Rebranding the Psychedelic Space: Numinus
Image Source: Grand Army
A conversation with GrandArmy's co-founder and executive creative director Eric Collins about their rebranding project for Numinus.
By Alexandra Plesner
In June this year, Numinus Wellness Inc. launched a new visual brand identity. It will be rolled out to its clinics, research sites and digital properties by the end of 2022, complementing Numinus' continued growth as a leading mental healthcare company providing psychedelic-assisted therapies across North America.
"Numinus has grown significantly since our founding in 2018. Our recent expansion to the U.S. marked a key opportunity to revitalize our brand while unifying our service offerings," said Payton Nyquvest, Founder and CEO of Numinus. "Our new updated identity will be instrumental for Numinus as we expand our market presence, drive increased brand awareness, and advance as a leader in psychedelic-assisted therapy and mental health care across North America."
Numinus created its new identity in partnership with leading creative agency GrandArmy - a New York-based, award-winning, multidisciplinary creative agency. The rebranding reflects the essence of Numinus' vision – blending the art and science of innovative mental health care through geometry and colour.
We spoke with Eric Collins, Executive Creative Director and studio's co-Founder.
“I’m inspired by good-good science fiction films, videogames from the ‘90s, Kurt Vonnegut, NASA, and the natural world.”
Image Source: Grand Army
Eric, can you tell us more about the GrandArmy and how you connected to Numinus?
I'm one of the founders of GrandArmy. We started as a little project, just a few people, but we have grown over the years, thanks to the quality of our work. Our leading principle has always been "don't have a style". It speaks against the mundane and talks about the quality and thoughtfulness in our work. Numinus reached out to us because they knew about our work and have been our fans.
What is your connection to psychedelics?
I've been doing psychedelics recreationally for more than half my life, and I think the first time I did it was with psilocybin mushrooms as a teenager, and now I'm in my mid-30s. I am an outspoken drug enthusiast because I think the only way to change a narrative is to be comfortable openly talking about something that has been a taboo subject for a long time.
I would overtly talk about it. When I was younger, people would talk about getting trashed in a bar with my friends on the weekends. And I was like: well, I took a bunch of acid. I knew it would make people uncomfortable, but I always liked challenging common beliefs and strongly felt that alcohol and cigarettes are way worse than psychedelics. I have been an outspoken proponent of responsible recreational drug use for two decades.
For the design in language for Numinus, you explored earthy natural tones and ancient geometry.
Yes, you're right. Moving away from psychedelia's aesthetic tropes and cliches was an overtly conscious decision.
There is a cultural weight to drug use in this country, and on the graphic side of things, it feels like the '60s never ended in some ways. Every subculture has its aesthetic, and we thought, why does everything have to be wavy and candy-coloured?
Numinus has always been very leading in terms of design language. Their new icon seems to tell a story of numerology, ancient history and signage. Can you tell us more about the brief and the design process?
Our brief to ourselves was: don't use any cultural graphic baggage. I want people to think about all these things differently, which means there will never be any progress if we go for crazy colours and wavy lines.
Numinus has always emphasized and honoured the tradition behind psychedelic use in indigenous culture and expanded novel research through current scientific practices. Geometric forms appear in all cultures. We thought about the simplest graphic motifs an early human can render. Repeating simple geometry to build more complex structures is one unifying thing in human material culture. We turned to the letter N and started making a form that respects the Golden Ratio, additionally touching on numerology, drawing seven lines for the seven letters of Numinus.
Going back to ancient history in the design language felt important. We live in a state of exploitation and perversion of nature, and I firmly believe we need to get over that and go back to how things have been done forever. So yes, you're right; the grounding in history was vital. You can also find something reflected in the photography style and earthy brand colours.
“As a leading mental health company, we needed to create a brand that emanated the soothing quality of healing and matched Numinus’ vision of creating a world where everyone feels connected and whole.
Our goal was to develop a visual identity that would become easily recognizable, resonate across different demographics, and represent the history and tradition of the important work we are doing in therapy and psychedelic medicine.
Working with GrandArmy, we’ve designed our new logo, which has the iconic quality of a lasting brand, and our colour palette, which effortlessly integrates into our digital facets and physical clinics. We’re excited for this to roll out across all our touchpoints and change the way psychedelic medicine and mental health companies are represented.”
Image Source: Grand Army
