rejane dal bello: PAZ holandesa hospital

 PAZ holandesa hospital visual identity by rejane dal bello

in this short interview rejane dal bello (RDB) tells designboom (DB) more about her workfor the non profit children’s hospital PAZ holandesa in arequipa, peru.

about PAZ holandesa hospital‘the children’s hospital provides children with access to comprehensive medical care,proposing a model for urban hospitals in peru, which is accessible to people both with and without financial resources.’ its service is based on equality;socio-economic conditions play no role.

‘the name of the children’s hospital is taken from the peruvian boy tony molleapaza rojas. he died on january 31, 2005 at 11 years of age to cancer. in the years that tony was a PAZ holandesa patient he left an indelible impression with his enormous incentive to fight against his illness and his ever persistent positivity and social sense.’

‘it is an honor to be able to connect his name with this special children’s hospital.the ultimate goal of PAZ holandesa is to close the gap that exists within the peruvian health sector, specifically for children with birth defects and without financial resources.the hospital is founded by mrs. marjan van mourik and dr. daniel paz y geuze.’

PAZ holandesa logotype

PAZ and various other characters from the PAZ holandesa hospital visual identity

DB: please can you tell us how you came to work on the PAZ holandesa project?RDB: together with yomar augusto, I sponsored the identity for the hospital. it’s been an amazing experience to work with the creator of the hospital (marjan van mourik) who is devoted to this amazing project and is a source of inspiration for the design development.we started in 2005 but the visual identity work is ongoing and includes everything from stationeryto environmental graphics, uniforms and many more applications.

DB: what was the starting point for the identity?RDB: there were not a precise briefing, only to understand what the hospital is about and the willingness to help the project. the hospital is dedicated to the tony rojas molleapaza soI decided to make a character ‘PAZ’ that represented tony’s presence at the hospital, since he was strong and fought against his disease bravely, the character needed to evoke hope and strength.  so I chose bold solid characters and vibrant colors for their power and energy and the flower as a metaphor of growth, this all added up to to be the elements that define the visual identity.

DB: …and the other characters?RDB: the other characters represent the staff of the hospital which help PAZ. they’re meant to be part of the daily life in the hospital, so the characters are based on real staff members as the doctors, doctor’s assistants, nurses, administrator, cleaner, technician etc.so the character can interact with the patients.

for example, for this to happen, instead of the staff wearing a traditional uniformevery staff member is equal, wearing a t-shirt, but with their character printed on it. so the doctor’s clothing, is the same as the administrator’s, or cleaner’s, the only difference is the character printed on it – the PAZ family is a living thing!

its funny because the director marjan van mourik told me that the doctors hated this idea, because they want to use their traditional, hierarchical doctors clothing…new ideas tend to upset people!

wall decal graphic

wall decal graphic

variations of the PAZ character

business card

letterhead

envelope

pamphlet

coloring book cover

coloring book pages

PAZ soft toy

PAZ memory game

tableware

fruit sticker

eye test chart

hospital signage

signage production

signage installed at the hospital

wall decal

wall decal

wall decal

DB: the project has gained significant attention from the design publicationsbut how has the reaction been from with the client, staff and patients?RDB: very positive especially because the children can interact with the characters and this takes away the taboo or the fear they may have of going to the hospital and hopefully it makes them forget a little why they are there and their pain.

DB: what are your thoughts on pro-bono design work?RDB: I believe in help, coming from a family that invested a lot of  time in helping others that are less privileged; family, friends, public service and charity. I worked as a social worker in brazil every sunday for years for free but I received so much more in return.

when I met marjan van mourik, I could not believe it how amazing it was to hear about her mission with the hospital, the fact that she was moving her entire life to go and live in peru to make this hospital a reality. I’ve seen that people can live their dreams and make the impossible possible.

I can only be grateful that I am able to add a bit to this wonderful project and continue to admire the courage and perseverance of marjan and her team immensely.