Epilepsy Foundation
Envisioning Engagement
Creating New Ways to Manage a Medical Condition
Brand Strategy
Naming
User Experience Design
CHALLENGE
The Epilepsy Foundation had an idea for a new sub-brand but wasn’t sure where to take it. They initially wanted to create a website where participants would report their epilepsy symptoms to inform a new study that could eventually lead to new treatments or medications.
This was an interesting idea. However, being solely altruistic felt like an awful lot of work. We asked how this potential brand could help people with epilepsy (PWE) make immediate daily improvements.
We proposed creating a strategic foundation to help inform the remaining work.
STRATEGIC FOUNDATION
Our strategic workshops uncovered the most common limitations PWE experience in helping themselves: lack of the latest knowledge, consistent management of their symptoms (regularly taking medication), and the complexity around managing epilepsy, as there are many varying types and experiences with the condition.
To combat those limitations, we determined the brand purpose was to “motivate others to manage their epilepsy.”
This would be expressed through brand behaviors like educating, motivating, and supporting.
BRAND HIERARCHY
From there, we needed to determine how this new brand would exist. Was it even a brand at all? Should it live only as an app or, at minimum, a research study?
We modeled a few examples of how all the entities could work together in a hierarchy and discussed what would resonate more with their intended audience.
NAMING
The Epilepsy Foundation (EF) named its sub-brand EDEN (The Epilepsy Digital Experience Navigator). While it was a mouthful, it was at least quite descriptive of what it was.
Yet, would that name be understood by PWE? If your brand behaves like a coach, teacher, or available assistant, it begs for something that feels more friendly and accessible or promotes engagement.
Our naming process gave examples of varying types of names and showed the importance of how new brands should consider a descriptive name in addition to its brand name.
With all our naming projects, we provide the name and its meaning and do a quick Google search to find what’s currently out there with this name.
USER EXPERIENCE DESIGN
The initial idea for this brand/app was for people to report their epilepsy experience digitally to inform a study. Yet, to do that effectively, it would need to be an incredibly simple process—one that feels more intimate, personalized, and helpful to the person using it. We provided a vision of how that might look.
We started by providing the best practices used by other extremely popular health platforms, such as Noom and Apple Health.
We then created a day-in-the-life scenario of how the app helps PWE throughout a typical day.
BENEFITS OF ENVISIONING
Envisioning is a valuable process. Before you invest a lot of time, money, and resources, brand or product envisioning is an efficient way to show potential, align teams, and transform an idea into something more tangible.
If your team would benefit from envisioning a brand or product idea, we’re ready to help.