Ontario Nurses’ Association

Helping nurses
reclaim their nobility

A crumbling health-care system. Disrespected and exhausted nurses. Decades of unjust treatment, contracts and policies. The path to rebrand The Ontario Nurses’ Association started by acknowledging the uncomfortable realities in which their members lived and worked.

Local action is
ONA action

Visit the brand site

The Ontario Nurses’ Association is the largest of its kind in Canada. But in spite of its stature, we identified an experience gap between the union and its 68,000+ members. Our solution is a loud, unapologetic and accessible brand that draws on ONA’s grassroots beginnings to take back the nobility that was stripped from its members.

The renewed ONA brand tells the brutal truth and harnesses anger at injustice to encourage members to show up together and fight for the very thing no one should have been able to take away—their identity.

Collage of handmade signs using ONA brand components
ONA website mockups

We created a brand system that is inspired by generations of nurses using dollar store Bristol boards to fight proudly for their rights. We designed a ‘Fight Local’ microsite to introduce the brand, a trio of books to inspire and influence action, and coordinated a live launch at the union’s biennial convention.

“The new brand is refreshing and we feel more motivated than ever to keep up the movement.”

“The new brand and tools gives us more options for actions and to create our own materials.”

“We feel like we have real ownership over how we use the brand.”

Words from ONA members

ONA video mockups
three ONA book layouts
ONA poster mockups
ONA fight book mockups