The Importance of Branding and Hospital Buildings

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1 Trust Board 26 th July 2012 Public Section Report of Paper prepared by Subject/Title Background papers Purpose of Paper Action/Decision required Link to: NHS strategies and policy Link to: Trust s Strategic Direction Corporate objectives Becoming a Foundation Trust Resource impact Karl Milner Karl Milner Brand Guidelines Communications Strategy Communications Action Plan Patient Information Project Initiation Document (PID) (MfS) Informatics Strategy (Website update) Draft Staff Engagement Strategy (FT supporting Document) Draft Advertising Plan (MfS) Draft Marketing Strategy (FT Supporting Document) This paper seeks further endorsement for the proposal contained within the Communications Strategy to adopt brand guidelines. The paper is accompanied by a draft copy of the brand guidelines which Directors may wish to comment upon before their adoption. Endorsement of the process Endorsement of the proposed architecture Endorsement of the design A communicating organisation: Using communication to support the development of high-performing organisations Department of Health 2009 NHS Branding Guidelines 2011 (on-line) Vision, Purpose, Goals: specifically: internationally renowned centre high performing and Influential All the costs associated with the brand guidelines have been met through the Informatics Web Redesign monies. Consideration of legal issues N/A except duty 242. The introduction of a design approval process and design hub (See the MfS Patient Information PID) should reduce the overall cost to the institution and reduce waste. Roll out of the guidelines will impact on localised budgets within the Trust as they are currently. Acronyms and abbreviations Referenced in parenthesis on first use 1

2 1. Introduction Brand Guidelines This paper asks the board to endorse: The roll out of the trust-wide brand guidelines A new process for future approval of branding and corporate identity Thus enacting the commitment contained in the Communications Strategy approved by the board 11 December 2011 (see the box below): Implement a successful branding strategy - LTHT will establish brand guidelines and a corporate identity, which will reflect the values, aims and objectives of the organisation. A brand architecture (and a family of brands) will be established to cover sites and services. Services like Leeds Children s Hospital will be rebranded within corporate guidelines, so they look and feel part of the LTHT family, but retain a degree of individual identity - which is so important for their profile and fund raising activity. The website and intranet will be rebranded and a programme of redesign will follow for all corporate communication channels and documentation. Changes to the look and feel of the establishment will be undertaken opportunistically and at low cost. This programme will be complete within five years. Page 11/12 LTHT Communications Strategy (December 2011) 2. Background There is currently no process for the approval or control of corporate identity and brand within the Trust. An audit carried out in November last year prior to the creation of the website concluded that in all the domains researched (names, logos, fonts, signs, on line and printed materials) a series of competing and uncoordinated identities have immerged. That these identities reflected the priorities and beliefs of the local developer and that in the main, these did not follow NHS guidelines. As a result: hospital, location and service names vary with different conventions applied at each level (for example, some areas are named after people some are not). many hospital signs have not been updated since the merger, leaving many with the incorrect Trust and hospital location name. there are over 150 different logos (or marques) in common use which make no reference to each other or fit in to a common identity pattern. conventions differ in all aspects of presentation (fonts, drafting rule and presentation types) 2

3 inconsistency continues within a cluttered physical environment making orientation for patients and new staff difficult. To address this problem a task and finish group was set up to follow the process agreed in The Communications Strategy This group reported to the informatics programme board as the project was funded through them. A series of rules and principles (which were scoped, developed, consulted upon and tested on the website and Children s Hospital) are now ready to be rolled out more widely in the attached Brand Guidelines. 3. The principles adopted for the development of the brand on-line Our research with hospitals that already operated successful websites revealed that they all had a clear set of principles and a simple framework of services that they applied from the patient and visitors point of view. Our principles started from here, with the simple proposition that: Make patients and visitors our top priority To establish exactly what patients wanted we interrogated the data we had available about how they interacted with the existing website and we consulted patient representatives about what they would find helpful in the future. We also insisted that all the design options considered had to: promote the purpose, goals and values of LTHT comply with the NHS brand guidelines Be a showcase to be proud about Throughout the process we also tried to create a unity through design and preserve an appropriate degree of local ownership A series of consultations took place throughout the organisation with patients, visitors, partners and staff groups between December 2011 and February Views were taken on board and local tastes accommodated in line with the principles above. 4. The website and brand architecture All successful websites need an understandable architectural structure to allow visitors to easily navigate around. For an organisation of the size and complexity of LTHT this is exceptionally important and difficult to achieve as there are several ways to approach the issue. We could have developed an architecture that reflected our managerial and financial structures, but applying the principle that patient and visitor need comes first, we developed an architecture that the evidence suggests is how they interact with us. 3

