Health insurance is often encountered at moments of stress, uncertainty, and vulnerability. It’s one of the most sensitive industry contexts, and proved a challenging space for design to help solve. The brand needed to carefully balance empathy with credibility.
We partnered with Franklyn, to deliver a mature brand centered around Optimistic Realism, that resonated with a diverse audience of members, brokers and hospitals nation-wide.
Role / In-house Lead Designer
Design Director / Dani Balenson
Oscar Team/ David Mikula, Kate Apostolou, Topher Lorette, Libby Denault, Craig Damrauer, Carmela Ciuraru, Jonathan Wilson
Franklyn Team / Tess Havas (Illustrator), Ashley Van Belle,
Michael Freimuth
At the center of the system was a refined visual language that emphasized Optimistic Realism. A modern update of Oscar’s original calling card of royal blue, and a flexible supporting color palette that supported campaigns, illustrations and product.
The Oscar brand has always had roots in industry-defining illustration. Research with our older audiences showed that flat and abstract illustrations were unattractive. With Franklyn, we shaped a style that shows real people, doing real things. We hoped a member could feel care and resonance through the craft in our illustrations.
Illustrations were systematized into 4 levels of scale: Full-bleed scenes, spot illustrations, marketing icons, and product icons.
The rebrand was designed to flex across a wide range of contexts—from everyday member communications to large-scale campaigns during the COVID-19 pandemic. Read more about the redesign here.
The system supported Oscar through a period of heightened visibility, including its IPO in 2021 under the ticker OSCR on the NYSE.
