DesignStudio is behind the new identity for Compound, an integrated, personalised healthcare solution provided by Australian digital healthcare company Eucalyptus.
At its heart, Compound is a preventative healthcare and performance brand. Its USP is that it makes the tools, information, and support previously only available to elite athletes accessible to the average Joe.
Its offering comprises a mix of clinical diagnostics, diet planning, fitness programming, measurement and accountability, and its goal is to help clients meet their health and fitness goals.
The Compound team approached DesignStudio in late 2023, and after some initial chemistry meetings and discussions on the program of work, the studio was awarded the project.
The design team thought the brief was “absolutely fascinating” as Compound was “purposefully looking for an outside point of view and to build a brand with a distinct opinion,” according to DesignStudio APAC principal James Duru. However, the studio has worked around health, sports and performance for several years – from fitness startups to sports teams and entire leagues – Duru notes that Compund’s rigorous diagnostics and programming was new territory for them.
“A significant challenge any brand has in the performance and health sector is that wellness has become a catch-all term, with little accountability, so part of building Compound was to clearly communicate its difference and credibility”, he explains.
Naming the brand was in DesignStudio’s remit for this project, so the strategy and naming phases ran in parallel. The research covered everything from ancient mythology and stories of strength to mathematical formulae.
“Sometimes looking in very odd places reveals the most interesting outcome,” says Duru. Once the studio started to refine results and focus on the brand idea ‘To The Power Of’, a shortlist of names that clearly communicated the power of repetitive and cumulative positive actions was developed. From this, Duru says Compound emerged as “a firm favourite”, chosen for its feeling of “strength and solidity” and its ability to connect with “the strategic core of the program and brand”.
Gothic history, ancient codes of strength and futuristic visions are very different subject areas, yet the tension between them is “the core of Compound”, according to Duru. He believes these influences correlate with “the meshing of the time and dedication it takes to build positive health and fitness outcomes and the scientific inputs that help clients understand their health in new and powerful ways”.
“We feel there is an interesting space emerging in brand thinking where, for the right business, embracing a less uniform approach is an exciting opportunity to create distinction through character at each moment rather than corporate uniformity.”
Compound’s icon depicts three human forms, standing in a line, each slightly larger than the last, demonstrating how small incremental changes and efforts can create a lasting impact.
The brand’s image treatments are influenced by the diagnostics phase of the compound program, which involves blood work,