Developing a visual identity for the HHS Office of Information Security
Problem
The HHS Office of Information Security (OIS) sought to distinguish itself as a distinct entity within HHS. They wanted a visual identity that would unify the breadth of activities performed within the Office and present themselves as a forward thinking government organization.
Solution
We sought input from across OIS to create a logo, a seal, and a set of branded templates, then facilitated the rollout of those templates across OIS.
My Role
As the visual designer, I designed the logos and templates. I worked directly with clients across OIS to gather and implement feedback. I also surveyed leadership across OIS and analyzed the results.
How might we create a visual identity that represents all branches within OIS, presents itself as cutting edge and technologically savvy, and feels in line with other government logos?
Requirements gathering and surveying OIS leadership
After meeting with our clients in OIS to discuss the vision and timeline for the project, I developed a survey for OIS leadership. Based on prior experience, government teams are often collaborative and democratic; they want every team represented and every voice included. To avoid a “design by committee” situation, I developed a survey designed to capture how OIS saw itself and its vision for the future. This way, we allowed people to give feedback up front, when we could best incorporate it into the design and avoid derailing the process with last minute feedback.
The survey presented participants with sets of two concepts (e.g., “Modern, High-Tech, Experimental” vs. “Classic, Traditional, Established”). Participants were asked to use a sliding scale to show where they saw OIS on the spectrum between two concepts. Participants were able to skip any question for any reason. Although I included explanatory text with each item, some themes weren’t clear to participants and their responses spanned the entire spectrum. At first, this seemed unhelpful, and I considered omitting these results from my recommendations. However, I realized that this could also represent values where the organization was split, or values that were not pertinent to the organization.
I wrote the survey to capture attitudes and identify key themes. I intentionally avoided asking questions about colors, fonts, and imagery. In the past, I’ve found that clients often suggest imagery when they’re really trying to represent a concept (e.g., suggesting the use of “hands” to represent partnership, teamwork, and collaboration). Sometimes, they aren’t as attached to specific imagery as they are to the concept itself. Identifying these key concepts without required imagery attached allowed me to create designs that better represented OIS’s vision.
I presented the survey data to our clients and made recommendations accordingly.
Sample survey results and recommendations
Field analysis: Federal government and HHS
I looked at logos across the Federal government and HHS. I looked at agencies that focused on cybersecurity and more “cutting edge” logos designed by 18F, a design and technology consultancy within the Federal government that tends to make cool, modern work. We wanted the OIS brand to look and feel like it belonged with other Federal logos, and noticed some themes, like the color blue, eagles, and seals. I presented these to the client team to give them an idea of where we could go.
Presenting logo options to the clients
Based on survey results and my field analysis, I designed three logo options for the clients. Each option addressed different priorities for OIS.
Traditional seal
The first option was a traditional seal, similar to other government logos. I used blue to represent trust and security, and gold for a strong, classic look. I also incorporated an image of a handshake with the caduceus symbol to represent our partnership with the healthcare sector. I wanted to provide the clients with an option that felt “safe” and incorporated elements they specifically requested.
Cubic shield
The second option was this cubic shield. The logo represents a shield, as well as layers of security. I wanted to provide an option that felt modern and very tech-y. I chose a font that felt industrial to represent our relationship to technology.
Simple shield
The last option was this simple shield. This logo was designed to feel clean, modern, and in line with other modern logos within the federal government. I added hands that looked like laurels to represent our partnership with the healthcare industry. I also chose the font Public Sans, which was designed by the Federal government to prioritize readability.
Refining the logos
Ultimately, none of these logos felt quite right. None of them fully captured everything our stakeholders and clients wanted to capture. Our clients weren’t sold on any particular logo, but they liked the classic seal and simple shield the best. At this time, OIS was also considering rebranding to become the Office of Information Security and Privacy, and wanted to see the concept of privacy incorporated.
Traditional seal
I added a fingerprint to the seal to represent privacy, but otherwise made minimal changes.
Modern shield
I removed the hands from this logo based on feedback from the client. I added a fingerprint to the right side and aligned it with the circuit imagery to make the imagery feel connected. I also added some of the brighter colors from the previous cubic shield imagery, which gave the logo a bit more energy.
Refining the logos
Despite these changes, our clients still decide. They presented the logos to OIS and asked them to vote, however, OIS was split between the traditional seal and the simple shield logo. Our clients asked my team what they should do. Some felt that the seal gave an air of legitimacy, while others wanted to see OIS modernize. With OIS employees split down the middle, they feared picking a logo that half of OIS didn’t like. Was there a way we could combine the two?
There was! We took the modern shield, which the client team I worked with preferred, and designed a traditional seal to go with it. This way, we had a seal for official purposes and a modern logo. We also decided to remove the hands altogether, since we felt that we could represent the concept of “partnership” without them. I split the shield into three parts: circuits, representing technology; the caduceus staff, representing our relationship with the healthcare sector; and the fingerprint, representing privacy. I also decided to remove the gradients as some of our stakeholders felt that they were too modern.
Developing templates and presenting them to the Office
Now that we’d picked a logo, I designed a series of matching templates for OIS to use. I worked with different team leads across OIS to identify what templates we may need. We decided to start with short and long form Word document templates and a PowerPoint template. During this point in the process, our clients decided that the name of the organization would remain the Office of Information Security (OIS), so we revised the logo accordingly.
I created two versions of each template: one with only OIS branding, and one that allowed teams to co-brand with OIS. Some teams had their own logos and had worked hard to establish an audience, and this option would allow them to retain their branding while still linking them to OIS.
Finally, my team and I presented these to OIS. I demonstrated how teams could add their own logos to the templates. We showed people where to find templates, and how to reach out if they wanted new templates.
Final thoughts
Overall, the project was a success. Over the past 10 years, OIS had tried to develop a brand identity several times, but hadn’t been successful until now. The brand and templates were well received by the Office. We set up a plan to maintain and update the templates, which will keep them useful for years to come.
