The Central Regional Health Center, Tulsa Health Department's busiest location, saw a much-needed renovation that started in 2018. It began with new flooring, furniture, and paint. Then, I was brought in to the mix to handle all of the wayfinding, fine art, promotional posters, etc. THD's main desired outcome was to have a welcoming, visually pleasing building that tied into their pre-existing interior colors and furniture patterns. The patterns and colors can be found throughout the wayfinding and signage, mural, and even some opaque vinyl window treatments.
I took one of THD's core values and gave it a slight rewrite so it would speak directly to the community. Then I created a design for an 8ft x 23ft mural to be installed in the main hallway near the building's entrance.
THD had also requested to have some branding and promotional posters for their services created. It was an opportunity to go beyond their original request and to elevate the way they communicate with their clients and to avoid their typical educational style communications that can lack empathy. The educational style promotions can have a sense of superiority, disapproval, and even finger-wagging. They rarely consider what the client personally values. Needless to say, there was an important shift of mindset that was needed to elevate their communication style. A shift of focus from “these are the services we provide,” or “you should eat healthy foods, exercise, etc.,” to “we know what you're going through and want to help.”
It was emphasized to THD that no matter how many free services they offered, the client's story was the only one that truly mattered. And before we could shift the conversation away from services provided and toward the client's story, we needed to do some research.
The Creative Strategy Framework was used to identify the psychographics and demographics of the many clients throughout the different areas of service within the building. Simple user profiles were created for different clients in each area. This made it possible to imagine a client's current life situation and what may or may not be important to them.
All of this information was organized and connected in a way to strategically create pieces that empathize with the client and attempt to demonstrate a desired outcome, that's relevant to the values of the client, and how THD can help them attain that outcome.
Refugees, immigrants, and minorities that speak Zomi, Spanish, and English. The diverse clientele required careful use of several languages throughout the building rather than a one-size-fits-all approach.
