Urban

A leading provider of mobile massage and beauty treatments within the UK – bringing therapeutic wellness to the city through empathetic design.

A woman lying face down on a massage table in a spa or massage room with candles in the background.
A woman lying face down on a massage table in a spa or massage room with candles in the background.

The challenge

I joined Urban as their in-house graphic designer at a time when brand consistency was fractured. Urban had only just undergone a light brand refresh at the time, exploring a more minimalist and unified visual direction aligned with its ‘innocent’ archetype, and was keen to see how their new guidelines could be further honed and implemented across all of the brand’s digital and print touch points.

The solution

Working in close collaboration with team members across the wider Creative, Marketing and Product departments, my role involved owning and developing Urban’s brand guidelines, and delivering visual directions across all evergreen and seasonal campaigns and asset creation. I helped Urban become a consistent, sophisticated and exciting brand over a three and a half year period, improving customer engagement and conversion rates.

*Hero image supplied by the brand

Scope

Art direction, Brand design, Brand guidelines, Brand strategy, Digital design, Editorial design, Email design, Icon design, Illustration, Infographics, Out of home design, Presentation design, Social media design, Style guide development, Templating, Web & app (UI) design

A person with short, textured blonde hair and dark skin is stretching their arms above their head against a plain light gray wall, with one hand grabbing the opposite wrist.

Creative campaign ideas and visual design solutions reconnect with Urban’s brand guidelines and tone of voice: expressing the human-centric values of an innocent brand whose tagline is ‘city life, with a human touch.’

A digital page with a message that says 'We bring a human touch to a city life' on a dark background, and a photo of two women, one with curly hair wearing a blue sports bra and matching shorts, smiling and extending their hand, and another with a shaved head wearing a black sports bra, both standing against neutral walls.
A digital page with a message that says 'We bring a human touch to a city life' on a dark background, and a photo of two women, one with curly hair wearing a blue sports bra and matching shorts, smiling and extending their hand, and another with a shaved head wearing a black sports bra, both standing against neutral walls.
Open magazine spread showcasing logo design and typography. The left page features a logo design with the word 'URBAN' in black, modern font, alongside a gold design element resembling overlapping loops. The right page provides information about fonts, highlighting the 'Larken' typeface with sample letters and a description of its usage for headlines and subheadings.
Open magazine spread showcasing logo design and typography. The left page features a logo design with the word 'URBAN' in black, modern font, alongside a gold design element resembling overlapping loops. The right page provides information about fonts, highlighting the 'Larken' typeface with sample letters and a description of its usage for headlines and subheadings.
Open magazine or booklet displaying color palette, applications, and a mobile phone mockup of an Instagram profile on the right page.
Open magazine or booklet displaying color palette, applications, and a mobile phone mockup of an Instagram profile on the right page.

‍ ‍Read the brand guidelines

Black and white image of a city skyline with a bridge in the foreground and tall buildings in the background.
A promotional guide titled 'Tone of Voice Guide' with an image of a hand resting on another arm, and the logo of Urban.
A brightly colored, minimalist infographic or presentation slide with a yellow background. The title reads 'What we call things' in large black text. Subheader 'Talking about pros' and various columns are visible, discussing terminology and language use about professionals and clients, with guidance on appropriate word choice and context.
A presentation slide titled 'Embrace the lower-case' featuring illustrations of hands forming the letter 'L' with a yellow circle background, and text labels for roles such as 'Chief Executive Officer' and 'Customer Support team'.

‍ ‍Read the tone of voice guide

A computer screen displaying a YouTube video with a person speaking into a microphone.

“After Jessie took ownership of our Meta creative, we saw an almost doubling of conversion rates.”

