Background

The Center for Applied Health Informatics (CAHI) is part of Penn Medicine and functions as a “center of centers.”

Rather than operating as a single department, CAHI brings together multiple groups that already exist across the health system and aligns their work around shared goals. Its role is to aggregate health system data, information, and expertise, then translate that collective intelligence into action that improves care, operations, and decision-making.

Much of CAHI’s work happens behind the scenes. It is essential infrastructure, necessary but often invisible. Because of this, the Center needed a clear identity and website to explain who it is, what it does, and why it matters to people across Penn Medicine.

Challenge

Making an invisible but critical function visible and understandable to a wide range of audiences.

Solution

A clear brand identity and website grounded in CAHI’s role as a connector, coordinator, and driver of progress.

Results

A cohesive visual and digital presence that helps people quickly grasp CAHI’s purpose and value.

Challenge

Making an invisible but critical function visible and understandable to a wide range of audiences.

Solution

A clear brand identity and website grounded in CAHI’s role as a connector, coordinator, and driver of progress.

Results

A cohesive visual and digital presence that helps people quickly grasp CAHI’s purpose and value.

Penn Medicine and Center for Applied Health Informatics logos on a wood-textured background. The tone is professional and academic.
The Objective
Give form to a complex, collaborative mission

The goal was to create an identity and website that could express CAHI’s role as connective tissue across the health system. The work needed to support recognition, feel credible within an academic medical environment, and help people understand that CAHI is not a data warehouse, but a coordinated engine that turns information into insight and action.

A dotted spiral design with blue and red hues is centered on a white square, placed on a vibrant red background. The image is visually striking and dynamic.
Design Solution
A logo rooted in connection and coordinated motion

We worked closely with the CAHI team to translate their strategic thinking into a visual system. Conceptually, CAHI described itself using metaphors such as a nerve center, air traffic control, a funnel, and an engine for progress. These ideas informed a logo built around networked connection and coordinated movement, with individual elements that remain distinct but come together as part of a larger whole. The mark reflects many inputs converging into purposeful output, mirroring how CAHI operates across Penn Medicine.

Two hands hold a tablet displaying the CAHI website. The screen shows a white-coat clinician walking with a nurse. Text mentions healthcare solutions.
Color palette
Yellow
Red
Orange
Mid Blue
Dark Blue
Text on a blue gradient background reads: "The Center’s mission is to design and implement integrated health informatics solutions that advance high-priority health system outcomes."
Challenges & Accommodations
Representing coordination without oversimplifying

CAHI supports physicians, scientists, health system leaders, and other professionals who rely on timely, reliable information to make decisions. The challenge was creating a single identity and website that could speak to all of these audiences, convey seriousness and agility, and reflect collaboration without flattening the complexity of the work.

Outcomes
A foundation for alignment and recognition

The final identity and website give CAHI a clear public presence that matches how the Center operates internally. Together, they help people understand that CAHI is reserved for high-priority goals and built to connect the right people and information at the right time. By making an invisible function visible, the system supports alignment, confidence, and ongoing collaboration across Penn Medicine.