The original identity for the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center lacked character and said nothing about the research center.
The Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, Washington, is a world-renowned cancer research organization. Its scientists and researchers have developed life-changing breakthroughs like HPV vaccines and bone marrow transplants. However, much of this work is done with little fanfare. Most people don’t understand the significance of what the center does and how its research potentially impacts the lives of people who have cancer.
Hornall Anderson was charged with rebranding the institution from top to bottom—not an easy task, considering the obstacles the center has faced. The new brand needed to resonate with “Hutch” employees, many of whom were wary of coming across as inauthentic, and it needed to clearly and quickly communicate the organization’s role to potential donors. “The fight for federal research grants and private money is getting more competitive. Institutions are becoming much more sophisticated in communicating what they do. Over the years, Fred Hutch faced an increased challenge in getting the attention they needed,” says Andy Kribbs, design director at Hornall Anderson.
“The Fred Hutch team is quite sophisticated and experienced, so we had really good conversations with them in the early stages to get a clear understanding of what the organization stood for and what they believed in,” Kribbs notes. They then held a series of town hall meetings, inviting everyone on campus to come and participate in the brand discussion. “This effort couldn’t just be plopped in the lap of all these researchers. They have to know where it came from and what it means,” he says. “You can have the most beautiful and well intentioned mark, but it means nothing if you don’t bring them along in the process.”
The design team really got a sense of what goes on day-to-day at Fred Hutch by listening to the organization’s members. They also got the tagline, “Cures start here,” from one of the employees during a town hall gathering. That line embodies the essence of Fred Hutch, and it created new meaning for the design team, taking them out of the competitive mentality to one of a supporter for an overall cause. Kribbs explains, “We rallied around, ‘A win is a win for all’ mentality. There was now a platform that really got us running to develop copy and visuals.”
The original identity for the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center lacked character and said nothing about the research center.
Andy Kribbs and his design team interviewed employees and hosted town hall events in order to develop the brand platform. Through this process it became clear that the logo needed to communicate that Fred Hutch does the scientific research and development that leads to cures. He says, “This opened up vast creative opportunities within scientific and research territories for us to explore.”
“They needed to clearly communicate what they do and their role in the fight against cancer externally and equally energize the institution itself.”
—Andy Kribbs
The logo design initially explored many visual territories using DNA and genetic codes as design cues. As it progressed, the team explored the idea of cells dividing. “Essentially a cancer researcher looks for something different—that moment of change. Cancer cells look different from regular cells, and that’s what we were trying to get through in the logo design,” Kribbs says.
Color was another major factor in the design. Blues and greens are dominant in the scientific world, and they are also subtle references to the Seattle landscape. Other color palettes were explored, including warm colors like reds and oranges, but Kribbs notes, “You start to see blood and other related imagery, and it feels too real.”
The final logo and identity was really well received by employees, and Fred Hutch is experiencing a new level of exposure locally and nationally as banners roll out citywide and ads pop up in publications like Wired, Forbes, The New Yorker, and Entrepreneur magazines.
“The reception has been wonderful. Everyone was understandably a little nervous about how it would be received, but the Fred Hutch employees identify with the new brand identity and embrace it as their own,” Kribbs says.
“We ultimately presented three marks that represented very different takes on research. Each had a compelling narrative linked directly to the strategy,” Kribbs explains. “Having this conceptual foundation in place helps our clients talk about the logo beyond aesthetics and gives any nonvisual stakeholders information to respond to. The logo that became the front-runner appears as if you were observing a cell culture through a microscope. The dots and dashes can also read as data and a modern approach to research. Some also saw a globe, cueing the global impact that Fred Hutch has on the world.”
“For the next round, we tried to sharpen the visual language of the mark by refining details and exploring rendering techniques such as textures, realism and incorporating the H as a way to integrate Hutch. One of the researchers from our interviews had mentioned that looking for cancer is looking for a moment of change—when cells begin to behave differently than they should,” Kribbs notes. “Since we had conducted lots of creative exploration already, this was the key that made it all click together. The joiner between the two stems of the H became the catalyst moment that ultimately brought the mark to its final state.”
This sequence shows how the logo progressed from the initial concept to its final state.
Final logo design.
The Hutch logo is prominently displayed throughout the research center’s campus on buildings, banners and wayfinding signage.
The logo was displayed prominently throughout the Seattle area on billboards, buses and in advertisements. Consistent use of the brand colors and messaging tied the campaign together visually.
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