New brand identity for Zurich's university hospital of the future
Wirz Brand Relations is developing a new brand identity for the University Hospital of Zurich (USZ). The Zurich-based branding agency was awarded the contract following a public tender and is unveiling the logo as the first visible element of the future brand identity.
The USZ is facing major changes. Medical and social developments such as advancing digitalization, interdisciplinary collaboration, the growing challenges posed by complex clinical pictures and the separation of inpatient and outpatient treatments are placing new demands on the medical infrastructure. However, many of the USZ buildings no longer meet the requirements of modern hospital operations. The infrastructure has reached its limits. For this reason, the hospital has decided on a comprehensive overhaul.
With its new brand identity, the USZ is now setting an example for the dawn of a new era that this generational project represents. "Now is exactly the right time for this. The first new building on the core site will go into operation in spring 2019. We want to give this and all other new buildings a new, fresh and attractive look right from the start, which also makes sense and is efficient from a cost perspective," says Prof. Dr. med. Gregor Zünd, CEO and Chairman of the Hospital Directorate, explaining the launch of the future image.
The new image is based on the USZ strategy adopted around a year ago and underlines the hospital's positioning in the national and international environment: the USZ is open to everyone and offers basic medical care and cutting-edge university medicine. "The focus of the new image is on clarity and a signal effect in order to convey security and orientation to patients and relatives and to generate a high level of appeal in the relevant environment," says Thomas Städeli, CEO of Wirz Brand Relations.
The new logo was presented as the first visible sign of the future image. It focuses on the three letters U, S and Z and turns the already common abbreviation into a clear and concise figurative mark. The entire brand world will be launched gradually from April 2019. In addition to the corporate design, Wirz Brand Relations is developing numerous communication tools and measures and will support the USZ with the launch of the new brand identity next year.
