Scope

360° rebrand, strategy, design systems, website, socials. Role as Creative Director and Designer, for MDL Fonds 2024-2026

Scenario

1 in 4 Dutch people lives with a condition affecting their stomach, intestines, liver, or pancreas - not a niche statistic, but a national reality. And yet, for decades, the conversation around gastrointestinal health remained quiet, stigmatised, and largely invisible. Having raised close to 20 million funds over the last 2 years to scientific research and treatments that aim to improve people's lives, Maag Darm Lever Stichting needed to stop presenting itself as a passive fund. As advocates for better healthcare, it was time for Maag Darm Lever Stichting to own its role as the leading force in gastrointestinal health in the Netherlands - and we, DPDK, were all in for it.

Approach

DPDK brought into the table full repositioning - strategy, identity, name, and everything in between. Maag Darm Lever Stichting became MDL Fonds and a new scalable, approachable and human brand has emerged. The identity earns its distinctiveness from the inside out and was built around a single creative decision: the logo itself is formed by the three organs at the heart of the digestive system - stomach, intestines, liver - abstracted into a mark that is both medical in meaning and bold in form. A system of patterns was derived to carry the identity across every surface - from the brand book and website to merchandise, communications, apps, public toilets and national events - turning biology into visual language. MDL Fonds brand doesn't just talk about the body, but it's an identity colourfully shaped by it.

Clay

The image world took the same conviction and the creative direction pushed it even further. A single, unexpected material: clay. Organic, malleable, and warm - it mirrors the digestive system's own nature, and the possibility of reshaping it through research and care. Just as clay can be molded and reshaped, the digestive system can be nurtured through innovation and treatment - a quiet but powerful metaphor for everything MDL Fonds stands for. The material's handcrafted quality also does something the clinical world rarely manages: it makes vulnerability feel safe. Approachable. Human. Art directed with intention and brought to life with AI, the resulting images translate one of the most stigmatized topics in healthcare into something people can actually look at, connect with, and feel. Not in spite of the subject matter - because of it. Human enough to feel. Loud enough to matter.

Impact

MDL Fonds launched not as a fund asking for donations, but as a movement across the Netherlands. One unified and powerful brand story now travels across every touchpoint - campaigns, hospitals, and fundraising platforms, replacing years of fragmentation and giving gastrointestinal health a presence it never had before. What was once a quiet, clinical fund has become a bold, human voice - proof that even the parts of us we don't like to talk about deserve an identity worth paying attention to.

Collaborations: Michael Vromans (CCO), Davide Mancini (CD), Tamar Kutalia (intern designer), Laura Vecchio (junior designer), Kevin Nijland (motion designer), Braam de Villiers (UX designer)

Note: MDL Fonds collaborates closely with multiple external freelancers. Some productions were designed outside DPDK, however mostly under my Art Direction supervision/approval and contact - through all years of this partnership. The credits of the photo of MDL Fonds’ Director Mariël Croon presenting the encouragement award to Alderman Malkis Jajan belong to Emiel Muijderman - image from Tubantia.nl.