Reining in a global safety program for brand alignment.
Role: Art Direction, Brand Design
Background
In 2018, health and safety professionals stood up a pilot program to develop stronger body mechanics in front-line operations workers at Amazon. The program needed an identity. During my initial pitch with stakeholders, the name and logo were decided. WorkingWell was born. By 2022, the pilot had expanded from one city to about 2,000 locations globally.
The Challenge
Program materials initially created for the pilot and intended for a US English-speaking audience were now being modified and localized by program managers around the world. Approximately 20,000 materials were created ad hoc with little oversight—a majority of which were unknown to our US-based content studio. Quality control was impossible, and the rapid program expansion had muddied the program’s purpose and image.
The Approach
The program needed a refreshed look, but success depended on defining the program better. We needed to start from the beginning by creating a brand strategy. Over a 6-month period, I spearheaded branding exercises with representatives from the program. Together we conducted a brand audit, then used the audit to create a vision statement, define the program’s customers, explain why the program existed, its tone of voice, and what qualified something as part of the program. We could now approach the visual design objectively and refresh the materials to align better with how for program owners used them.
Results
Before the brand audit, the program was misaligned to internal Amazon standards. Capturing the brand essence on paper allowed us to revise the program logo to an approved Amazon lock-up. We selected brand-aligned colors and developed communications templates with tools everyone had access to. Older materials were phased out as new ones were created. Instead of translating materials from language to language, a subject matter expert in any region can now follow a simple step-by-step guide to create brand aligned and quality controlled communications specific to their region.
The original mark:
The updated Amazon lock-up:
Core colors:
Putting the pieces together:
