Story

Accepted

Aleris is a specialist who has time for you, combining medical expertise with human closeness.

Why it looks like this

The brand is clear, responsible and genuinely interested in the person it meets, and that holds in care, in communication and in every decision we make about how we express ourselves.

Some things about Aleris are the same in every situation: the voice, the palette, the typeface and the principles. These are constant. Other things are meant to be adapted to the situation: the register, how the colours are composed, the order of information and the level of detail. These are contextual.

Telling the two apart is the most important thing to understand before you make a brand decision.

Change something constant and Aleris is no longer recognisable as Aleris. Keep something contextual fixed and the communication gets worse.

What never changes

One test applies to everything we make
Does this feel written for me in my situation?
The character, the palette, the typeface and the hard rules stay the same in every channel, format and situation
These are what make Aleris recognisable as Aleris.
The palette is petrol, sand and orange
Three families with three roles, and no arbitrary colours.
The typeface is Museo Sans, with Arial as the fallback
Sentence case throughout, and no all caps.
The character stays the same wherever the reader is
What changes with the reader's situation is the information architecture.

How to apply it

All media

When you make a brand decision, ask whether it should be the same regardless of who, where, when and why. If it should, it is constant: follow the guideline.

If the right choice depends on the situation, such as who the reader is, which channel it is and which state the reader is in, it is contextual: read the situation and use your judgement.

If you cannot find any guidance at all, you have found a gap in the system. Flag it.

If you are building a digital product, start with Baseline for tokens, components and interaction patterns, and with Voice for how it sounds. If you are writing to patients, start with Voice. If you are making a brand decision, start with constant and contextual, which gives you a way to reason even where the guidelines say nothing.

What good looks like

Do
A welcome message for a health check-up that leads with what the examination gives
The reader booked out of curiosity and wants to feel affirmed in that choice.
Don't
The same welcome message leading with risks
Risk messaging undermines the sense of agency this reader came with.
Do
New opening hours by text message: one sentence on what has changed and a link to rebook
A patient with a booking needs the change and the next step, and nothing more.
Don't
The website's full explanation, copied into the text message
The same wording in every channel signals that we see no difference between the situations.
Do
A clinical interface that gives petrol more room
The palette is the same, and the composition follows the situation.
Don't
A new colour added for the clinical interface
The palette is constant, whether the work is a patient brochure or an internal presentation.

Asked about story

Is the Present Expert the same idea as "den nära experten"?
What may I change for my channel, and what has to stay the same?

Creating with story

Source and status