Meridian Health

Three merged hospitals, one new name, and a wayfinding system that a nurse can read from the end of a corridor.

Client
Meridian Health
Sector
Healthcare
Year
2021
Scope
Naming, identity, wayfinding
Duration
24 weeks
Meridian 1
Fig. 01

Three hospitals merged and none of the three names could carry the other two. We ran the naming round in full and showed all of it to the board, including the ninety candidates that were struck, which is why the answer held.

What we did. Positioning, architecture and a naming round of three stages. A mark of a circle bisected by a bar, in teal on white. A wayfinding system of panel families sized for corridor distances, tested with staff on night shift, and a set of patient-facing documents in one type scale.

What it changed. The name was adopted across all three sites in a single quarter without a legacy name surviving on a single sign. Wrong-turn incidents logged by the front desk fell by a third in the first year.

Meridian 2
Fig. 02 Appointment card and leaflet in the patient set
Meridian 3
Fig. 03 A directional panel from the corridor family
Meridian 4
Fig. 04 The guidelines, construction and color pages