Bluewater Voyage

After a personal experience with loss, the founders of Bluewater Voyage were inspired to create an alternative to the traditional scattering of ashes at sea. By transforming the conventional memorial urn into a seafaring craft with state-of-the-art tracking technology, they set the stage for new adventure — allowing grieving family and friends to continue a connection with loved ones lost.

As a completely novel concept, the Bluewater Voyage premise was a challenge around which to craft a narrative. The goal was to approach a typically sober and somber subject (the passing of a loved one) with a more aspirational, hopeful message. The brand positioning had to balance a positive, forward-looking invitation while still respecting the consequential subject matter of death. The client was iconoclastic in that they wanted to avoid using conventional terms that invoked a sense of the terminal, like "end," "final," and "last."

Once a brand architecture was determined, it would be implemented across multiple touchpoints, including a website, portal UI, trade show displays, video, animations, and other promotional materials.

The Design Office Of John Murph constructed a nautical brand story that hinges on hope and meaning, in which the viewer is offered a new opportunity to move past the horizon and carry a connection with their loved ones beyond the typical sunset. Bluewater Voyage was presented as a means for family and friends to connect – not through conventional grieving, but instead through exploration and adventure as they follow the course of their memorial buoy.

The Bluewater Voyage brand architecture was crafted from nautical symbology, sampling texture from navigation maps, ebbing tides, and the stenciled lettering typically found on life preservers.

This, along with a vibrant oceanic color palette and illustrations that evoked cut paper interpretations of the sea floor, supplemented a gentle, encouraging tone of voice.

The result was a compassionate call to adventure, an offer of hope, and an invocation to start a new chapter of healing and connection.

The Bluewater Voyage Portal is a key component of the brand experience, opening a global gateway to trace each buoy's journey. Accessed from any device, the online Portal allows family and friends to keep up to date on a loved one's journey – providing location, weather conditions, current direction and more.

As part of the overall brand strategy development, The Design Office designed the UI experience for this critical function, and produced a simple video that highlights the Portal's capabilities. This narrative serves as both an education tool for potential customers and a point of dialogue for investors.

As a novel concept with an effective brand presentation, Bluewater Voyage was well received. As an example, the founders entered it in an industry Innovation Award competition during the 2023 NFDA International Convention and Expo in Las Vegas, an annual gathering of the funeral industry. This pitted the brand against other product and service innovators from across the world.

Bluewater Voyage's candidacy was entered in the form of a 60-second video written and produced by The Design Office of John Murph, in which the core brand position was articulated. As a result, Bluewater Voyage won the competition and was featured as part of a keynote presentation during the convention.