Surface Dermatology Clinic
A modern dermatology practice shaped by brand and spatial design, balancing clinical expertise with human warmth.
Artifacts
The inspirations unearthed through research, shaping the soul of the work.
What if dermatology celebrated the surface not as a flaw to fix, but as a story to understand?
Dermatology carries a responsibility to care for the body. To tend to appearance without vanity. To serve science with humanity. To educate without overwhelming. To welcome without condition. Here, the work is not only in what is seen—but in what is felt.
Archetypes
Enduring personas that guide a brand’s spirit and presence.
enchanting, insightful, visionary, inspiring
to reveal hidden possibilities and create transformative experiences
affectionate, warm, rich, indulgent, spellbinding
to entice desire, to appeal to all of the senses
AESTHETIC
The visual expression of how the brand takes form.
The brand sits between the sage and the lover—knowledge and warmth in equal parts. This mirrored the brand strategy precisely: evidence and empathy.
Colour came first. The skin tone palette, warm and expansive, became the foundation. It allowed the brand to speak to inclusivity. Next came information design. Typography was chosen for legibility without sterility, paired with a modern icon system to bring clarity to complex information.
Photography and visuals followed. Texture became the throughline. Instead of relying solely on images of skin, the team looked to nature—mirroring the richness and variation found in the world around us. This interplay of human and natural textures created a visual system both grounded and alive.
A visual system that felt almost self-evident. Born from strategy, it carried a calm confidence and made immediate sense. The brand wasn’t just cohesive, it was obvious in the best way. So considered, it could only belong to this clinic and its interiors already shaped with care.
Project Overview
Surface Dermatology Clinic is founded by husband-and-wife dermatologists Dr. Jiaravuthisan and Dr. Carr, bringing medical and cosmetic dermatology together under one roof. When the founders set out to create a new home for their established practice, they saw an opportunity to define more clearly what made their approach to care different.
Their appreciation for thoughtful design was already shaping the physical space. They approached us to bring that same level of consideration to the brand, creating an identity and experience that could reflect their values, connect the medical and aesthetic sides of the practice, and consider the patient journey from the moment someone discovers Surface through to their care and aftercare.
The Challenge
Dermatology exists at an intersection of science and aesthetics. Surface needed to give equal weight to both sides of its practice, building trust through medical expertise without feeling overly clinical, while embracing beauty without adopting the conventions of the cosmetic industry. Through our work with the founders, two principles emerged at the heart of the practice: evidence and empathy. Every diagnosis, treatment, and recommendation is grounded in knowledge and research, but delivered through listening, explanation, and genuine care. These principles became the foundation for a brand that could feel intelligent and human in equal measure.
Our Approach
Our relationship with Surface began with strategy, but quickly expanded beyond the traditional boundaries of branding. We considered the practice as a complete patient experience, looking at how the brand could move consistently across communications, digital platforms, physical space, and the many smaller interactions that shape a patient’s relationship with their care.
Inspired by Skin
Skin itself became a natural starting point for the visual identity. Drawing from the Pantone SkinTone Guide, we developed an expansive colour palette inspired by the spectrum of human skin, bringing warmth and diversity to a category often dominated by clinical whites and expected beauty cues.
Macro and micro textures found in nature added another dimension to the visual language, echoing the intricacies and variations of skin without representing it literally. Together, these elements created an identity that could move comfortably between medicine and beauty, reflecting the duality at the heart of the practice.
Considering the Entire Patient Journey
The identity was never intended to live only on a logo or website. We looked at the patient journey as a connected series of experiences, extending the brand across the website, educational resources, marketing, appointment communications, collateral, signage, wayfinding, and aftercare materials.
Each touchpoint was designed to make that information feel clear and approachable, using design not simply to communicate the Surface brand, but to support the experience of care itself.
Extending the Brand Into Space
Working alongside the interior vision for the clinic, we considered how Surface could exist within the physical environment without competing with it. Signage, wayfinding, materials, and graphic moments were developed to feel integrated into the architecture, creating continuity between what patients see before arriving and what they experience once inside.
This thinking extended to Sojourn, the adjoining coffee shop conceived by the founders as a moment of pause within the clinic experience. Meaning a temporary stay or moment of respite within a greater journey, Sojourn was developed as a distinct expression with a natural connection to the wider world of Surface.
Outcome
The result is a cohesive brand experience that gives equal expression to the two principles at the heart of Surface: evidence and empathy. Across digital, physical, and patient-facing touchpoints, the brand brings warmth to medical expertise and thoughtfulness to every interaction.
More than a visual identity, the brand creates a sense of continuity across the entire patient journey—bringing science and beauty, space and communication, expertise and care into one considered experience.