Chatswood Vet Clinic is a privately owned and independent veterinary practice who provide family-friendly pet services to the communities of Chatswood and Willoughby. Founded in 1988 by vet Dr Lesa Potten, the clinic is well regarded by local pet owners, and had outgrown its original space. An architect was engaged to design an enlarged clinic, but before the build could happen it was clear the brand identity needed a long-overdue update to match the quality of the new facilities.
The original logo lacked sophistication and craft values. The symbolism was little more than generic clip art which resembled a cow sucking on a pacifier. A more recent attempt had been designed featuring a cat and a dog looking at a heart. It was far too complex and did not capture the spirit of the clinic.
Propella was engaged to create a new identity and graphic language which would communicate the family-friendly values of the clinic, the high-quality services, and the genuine love of animals the vets have for each pet they care for. The longevity and independence of the practice was a distinguishing feature as many vets had been acquired by larger groups. This was important to pet owners who preferred the intimacy and care of a privately owned clinic, similar to the relationship they might have with a family doctor.
The design and symbolism of competing veterinary logos could be divided into three territories; images of paw prints; silhouettes of animals; and cartoon animals. It was largely uninspiring and uniform.
Dispensing with these visual clichés, we had to design something simple enough that would could be easily printed in a single colour on scrub tops, but would have bags of personality which could be leveraged across all applications and communication channels.
We created a simple graphic logo which suggested a pet’s smile with the nose forming a little heart. The minimal rendering of this device suggests a variety of animals and creating a ‘w’. This enabled us to position the icon within the name ‘Chatswood’ and use it as a stand-alone icon.
The colour palette and typographic style was deliberately soft, feminine and friendly. The new branding strikes a careful balance between playful and professional. The simplicity of the identity lent itself perfectly for branding interiors, merchandise and products to promote Chatswood Vet Clinic.
Our new branding brought the new interiors to life and successfully relaunched Chatswood Vet Clinic to much enthusiasm from loyal customers. The clinic has seen a significant increase in pet owners choosing Chatswood as their preferred clinic on the north shore of Sydney.
