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Airedale NHS Trust
Making a complex programme feel human
• Brand guidelines
• Design system
• Illustration development
• Poster design
• Event banners
• Leaflet design
• Social media design
Brand rollout and staff engagement campaign for an NHS digital programme
Airedale NHS Trust was implementing electronic patient records across its hospitals, a major digital transformation that affected every member of staff and every patient pathway. Digital change programmes in the NHS can generate real anxiety: concerns about job security, unfamiliar systems, the sense that technology is replacing the human element of care. The brief was to create a suite of materials that would raise awareness and build engagement, making the programme feel confident, approachable and people-focused rather than driven by technology.
Working directly with the Airedale team, I inherited an existing brand that had been created by another designer. The logo and a few graphic elements were already in place and had been signed off at board level. My job was to take what existed and build something coherent and workable around it, finding a way to make the brand system function properly across all the materials needed for the rollout.
The most significant part of that work was developing a clear rationale for the pathway graphic: a wavy line connecting a series of yellow circles that existed in the original brand but had no consistent purpose. The solution was to make it intentional rather than decorative. As a timeline it connects key dates in the rollout journey. As a patient pathway it shows the different medical professionals someone might encounter during their care. For the staff recruitment campaign it became a way of showing people connecting with the Trust and joining a team. The same graphic element, used consistently and with purpose, became the visual thread that held everything together.
With the brand system established, the rollout materials came together across a range of formats. Posters and event banners raised awareness among hospital staff. Leaflets explained the programme to both staff and patients. Timeline graphics showed where the Trust was in its digital journey. And a suite of social media graphics supported the recruitment campaign for staff needed to help implement the new system.
✎ Powerpoint templates
✎ Internal staff recruitment campaign
✎ Social media recruitment campaign
The outcome
A brand that had started as a set of disconnected elements ended up as a coherent, flexible system that the team could use confidently across everything the rollout required. The project grew beyond the initial brief to include a series of six-monthly digital transformation reports for the Airedale digital team, tracking progress and communicating updates across the Trust. It also led to a separate commission for Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, part of the same wider group, where I designed and artworked a digital strategy presentation using and evolving their own distinct brand identity.
✎ Digital transformation Powerpoint presentation for Bradford Teaching Hospitals
"This is fabulous! You really are a miracle worker - I send you a mishmash and no resources and you create order and beauty! Love the way this has all come together, thank you."
Colin Beesting, Project Lead
