part of the redesign - building in the potential to expand the mark's meanings - or an example of getting too close to the project (if you start with a balloon and evolve it away in small steps you'll still know it started as a balloon whereas someone fresh to it will only see the most recent step).
I like the first one
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I am not Steve Ballmer pretending not to be me!
Agreed, it has character.
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