Celebrating a community-centered health company

Intrepid Ascent

Uncommon Bold Studio

+ Brand design
+ Workshop facilitation
+ Logo design
+ Web design

Intrepid is a leading health consultancy doing work at the crossroads of policy, technology, and change management. We wanted to bring forward the humanity of their brand, but chose to leave behind the photos of mountain climbers that made them look and feel like a hiking company. Together we brought Intrepid from discovery to rebrand and website launch, maintaining the strong person-first focus of the company.

Elaine Chen, Illustration
Amber Cooley, Project management + quantitative research
Aine Cryts, Copywriting
Marc Curry, WordPress development
Ashley Greer, Qualitative research
Joanne Lam, Art direction
Emily F. Peters, Brand strategy

1. Determining the identity of Intrepid Ascent

In order to move Intrepid’s self-reflection outside of the brain and into the gut, Uncommon Bold led a workshop focused on visual choices. We asked them to note which images felt like Intrepid and which didn’t at all. Emily F. Peters guided the conversation seamlessly in-person as I led the team virtually on Zoom Whiteboard. With my guidance, Uncommon Bold now has a blueprint for seamless hybrid workshops.

Photos by Emily F. Peters

2. Deciding on a design direction

Intrepid had two contradictory identities — a more passive brand that molded around their clients’ successes and a more active brand that focused on their unique role in the health ecosystem. I explained these two options to the team as “Participant” or “Observer” and offered a third combination, “Participant-Observer.” Each direction had clear color, typography, and illustration direction. They were most drawn to the warm and human “Participant” direction.

3. Evolving a typemark to express the brand

In creating their typemark, I sought to maintain the positive trajectory symbolized by their previous mountain logo. Intrepid was moving their clientele forward and upward with their work in untangling health bureacracy and strengthening Medi-Cal through CalAIM. They needed a modern typemark to communicate their impressive work as a health IT consulting company.

4. Presenting Intrepid’s new brand on the web

Working closely on Figma with the developer and art director, we launched a website that shows off beautiful illustrations created by Elaine Chen and Joanne Lam . They tell the story of the connective process of co-creation that Intrepid cultivates. As a web designer, my job was to make the UI a vessel for the illustrations to shine.

Read about our process and see the outcomes on Intrepid’s new website.

SARAH STERN