Harvest Medicine Cannabis Clinic
Visual Branding | Spatial Design | Custom Fabrication | Large-scale Infographic Design | Installation
The Brief:
Where we Contributed:
Westwind provided 100% of the services.
Client: Harvest Medicine
Industry: Retail & Discovery Centres
Location: Calgary & Edmonton
Timeline: August 2016 - October 2016
Harvest Medicine (HMED) is a chain of medical clinics that work to help treat patients through cannabis-based medicine. Though you can visit HMED clinics in 5 different cities across Canada, Calgary residents only need to drive a few minutes northwest on Crowchild to get to the first, and flagship, clinic.
HMED gave the Westwind Design Group team a challenge: the design, fabrication, and installation of new spaces to welcome, comfort, and educate patients. This challenge had an additional twist: everything was a blank slate, down to the visual brand of Harvest Medicine.
Solving Problems
In 2016, the legal medical cannabis industry in Canada was working hard to differentiate itself from the ‘grey market’ clinics of Vancouver and the various self-proclaimed ‘cannabis healing’ experts of social media.
HMED was a government-licensed, fully-accredited clinic that had partnerships with only the most reputable and law-abiding cannabis producers. Their staff was highly trained, and their doctors were among the most sought-after in Calgary. It was Westwind’s job to help get that distinction across without words - only the power of design and brand.
The Goal-Markers:
In order for this project to be considered successful, Westwind had to accomplish the following:
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Design and build a space that would reinforce the feeling in patients that they were trusting a medicine-and-science-first clinic with their health.
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Design and build displays that were both beautiful and easy to update should regulations or partnerships change.
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Design and build to a high level of accessibility and low reading comprehension threshold, as people of all ages, abilities, and conditions would be frequenting the space.
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Design and install lobby wall graphics that were interesting enough to draw the eyes and questions of those walking past, in order to lower advertising costs and increase word-of-mouth.
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Create a functional layout from a tight space. A clinic of any kinds needs a significant amount of private areas, and a cannabis clinic will often need multiple private areas as a patient progresses through the intake, consulting, and education processes.
"The Westwind Design team was phenomenal to work with...Nearly every patient who walked into our clinic commented on it's look and feel - and we owed that largely to the Westwind team. Furthermore, the team was on budget and delivered on time.
- Shekhar Parmar
How we got there:
1:
First, we had to dive into research. We learned about cannabis as medicine, the state of the medical cannabis industry, and applicable laws. We got to work understanding the needs, wants, and fears of potential patients. We digested the process of intake, consultation, and education from varying points of view of staff, doctors, and patients.
2:
Third came construction. A significant amount of work was done in a short amount of time. Brand, design, fabrication, and installation were all completed within a few months to meet a tight opening deadline.
3:
First, we had to dive into research. We learned about cannabis as medicine, the state of the medical cannabis industry, and applicable laws. We got to work understanding the needs, wants, and fears of potential patients.
4:
Fourth was installation of educational and functional elements. We added the lobby and doctor’s office wall graphics, different privacy and accessibility components, and custom signage as required by both the government and building management. We added custom-made displays that would showcase our partners and help further educate patients about their options.
Final Thoughts
Harvest Medicine is said to have set records for patient growth. People still find themselves stopping at the entrance of the lobby then slowly making their way in to read the beautiful wall graphics. The patient experience created by the staff and the space alike created a huge amount of buzz that led to a massive increase in the number of referrals, appointments, and staff. Within a year, Harvest Medicine had begun opening new clinics, all of which rely on the design elements and educational materials developed by Westwind Design Group.
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