California Department of Public Health – Rebrand

The Challenge

In 2023, the California Department of Public Health (CDPH)—one of the nation’s largest and most visible state health agencies—launched an initiative to modernize its brand and communications strategy. The goal was to create a more cohesive, inclusive, and future-ready brand that better reflects the diversity of California, reinforces CDPH’s leadership in public health, and aligns with National Public Health Accreditation standards. With 61 local health jurisdictions and a broad network of partners, CDPH sought to strengthen internal alignment, build public trust, and support consistent, audience-centered communication across all channels and communities.

Our Approach

We applied a four-phase implementation model—Inform, Analyze, Build, and Support—to guide the statewide rebrand from research to rollout. Our research phase included in-depth interviews with public health leaders at the California Health and Human Services Agency (CalHHS), 12 focus groups with CDPH leaders and staff, and a survey of more than 100 internal and partner stakeholders. To ensure statewide representation, we also conducted a statewide survey of 2,000 Californians representing California’s racial, ethnic, geographic, and generational diversity.

The research revealed a key insight: public health is personal health. This became the foundation for the rebrand’s design strategy. From there, our creative team explored multiple visual directions through mood boards and early concepts, which were tested and refined in collaboration with CDPH teams. We developed six logo options and brought them into statewide focus groups to hear directly from Californians. The selected logo—a vibrant map of California composed of intersecting, multicolored shapes—symbolized unity, inclusion, and CDPH’s presence in every corner of the state. Civilian then codified this identity through comprehensive brand guidelines, ensuring the system was flexible, cohesive, and ADA-compliant.

Launched in September 2024, the new brand was designed to be flexible yet cohesive, inclusive of a suite of assets that could be easily adapted by internal teams and partners. Civilian also developed a comprehensive Strategic Communications Toolkit to support brand adoption, reinforce accreditation readiness, and help staff and partners tell a unified story about CDPH’s mission and impact.

The Results

The rebrand was immediately praised for its clarity, cultural relevance, compelling visual representation of California’s diversity, and its deeply inclusive, audience-informed development process. The new brand helped staff, partners, and the public better understand and connect with CDPH’s work, enhanced internal alignment, and provided a strong foundation for rebuilding public trust. The ADA-compliant branding guidelines established a flexible and cohesive visual system, while the Strategic Communications Toolkit empowered staff and partners to communicate more effectively, consistently, and confidently across platforms. The rebrand was recognized with Gold awards for Campaign Branding by SMANA and for Branding Refresh by the Hermes Creative Awards, and was selected as a presentation at APHA 2025 and NPHIC 2025 for its success in building public trust through inclusive, research-informed design.