Developing a brand from scratch for an older user base

This is part of an end-to-end project designing a mobile app. See the original case study 'Alleviating loneliness in older adults' here.

Chum was a mobile app designed to help alleviate loneliness in older adults. As the sole designer, I had a lot of ideas on how to potentially market my product and what impact I wanted to bring to a population that was often neglected by an increasingly digital world.

However, I had nothing tangible. No logo, no users, no story.

So, I set out to develop a brand!

1. Brand values

I first developed a list of adjectives that I wanted my brand to embody. This served as a springboard for the rest of my brand development.

3. Brand name exploration

Based on my brand values and digital solution, I generated a list of possible names, metaphors, and concepts that could become my brand name.

My preliminary brand name was ‘Chums’ because I want the brand name to be a synonym for ‘friend’. It is also a word that is more typically used by an older generation, which matches the app’s user base.

Additionally, the term originated in schools to refer to the person students shared a room with. As my chosen theme was about the lack of organized groups for older adults, I thought this origin story tied it nicely together!

I explored variations such as Chummy, Chum, Chummer, and ultimately decided on ‘Chum’ as a single-syllable, 4-letter word would be the most simple.

4. Brand name sketches

Back to the drawing board! I sketched my brand name in different sizes, weights, orientations to explore different concepts.

5. Final brand name

I decided on this wordmark as I felt that it represented my brand identity best. I used the font Helvetica Neue, as it’s the most accessible font, which is vital for catering towards older adults that may have different types of devices. I chose ‘Medium’ as the weight, as I felt it gave the wordmark more structure and is a good balance between ‘Regular’ and ‘Bold’.

6. App icon

I created an application icon version of my wordmark for use on a mobile home screen. I sketched a few concepts:

I went with the concept of a blob waving to utilize the vertical space with ‘h’ and created my first iteration using Figma.

However, I took into consideration that the details such as a waving hand and eyes would be too small to notice on a mobile device. Thus, I turned this design into an opportunity to create a mascot and solely have that as my icon.

I still wanted the general shape of the mascot to resemble an ‘h’ so that I could use it for an animation for the splash screen. I explored different mouth shapes, having a second arm, arm length, and positioning.

This is my final icon design. I decided to have just one arm to retain the ‘h’ shape. I also received feedback that the jelly bean shaped mouth felt the most inviting and friendly out of all iterations.

I chose the brand color of a rich blue to adhere to my brand identity of revitalizing and connected. I decided on a bright shade, as higher saturation makes it easier for older adults to see when they lose visual acuity.