Welcome & Hope  

The UnityPoint Health – Meriter Child & Adolescent Psychiatry clinic offers inpatient and outpatient services for children and teens ages 6-18 with severe behavioral health challenges such as depression, anxiety, suicidal thoughts, bipolar disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and self-harming behaviors. It is hard to express the emotional distress being experienced by those at the moment they are checking in to the clinic.

Experiences. This is what we do at Thysse. We help orchestrate a desired experience. We work to create a better experience, and there is no more important place to get this right than in healthcare.

WELCOME. A simple sentiment that says a lot to a child that is in crisis. Away from home and looking at moving into a strange place, it isn’t easy to draw attention to something external. The goal here was to be impactful without being overbearing and friendly without looking childish. In its presentation, we needed to evoke an emotion of calm, comforting optimism. Creating the large letters from a natural material was essential to accomplishing this goal. The wood letters were constructed like a metal channel letter, using wood species and stain to match the clinic’s interior finishes. We then halo-lit each letter with a soft LED glow to add a visual element that would draw attention without being overstimulating. The custom background graphic wallpaper incorporated UnityPoint – Meriter brand colors alongside a brand color palette we developed for the facility. Non-distinct silhouettes of various age groups and genders were used to evoke “in common-ness” and belonging.

HOPE. The clinic donor wall had to work as more than just a list of names. The donors must be recognized appropriately, but the carrier must underscore the experience we are trying to create for the patient. We used laser-etched acrylic, edge-lit with LED lights to highlight each donor name. Each panel is changeable if new names need to be added. The donor and welcome displays work together with the same typeface and font size, same lighting and datum line. Standing at the check-in desk, one sees both words at the same time.

WELCOME & HOPE. This is, in words, what we are wishing to relay.