Sir Jackie Stewart launches foundation to fund dementia research
Melanie May | 22 July 2016 | News
Sir Jackie Stewart has launched a foundation aimed at funding research towards a cure for dementia and searching for preventative medicine.
Race Against Dementia was launched following Sir Stewart’s wife’s diagnosis of Alzheimer’s, with WPP’s global brand strategy and design agency, Brand Union, appointed to develop a clear positioning; name and visual identity for the brand.
Brand Union began by creating the name Race Against Dementia, bridging the gap between Sir Jackie’s past and the urgency of the charitable cause.
The second stage involved creating a bold brand identity that would express the charity’s story. Brand Union created the brand’s logo through a graphic fragmentation of the letter D that aims to highlight the distortion and disorientation experienced by those suffering from dementia, whilst also drawing on the speed and thrill of motorsport.
Alongside this, Brand Union developed a visual language to provide a foundation for the whole brand. This includes a custom-designed typeface (named ‘Helen’) created in partnership with font foundry Colophon, that expresses the visual fragmentation of the logo; a toolkit for photographic treatment using an archive of photos from Sir Jackie and Lady Helen’s life; and a colour palette that picks up Sir Jackie’s Scottish heritage and the colour of his cars, French Racing Blue.
Sir Jackie Stewart said:
“It’s my ambition to raise as much awareness around this debilitating condition as possible. Brand Union understood this from the offset and it’s this understanding that has resulted in a foundation people can engage with, relate to and understand. I hope through this initiative we’re able to fund the research that’s critical to finding a cure for dementia.”
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About Melanie May
Melanie May is a journalist and copywriter specialising in writing both for and about the charity and marketing services sectors since 2001. She can be reached via thepurplepim.com.