San Francisco-based brand strategy and design studio Landscape has created a new brand identity for Positive Intelligence, a mental fitness program built on the tenets of the New York Times best-selling book, Positive Intelligence, by Stanford Lecturer Shirzad Chamine.

The evolved brand includes a comprehensive design system update including a new logo, messaging, illustration style, typography, and digital toolkit that come together to elevate the organization’s unique methodology across the program’s website, marketing touchpoints, and an updated app experience. The resulting product is an optimistic, intuitive, and science-backed program that seamlessly guides users of all types toward sustained mental wellbeing and positivity, without overwhelming participants with information.

Frank H Vial, Director of Strategy at Landscape says: “For Positive Intelligence, we’ve created a brand system that captures both the approachability and the scientific foundation of this transformative program, and signals a powerful invitation to train your mind for positive change.”

In 2012, Stanford Lecturer Shirzad Chamine published the New York Times Bestselling book Positive Intelligence. Based on his Stanford lectures and a global 500,000+ person research study, Chamine has identified “Mental Fitness” as a key factor for unlocking peak performance and happiness.

“Mental Fitness is the capacity to handle life’s challenges with a positive mindset (rather than a negative one). Research shows this to be at the root foundation of optimizing performance, wellness, and relationships. Through daily practice over a few weeks, it’s possible to strengthen those neural pathways in the brain that support positive reactions” explains Landscape’s Vial. “Our job was to translate this unique approach and methodology into a brand advantage that can build trust, differentiation, and a following.”

The evolved brand is designed to drive greater awareness, engagement, and conversion across audiences – ranging from individuals interested in taking the course to large companies looking to roll it out to their teams.

Jessica Katona, Landscape’s Creative Director leading the project says: “The evolved brand succeeds in orienting a diverse audience to the power of mental fitness. While the idea of strengthening your mind may be a new one – the value of this practice is powerful. We worked with the Positive Intelligence team to define a system that could appeal broadly, communicate clearly, and be extended by their team as the business grows rapidly.”
In addition to a vibrant color palette that reflects both the positive potential of the methodology and the diversity of its many participants, Landscape have developed an expansive library of illustrations that bring the narrative to life and show the effects positive intelligence can have on everyday life.

Illustrations are also used to convey abstract concepts ranging from managing stress or conflict to strengthening relationships, and cultivating creativity, all in a simple and charming manner. These illustrations were rendered in hand-drawn linework, to bring an energetic and human quality to the visual system.

The entire Landscape team began its immersion process by completing the 6-week Positive Intelligence foundational course; an experience that Vial and Katona say helped them and their colleagues “articulate our work from a deeper level of understanding, feeling the positive impact the program has on our own lives firsthand.”

As a result of this understanding, Landscape was able to weave the existing narrative components (e.g. Saboteurs vs. Sage) first laid out in Chamine’s 2012 best seller into a cohesive narrative that guides participants through the digital course experience and platform.
The app itself has been overhauled to create an experience that is easier to navigate and delightful to come back to every day – something that the Landscape team was uniquely positioned to develop as a result of their first-person experience with the Positive Intelligence program.

The new app helps participants measure their progress and track their progress with daily metrics, and provides engaging visuals designed by Landscape to complement Chamine’s audio content, ultimately creating an optimistic and welcoming environment for people to engage in.

As the conversation around mental health and wellbeing becomes increasingly mainstream, a flexible and robust program like Positive Intelligence illustrates the power of translating scientific advances into accessible opportunities for broader audiences to take actionable steps towards improving their wellbeing in new and transformative directions.

Vial says: “Whether you’re investing in your own mental fitness, or the mental fitness of your entire team, Positive Intelligence offers an engaging and intriguing experience that can challenge, delight, and benefit participants – we’re proud to have played a role in bringing that to life through design.”

Landscape’s brand design for Positive Intelligence is rolling out now across all the company’s touchpoints.