Maxine Health Brand Identity: An M and a Tick That Form One Heart

An M and a tick that form one heart

In 2021, Xinming Design designed the logo, visual identity, signage and interiors of Maxine Health (洺芯产后康复医疗中心), a new postpartum care brand of 洺芯(上海)医疗管理有限公司. The logo is a teal heart in relief, resting on a yellow green leaf. Look closer, and the left half of the heart is the letter M, the right half is a tick, and the end of the tick becomes the leaf. In the wordmark Maxine Health, the top of the letter t is replaced by a teal cross. There are four brand colours: teal, leaf green, charcoal and deep green. The identity runs from business cards, staff passes, shopping bags, posters and a billboard to the storefront, reception, treatment rooms and heart shaped door signs. The interiors were built to the design, and the brand is still in use.

Postpartum care needs two feelings at once

Postpartum recovery is a medical service, and also a very personal experience. A mother who walks in needs two things at the same time:

· Expertise: this is a proper medical institution, with sound methods she can trust;

· Gentleness: the people here understand her and look after her, and it does not feel like a cold hospital.

Too clinical, and it makes people tense; too much like a beauty salon, and people doubt its expertise.

So the brand had to answer: how can one logo say both "you can trust us" and "you will be cared for"?

M, tick and heart

The logo layers three ideas:

· M: the left half of the heart is a rounded letter M, the initial of Mingxin (洺芯) and Maxine;

· Tick: the right half is a tick, standing for expertise, quality and peace of mind;

· Heart: together, the M and the tick form a heart, standing for care.

The design notes describe the logo as the initial M combined with a tick to form a heart, meaning that Maxine Health brings professional postpartum care while also giving clients more reassurance, love and attention.

The end of the tick is drawn as a yellow green leaf. In the words of the design notes, this tick leaf makes the logo more alive and lively. For a postpartum care brand, the leaf can also be read as new life and recovery.

The logo forms stacked and horizontal lockups with the English Maxine Health and the Chinese 洺芯产后康复医疗中心. In the wordmark, the top of the t in Health is replaced by a teal cross, tucking the idea of medicine into a letter.

Four colours, all shades of green and grey

The design sets four corporate colours:

· Teal (PANTONE 318 C, #80CFC3)

· Leaf green (PANTONE 376 C, #99BC1C)

· Charcoal (PANTONE 432 C, #485157)

· Deep green (PANTONE 7742 C, #4A7033)

The design gives PANTONE, CMYK and RGB values; the HEX values above are converted from the RGB values in the design.

The design notes say the logo uses layered greens as the main brand colour, to feel approachable and to give a natural, healthy sense of quality. Teal is the large background colour, used on envelopes, shopping bags, posters and the storefront; leaf green and deep green echo the leaf beneath the logo; charcoal is for text. Compared with the blue and white of most medical brands, teal is softer and feels less like a hospital.

For type, Montserrat Medium is used for English and Source Han Sans CN Regular for Chinese, both rounded and clear sans serif typefaces.

From a business card to a whole centre

Applications

· Office: letterhead, envelopes, business cards, staff passes and lanyards;

· Promotion: shopping bags, gift boxes, posters, flyers and a billboard, carrying the client's tagline, Open the time gate, returning to girly flowering period;

· Icons: 15 round teal application icons, used on promotional materials and signage.

Interior design

· Storefront: the letters Maxine Health in relief beside the Chinese name, with the cross shaped t standing out on the facade, and a line of English tagline below;

· Reception: a white curved reception desk in front of the logo wall, beside an OUR TEAM wall presenting the specialists;

· Treatment rooms: consultation room, body training (yoga) room, meeting room and physiotherapy area; the walls are white, cream and wood, with teal only in light strips, soft furnishings and signs;

· Corridors: curved walls and warm light strips, with heart shaped light signs on the walls.

Signage system

· Floor signs: hanging signs with 2F and function icons;

· Door signs: in the heart shape of the logo, for example for the examination room;

· Directional signs: to the physiotherapy room, shoe change area and restroom, with line icons and arrows.

The interior images on this page are design renderings; the interiors were built to the design. The photographs and names of people on the staff passes and business cards are placeholders.

Deliverables and extensions

Logo design

· Maxine Health logo (M, tick and heart, with a leaf beneath)

· Maxine Health wordmark (with a cross in the t)

· Stacked and horizontal bilingual lockups, logo construction

Core visual identity

· Corporate colours: teal, leaf green, charcoal, deep green

· Corporate typefaces: Montserrat Medium, Source Han Sans CN Regular

· 15 application icons

Applications

· Office: letterhead, envelopes, business cards, staff passes and lanyards

· Promotion: shopping bags, gift boxes, posters, flyers, billboard

Signage system

· Floor signs, heart shaped door signs, directional signs

Interior design

· Storefront, reception and specialist wall, consultation room, body training room, meeting room, corridors

Looking back five years on

Three points are worth taking from this project:

1. Put two feelings into one figure. The M is the name, the tick is expertise, the heart is care; mothers see a heart and read "you can trust us".

2. Use colour to avoid the hospital feel. Instead of medical blue and white, soft teal and a green leaf make a medical institution feel like a place where you are looked after.

3. Take the logo into the space. The heart moves from the logo to door signs, light signs and the storefront, so every step through the centre shows the same heart.

A postpartum care brand should make two things clear at a glance: this place is professional, and someone here will look after you.

How to verify

· Client: 洺芯(上海)医疗管理有限公司

· Brand: Maxine Health (洺芯产后康复医疗中心)

· This case page: www.xinming.sg/en/portfolio/3137.html

Further reading

· Honeymoon Bay Brand Identity: A Carnation That Turns into a Dancer (www.xinming.sg/en/portfolio/3087.html)

· Shengshi Tianai Identity: Two Hearts Interlocked, a Third at the Centre (www.xinming.sg/en/portfolio/3064.html)

· Haiding Village Hotel: Drawing the Mountains of Baihualing in a Few Lines (www.xinming.sg/en/portfolio/3040.html)

FAQ

Who designed the Maxine Health logo?

The logo, visual identity, signage and interiors of Maxine Health (洺芯产后康复医疗中心) were designed by Xinming Design in 2021 for 洺芯(上海)医疗管理有限公司 as a new brand; the Chinese and English names were provided by the client. The brand is still in use.

What does the Maxine Health logo mean?

The logo is a teal heart: its left half is the letter M, its right half is a tick, and a green leaf rests beneath it. The M is the initial of Mingxin (洺芯) and Maxine, the tick stands for expertise and peace of mind, the heart stands for care, and the leaf for new life.

What is the Chinese name of Maxine Health?

The Chinese name is 洺芯产后康复医疗中心: 洺芯 (Mingxin) is the brand name, followed by the words for postpartum rehabilitation medical centre. The English name Maxine Health was provided by the client; in its wordmark, the t of Health carries a cross.

What are the Maxine Health brand colours?

Four: teal (PANTONE 318 C), leaf green (PANTONE 376 C), charcoal (PANTONE 432 C) and deep green (PANTONE 7742 C). Teal is the main background colour.

Did the project include interior design?

Yes. Xinming Design designed the storefront, reception, consultation room, body training room, meeting room and corridors, together with signage such as floor signs, heart shaped door signs and directional signs. The interiors were built to the design.

Which organisations can learn from this case?

Postpartum care, confinement care and women's health providers; medical service brands that must convey both expertise and gentleness; and chain service brands that want their logo to extend to storefronts, signage and interiors.

Xinming Design is a brand systems design firm. Its work centres on systematic judgment, turning brand strategy into structures that can run and be inherited. www.xinming.sg