Bue — Case Study | First Encounter Ventures

Case study · Past company

A lifestyle company that designed, manufactured and sold premium medical equipment and mobility products. Our goal was to take something boring and medical and make it desirable and attractive, and in doing so, change the narrative around aging and mobility.

New YorkHealth & homeFounded and operated

A woman in a pink robe sitting on the teal Bue Shower Chair against a coral curtain — Launch campaign photography

A man seated on the white Bue Shower Chair, seen from behind — Launch campaign photography

The intention

From beige and boring to something people want.

Medical equipment and mobility products had looked the same for decades: beige, clinical and designed only to function. They told the people using them that something was wrong. We set out to change the space by adding style without giving up function, and by marketing it the way you would market a lifestyle brand.

Every detail and every element was intentional and carefully selected: the name, the circles in the mark, the colors, the typefaces, the curve of the arms, the way the chair folds, the people in the photos and the channels we built to reach them. Nothing was left to default.

What we built

A safety product people wanted to own.

Brand

A medical equipment and mobility brand with a short, friendly name and a calm, residential look, so its products felt like they belonged in a well-designed home.

Rendering of the Bue Shower Chair's rotating feet

Design

Designed in the U.S. with the inventor of the HurryCane®. Rotating feet moved outward for the widest, most stable base, with curved arms to guide you in and out.

Product

The Shower Chair: fully foldable, shipped assembled, 11.6 lbs, holding up to 350 lbs, backed by a 100 Showers Guarantee. Followed by a line of ADA-compliant stainless steel grab bars.

Product design

Renderings and animation

Every angle, then folded flat in one motion: the chair ships assembled and folds for storage or travel.

Close-up rendering of the back of the Bue Shower Chair

Close-up rendering of the seat, backrest and curved arm of the Bue Shower Chair

Brand identity

From the Bue Brand Playbook

Brand purpose: Make the world move better.

1. Circles. The mark is made entirely from a series of circles on one grid.

2. Mark. The circles resolve into a single shape that is both the letter “b” and the accessibility icon.

3. Lockup. A geometric wordmark built on the same circles, with an optically refined “e” and softened corners, set to balance the mark.

Color palette

Four primary colors, five secondary colors and a range of neutrals. No absolute black, so the palette stays warm next to the primaries.

Primary

Hyper Violet#494EE7

Golden One#F7D147

Midnight#0B1E46

Celia#51A9BC

Secondary

Tiger#E9833B

Cold Blue#ABC5EA

Pink Berry#EC6A5C

Ox#E4D4C3

Deep Aqua#224145

Neutrals

Off Black#0E0E0E

Shadow#222222

Fossil#3D3B3B

Smoke#AFACAC

Heather#EBE9E9

White Flag#FFFFFF

Typography

Two geometric sans serifs that echo the circles in the mark.

Modern Era

The primary typeface for brand touch points and interface, used in bold for headlines, subheads, labels and numbers.

Axiforma

Used for body copy: regular for reading, light for call-outs and bold when citing references.

Graphic elements

A single dot stands for one person going through a change, like getting older or adjusting to a medical condition, and moments that can feel lonely. Grids of dots show what happens when people come together: talking, listening, collaborating and moving forward.

Four dot patterns labelled Talking, Listening, Collaborating and Moving forward

Element use

Crops of the logo's own shapes, the circle, the dot and the curve of the “b”, used at different scales either to hold content or as a background, so even a corner of a layout reads as Bue.

Imagery approach

Three moodboards directed every shoot, and you can see them at work in the launch campaign at the top of this page.

Fashionable

Shoot the product the way design brands shoot a release. Make every shot count, get up close and from every angle, color-block or go mono-tone, tease the colors, and show the product elegantly in a real setting.

Moodboard of close-up furniture details: wood legs, leather and metal joins, sculpted white curves — Engineered
Don't give too much away in one shot. Zoom in and show off the engineered curves, materials and build quality of the product.

Moodboard of saturated single-color bathroom scenes with people posed playfully — Functional · Colorful · Fun
Lean into the color palette, because color is one of Bue's biggest selling points. Use people to show how the product works and to tell the story; including them gives a safety product a human quality.

Moodboards from the Bue Brand Playbook. Reference imagery collected to direct our own shoots.

Copywriting & creative approach

Creative platforms for the launch

Say the thing no one else would.

Shower chairs had always been sold quietly, as something to tuck away in the other bathroom. We wrote Bue the other way around: confident, a little cheeky and proud of the product. Each creative platform pairs a line with how it comes to life across video, social and the real world. Two led the way.

It’s hard to not talk about it.

You’d never tell anyone you use a shower chair. But taking a shower with Bue isn’t embarrassing, it’s enlightening. Bue chairs are meant to be shown off, not hidden away. Once you try it, you’ll want to tell the world.

In the work

Friends on FaceTime getting ready in their bathrooms, who can’t stop dropping their Bue into the conversation.
Word of mouth on social, in owners’ own voices: I had my second shower today. Because Bue. My Bue folds up so easily. But I just can’t bear to put it away.
A woman who talks about Bue at work, over the garden fence, at a dinner party and at the theater.

Tagline: Bue. I have one.

Functional. Beautiful.

Bue chairs are made to be seen. We have nothing to hide, so let’s just show the chair and all the details to the world.

In the work

Film the chair the way you would shoot a luxury car, highlighting the sleek lines and ergonomic details before revealing it’s a Bue.
Install it in a pristine white gallery with a shower falling like rain on the chair.
Treat it like an Eames chair and place it in surprising public places, where people can discover it.

Line: It’s not only super functional, it’s super beautiful.

Also explored Nothing to hide.This is not a chair.Every day is a good day.

Building an audience

Two channels, over 90,000 followers.

We built the brand's own community on @movewithbue, and alongside it Art in Aging, a media channel celebrating people aging, thriving and inspiring, that gave Bue a marketing channel it owned outright.

Both fed a direct-to-consumer store with phone ordering, an editorial blog for adults over 50 and the people caring for them, and email campaigns built around the launch.

23.8Kfollowers · 791 posts

@movewithbueThe brand

An influencer in a black swimsuit and blue leg warmers dancing with the teal Bue Shower Chair in front of a city fountain

890likes · 121 comments

“The shower chair just got sexy!”Influencer post

68.4Kfollowers · 1,373 posts

@artinagingThe media channel

We worked with creators to show the chair in ways no one expected from a shower chair: here, as a dance partner in a city fountain, set to “Maniac” from Flashdance.

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