Iron Graphics, Illustration and Visual Communication Design · 2021

Three Emotions Brand Identity

by Tsuyoshi Omori

A' Design Award 2021 Iron Winner in Graphics, Illustration and Visual Communication Design
Awarded April 15, 2021
CLIENT: NPO Hansen's Disease Sanatoria World Heritage Promotion Council
Estimated Number of Design Views: 12,592
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About Three Emotions Brand Identity

Three Emotions is a brand identity created for a non-profit organization in Japan. The organization works to have Hansen's disease sanatoria added to the UNESCO World Heritage List. The logo combines three pictograms that express agony, sadness and hope. The mouth of each pictogram is arranged into the shape of a bridge, which also reads as the letter H. The bridge refers to a real bridge built on an island where two sanatoria stand. Posters of 594 by 841 millimeters are displayed in nursery schools, kindergartens and hospitals.

Press Kit

Unique Properties: The logo and poster of a non-profit organization that aims to have Hansens sanatoriums inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage List conveys the message that the tragic past of Hansen’s disease patients must not be forgotten.
Dimensions & Packaging: Poster: Width 594mm x Height 841mm
Tags: leprosy, non-profit organization, Hansen Disease Sanatoria, Hansen Disease, Logo
Production Technology: First, we designed pictograms that illustrate three emotions - Agony, sadness, hope - that patients have experienced for years. Then we arranged the mouth parts of each pictogram into bridge-shape to show the will of serving as a mediator of tragic history for future generations. It also looks like an alphabet H, taken from the first letter of the disease.
Design Challenge: To reach a wider audience regardless of nationality or generation, we have struggled to design a straightforward, catchy and intuitive logo as much as possible. Successfully, the logo has profound implications, and posters that tell those stories are put up on walls at nursery schools, kindergartens and hospitals today. The logo also appears in the text for history class at local schools.
Project Duration: This logo was released in May 2019, updated in April 2020.
Operation Flow: Posters with the logo are put up on walls at nursery schools, kindergartens and hospitals today, helping raise awareness of youngsters who will support our brighter future. To support their action, the logo and key visual can be downloaded. Such as smartphone standby display or sticker can be downloaded for free from website.
Research: The bridge design was inspired by the actual Oku-Nagashima Bridge. It opened in 1988 on the Nagashima Island where two sanatoriums are located, as the result of efforts and struggles by sanatorium residents. Dubbed as Human Recovery Bridge, it has been a symbol of the residents fight against discrimination and prejudice. Now that their average age is over 85, we need to act for them.
Inspiration: Our challenge was to tell their noble mission to a wider audience. Their strong will not to repeat negative history is elaborately expressed here. Today, amid the prolonged Covid-19 crisis, we are seeing heartless and cruel behaviors or utterance more often. The strong message behind the logo resonates with us furthermore.
Image Credits: Image＃1:Photographer Hikaru Kodani, 2020.
Image＃2:Photographer Hikaru Kodani, 2020.
Image＃3:Photographer Hikaru Kodani, 2020.
Patents: Copyrights belong to NPO Hansens Disease Sanatoria World Heritage Promotion Council, 2019.