Brief
Giving a Voice and Identity to an Essential Support Network
The Cœur en Service Foundation arrived with a strong mission: to offer support to first responders and their families facing mental health challenges. However, the foundation had no brand structure, visual identity, or clear strategic framework.
The mandate was therefore to build the brand from scratch: clarify its positioning, structure its offerings, define its posture, and design a visual identity capable of supporting its public presence and future growth. The goal was to transform a deeply human intention into a solid, credible, and sustainable brand.
Goals
Building a brand that inspires trust
The project aimed to build an identity capable of supporting the foundation's mission while strengthening its credibility with its various audiences. The brand had to make the aid offered to first responders more accessible, while promoting a human, reliable, and trustworthy support network.
Tools and partners
Complexity and challenge
Between taboo and legitimacy, building trust
Mental health among first responders remains a sensitive subject, often marked by restraint and fear of judgment. The foundation therefore had to operate in a context where asking for help sometimes remains difficult to express.
Furthermore, the organization had no notoriety or history to support its legitimacy. It became essential to clearly define its role, stance, and differentiation to establish trust from the outset.
The challenge lay in balancing humanity and rigor: creating a brand capable of being both approachable and accessible, while inspiring the professionalism and credibility necessary for this type of mission.
Approach
A Strategic Co-construction Process
The project was structured around a series of collaborative workshops aimed at uncovering the brand's strategic foundations. Three workshops helped to structure the reflection:
The first workshop focused on the core of the brand, clarifying its vision, mission, promise, and values. The second workshop defined the foundation's ecosystem, analyzing existing stakeholders and specifying the organization's differentiation. The archetypes of the Protector and the Sage were chosen to guide the brand's posture and tone. The third workshop explored the creative and symbolic territory to translate the strategy into a coherent visual language.
This co-construction process allowed for aligning the founders' vision with a clear and sustainable strategic structure.
Solution
A symbolic identity and a coherent visual ecosystem
The brand strategy was brought to life through a visual system built around strong symbols.
The linden tree was chosen as a symbol of anchoring and gentle protection, evoking a place of gathering and peace. The crest represents mission, collective responsibility, and belonging, values familiar to first responders. A curved line completes this system, symbolizing the individual trajectory and the network of mutual aid that connects community members.
This symbolic direction guided the design of the logotype, the graphic system, and the overall visual identity. The photographic direction was designed to put people at the center, with natural and authentic images that highlight the dignity and solidarity of first responders. The color palette is based on a dialogue between a luminous yellow evoking hope and a deep blue embodying trust and stability, complemented by modern accents.
Results
A structured brand and a digital entry point
The project materialized with the creation of a complete brand identity and the development of a website designed as a direct extension of the foundation's mission.The site was developed on Shopify to offer a simple and effective platform for managing donations and presenting the services offered by the foundation. The site's architecture was designed to make the support offering clear and accessible, while highlighting the impact of contributions.
The platform now acts as an entry point to a concrete mutual aid network, enabling the foundation's mission to be supported and its community mobilized.
“A genuine and caring experience, where we felt listened to and completely confident from start to finish.”
Coeur en service
