A gentle brand to help
death and dying feel ok
Death and branding don’t often meet (perhaps that’s a good thing) but Poppy and her team taught us that thoughtful communication is central to helping grieving people. Organising a funeral is stressful. If design could make it feel better, we were ready to figure out how.
Lovers were invited to shadow the team at Poppy’s to really understand the nature of their thoughtful, human approach to funerals. We translated this insight into a flexible new branding system and applied it to the company’s website and communication materials.
Sunshine
& Respect
We developed a visual identity with soothing qualities, typographically gentle but always ready to talk. Colours took their cue from the way light passes through poppy petals, revealing subtle variances in light and tone. We wanted to build a calm, warm sense of professionalism.
“When you have a brand that works well, it’s something that stretches you into the future and into what’s possible. I really felt that Lovers treasured what we were doing.”
A Fresh Approach
To Funerals
Poppy and her team choose words very carefully when they’re talking with grieving customers. We helped them turn this instinctive way of speaking into a tone for the brand, going on to write some key repeatable lines such as ‘Let’s create a funeral that works for you’.
Gentle Signposting
Beyond a supportive emotional tone, the brand needed to give really clear, uncomplicated guidance at an informational level. Funeral companies have been criticised for a lack of clarity in their pricing structures, so Poppy’s wanted to offer a refreshing level of clarity.
Talking Death
Most companies can talk openly about what they do, without fear of spooking their audience. But what if everyone’s afraid to talk? So many funeral companies manage to make the subject of death feel icky. A big focus for the Poppy’s brand was simply putting people at ease.