4 Our internet records record that new or occasional patients, visitors and the general public recognise and interact with us primarily through hospital sites; whereas outpatients and staff interact with us through our services. Unsurprisingly, only one person in a thousand recognises or interacts with the corporate LTHT trust identity. This is not unusual for an organisation that has a group of sites, products and services. We have therefore used a similar set of rules to those used by groups to develop an architecture which is flexible enough to accommodate change in structure but retains a unity across the breadth of our offer. The same principles which guide web design apply equally well to the physical environment and materials. The attached Brand Guidelines build on the architecture tested on the website and apply them more widely. 5. Reaction to the applied design Both the website and the Leeds Children s Hospital environment have received an overwhelmingly positive response from patients and staff. Internet usage is increasing and the messages we are receiving about the site have switched from negative to positive. The Leeds Children s Hospital décor and signage has received positive feedback from our patients, their parents and the staff. As always in a re-design there have been a few who do not like the new designs. In both these cases the negative feedback we have received came from staff members and related not to the overall design or concept, but rather to the application of a guideline to locally owned names, logos and colour schemes etc. In most cases we have found a workable solution for all stakeholders. There are a few cases where a decision had to be taken to move the project forward but we do intend to return to all of these and find a solution that suits everyone if it is at all possible to do so. However, in general, the principles, the brand architecture and the rendering of the new design itself have been well received and are proving to be popular with patients and staff; it is therefore proposed that the attached guidelines be rolled out across the other domains as opportunities present themselves. 6. A new process Having a set of guidelines will only take us so far toward achieving the outcome set out in the communication strategy. A new process is required to ensure consistency to the brand guidelines, to help those seeking new branding a route to agree their requirement and to eliminate wastes: such as those associated with local duplication in production and the application of appropriate management time. We are proposing bringing together: content, design and production of materials into a single hub. A guide to how this will be achieved is contained in the Improving Patient Information project initiation document (PID) which forms part of the Patient Administration work stream of Managing for Success. This hub will act as a onestop-shop for internal audiences seeking guidance. 4

5 Decision rights on the interpretation of the guidelines will reside with the head of the design hub with appeal to the Director of External Affairs and Communication. The guidelines themselves will require refreshing on a regular basis. Limited changes will be agreed by the executive and significant change will return to the board. 7. Issues for consideration Issues about branding often throw up questions of a more fundamental nature. One such matter is the relationship between the projection of a singular Trust working toward an agreed purpose and its component parts: hospital sites, buildings and services that could appear to have their own goals. The task and finish group took the view that as some hospitals already had distinct identities and that the public and our visitors had a meaningful relationship with each; that we should bring about the required consistency through design. The rendering of the hospital designs themselves adhere to family rules. Great efforts have been made to make them look and feel the same. The individual symbols are in use on the website and so (apart from the kite at the Children s Hospital) they have not been placed in the physical environment. If the guidelines were to be approved by the board it is our intention to use these hospital logos more often in the physical environment. Our consultation with patients identified a wish amongst users with partial sight or poor reading skills to move toward more visible prompts and the use of colour to distinguish buildings within the larger sites. As part of the way-finding and renumbering exercise we carried out in March and April we adopted new colour ways to help our patients and visitors orientate themselves on site. The brand guidelines attached build on this development and allow the rendering of logos in the appropriate site colour Recommendation In line with the communications policy the board are asked to consider the issues raised and: endorse the brand guidelines attached, and agree the process outlined for approval of branding in future 1 The colour associations are all within the guidelines outlined in NHS brand guidance. 5