Our Branding
Our branding is more than just random pretty colours and shapes (though we care about that, too …)
Our fonts and palettes have been carefully selected to suit the information processing styles of neurodivergent people, who often find pastel colours and sans-serif typefaces easiest to digest.
But we think it looks pretty cool, too. As is often the case when making adjustments for neurodivergence - they can make life easier for everyone, regardless of neurotype. Softer colour schemes and more legible fonts are optimal for most brains.
Colour Scheme
Studies show that neurodivergent people often engage best with a softer colour palette, as brighter colours are often overwhelming and contribute to sensory overload (York, 2023).
In addition, Dyslexic and autistic people in particular find orange and peach colours easiest to follow as a background colour, with a darker colour being used for text.
This research informed our palette selection.
Typography
Each font has been chosen based on their legibility for neurodivergent readers.
Research suggests that using a sans-serif typeface (printed/un-joined text), well-spaced kerning (spaces between letters), and using a font size 12pt+ is optimal (BDA).
Definition between titles and body text in size, colour, and spacing is also recommended.
Brand Identity
We knew that we wanted our project to have a clear identity that unified our brand, visually and conceptually.
With our research into the neurological underpinnings of neurodivergence - or what we understand of them in the current literature - we were drawn to the process of communication between neurons (nerve cells responsible for receiving and sending messages all over our body) in the brain as an interesting visual.
It is thought that these processes - the passing of neurotransmitters between neurons via the tiny gaps known as synapses - are affected in some conditions such as ADHD and autism.
It is also a nice symbolic illustration of our intentions with this project - about opening up communication around neurodiversity, and new channels between neurodivergent employees and leaders in the industry.
We visualised this concept with the three dots in all of our line illustrations, repeated across our pictograms, illustrations, and visual resources.