— Alice Harbourne, Head of Brand & Creative (previously) at Urban

Close-up of a social media post with the word 'Win' in large black font, and smaller words underneath: 'YOGI', 'BARE', 'URBAN', 'HEALTHY', 'METAL'. Part of a person's hair and shoulder are visible, with a yellow circle at the bottom.
Close-up of a parent holding a sleeping baby wrapped in a beige knitted blanket, focused on maternal mental health and self-care tips
A person performing a push-up with dumbbells, promoting a guide on avoiding injury from a collaboration between Urban App and Another Round.
A fitness advice social media post from urbanapp with the message to listen to your body, explaining that muscle soreness is normal but pain should be avoided, and advising to take it easy if feeling overly fatigued.
Image promoting gift certificates for spa services with a person receiving a massage in the background, text overlay reads 'Gift them this'.
A woman with brown hair lying on her back on a couch, receiving a massage from someone outside the frame. The text overlay says, "Come back home to you in just 60 mins."
An infographic titled "A-Z of massage" from Urban App, featuring sections on Ayurveda, Breath work, and CBD oil with brief descriptions.
A woman receiving a massage with an overlay text that says, "You just need one hour to yourself."
A collage of multiple website pages related to health, wellness, massage, therapy, and relaxation. Various images depict people receiving massages, skincare treatments, and products like essential oils and wellness tools. Text highlights services, promotions, and tips for self-care.
A collection of five smartphone screens displaying a wellness and booking app interface, with features like massage booking, notifications, treatments, and a map showing the user's journey.
A fitness and massage plan poster for a London marathon training program, featuring sections on injury assessment, therapy sessions, muscle recovery, race week preparation, and post-race recovery with images of massages and stretching.
Digital display advertising a massage service at Urban, showing a woman receiving a massage and offering 15% off with a promo code.
Billboard advertisement at a train station promoting massage services with a bright yellow background, black text, and the Urban logo.
A man running outdoors, wearing a dark long-sleeve shirt, shorts, and blue running shoes, passes by a large yellow barrier with promotional text. The background shows a cloudy sky and leafless trees.
A reflexology chart of human feet showing various pressure points and their corresponding organs and body parts, with a key on the right listing numbered labels and their descriptions.
A circular infographic titled 'Common signs of stress' listing symptoms such as headaches or migraines, muscle tension and stiffness, difficulty sleeping, mood swings, increased heart rate and blood pressure, problems with digestion, feeling irritable, and problems with digestion.
Infographic explaining a psychobiotic diet, highlighting daily servings of fermented foods, fruits and vegetables, legumes, and grains with illustrations of food items like sauerkraut, bananas, apples, leeks, oats, and leafy greens.
An infographic about how long a manicure lasts, showing a hand with manicured nails and icons for different nail care steps including regular polish, gel polish, shellac, acrylic nails, and dip powder, with respective duration times.
A promotional infographic about vitamin IV drip therapy, featuring different colorful IV bottles labeled for various health benefits like energy, detox, immune support, skin health, hair health, and fitness, with sliced fruits and small supplement bottles in the background.
Instructional infographic showing top tips for giving yourself a facial massage, with illustrations of a woman performing forehead, eye, nose, and jaw massages, including descriptions for each technique.
Collage of beauty and skincare product images, including diverse portraits of women, close-ups of hands, skincare application, and promotional content for beauty campaigns.
A woman with blonde hair lying on her side on a bed, resting her head on her arm, and looking into the camera with a relaxed expression.
A young woman with a towel wrapped around her head and a white towel around her chest). She is smiling with her eyes closed, with some skin cleansing product on her face.
A woman smiling in a kitchen, holding a teacup. She is wearing a dark blouse with puffed sleeves, gold earrings, and a watch, with a white scarf around her neck. The kitchen has white cabinets, a white brick backsplash, and gold accents.
A woman with tattoos on her arms providing a massage to a person lying on a bed in a sunlit room.
A dark blue promotional card with the text 'A gift for you. Enjoy a home treatment on the Urban app.' placed on top of a brown ceramic dish, with a lit white candle in a glass jar nearby, on a white surface with a white towel or cloth to the left.
A dark blue card with gold text that says 'A gift for you. Enjoy a home treatment on the Urban app' with a gold icon of a hand pointing at a button at the bottom.

Photography credits. Beauty images – Darren Skene. Lifestyle images – Jennifer Moyes. Gift card and sports massage treatment images – Jessie Cohen.

A friendly and whimsical illustration style supported Urban’s B2B therapist-facing brand, adding a human touch to various comms, from their onboarding journey onwards

A black line drawing of a decorative Christmas ornament, including holly leaves, berries, and star-shaped sparkles on a light green background.
A black line drawing of a globe with a child's face and hat, surrounded by small starburst shapes on a pale green background.
A champagne flute pouring sparkling wine with bubbles rising, against a black background.
Line drawing of a suspicious-looking can of soda with an open tab, some drops, and slices of lemon and lime nearby.
Black rectangle with a white smoke effect in the center.
A golden retriever lying on green grass in a park, with trees and a blue sky in the background.

Design takeaways

  • Design ownership. From monthly ‘brand tracker’ updates to leading design thinking workshops with other teams, I took initiative to contribute to fostering trust and understanding of the key role that visual brand design plays.

  • Design consistency. I took a fractured brand with many visual styles and components, and helped create visual harmony and alignment without sacrificing the brand’s essence and ethos.

  • Doing more with less. When working with a focused marketing budget, I have found ways to upcycle existing assets so they are reframed in exciting ways for consecutive campaign projects.

Let’s work together

If you have a similar project you’d love a new design perspective on, get in touch with me at hello@chromakane.com – I look forward to finding out about your brand’s story.