strengthening
connections

the challenge

Kenai needed a strong visual identity to link their cutting-edge science to a seemingly unrelated, inherited company name.

the solution

Through a process of intentional listening, deep research and broad creative thinking, Pinkergreen uncovered conceptual and visual connections between Kenai, our client and Kenai, the place. We crafted a custom brand story, a visual strategy, and an identity, based upon the connection between the two.

Kenai is a peninsula in southeastern Alaska, renowned for its diverse aquatic ecosystems. These waterways are interrelated and in harmony–fluid lifelines, connecting people, ideas, and resources. Fishing is critical to the area: environmentally for a healthy ecosystem, financially for the economy, and culturally to the indigenous community. Salmon is particularly important to native Alaskans, representing rebirth, transformation, renewal, and hope.

This kind of connection is vital to a wholesome, fulfilling experience: human kinship, interconnectivity in nature, neurons and synapses in the brain. Just as Kenai, Alaska’s headwater, groundwater, and wetlands are all integral to the thriving ecosystem, a healthy brain relies on robust neural networks where synapses can flow freely. The Kenai Therapeutics treatment is innervating, replacing neurons, strengthening pathways, and reviving healthy connections throughout the brain. The procedure enables patients to continue to connect with their families and plan for their future, restoring possibility, creativity, and hope.

We found numerous visual commonalities between Kenai’s neuroscience and Kenai, Alaska. The brand identity is inspired by the symmetrical reflection of the Kenai river landscape and rooted in neural health. Gentle curving forms come together like neural connections, with a synaptic gap in between. The landscape-inspired palette instills optimism and hope. The custom illustration style references winding rivers and topography, and layers of tissue and ridges in the brain.