NHS Somerset / Somerset Council, UK

What’s your why?

Smokefree Somerset Campaign
Public health / Behavioural change

Somerset’s smoking rates remain higher than the national average – with around 60,000 people still smoking.

NHS Somerset and Somerset Council set an ambitious target: Reduce smoking rates to below 5% by 2030. That means helping 45,000 people quit for good.

With the public already saturated with national quit campaigns the challenge was clear: Somerset needed something different. Something personal. Something that could cut through.

Gone are the scare tactics of the ‘00s. Research showed that people don’t need more stats about risk – they need support that feels human, encouraging, and relevant to their lives.

So we flipped the approach: Rather than tell people why they should quit, we asked them why they might want to.

“What’s your why?” became the heart of the campaign – inviting current and ex-smokers to share their personal reasons for going smoke free. Whether it’s for your kids, your health, your wallet, your future, or simply for yourself, there’s no one-size-fits-all reason to quit.

Concepts & design driven by insight

The identity needed to be approachable, adaptable. We didn’t want it to look like a typical public health campaign and it had to be strong enough to support a full campaign roll-out – across everything from social posts and posters to wallet cards, animations and GP waiting rooms.

Key elements included:

A bold typographic-led logo system, centred around the speech-bubble-style “What’s your why?” wordmark
Friendly and informal – yet knowledgeable – tone of voice using a mix of typefaces for accessibility and personality
A flexible system with roots in both NHS and Somerset Council guidelines
Real stories and faces from Somerset to build trust and relatability
A positive sign-off: “We can help you quit smoking, for good.”

From early development through to (ongoing) design delivery, I’ve shaped the look, feel and messaging – creating campaign visuals, social assets and templates for roll-out across council, NHS and community partner channels.

An emotional connection

As someone raised by parents who smoked, this was a dream project for me. I’ve long been inspired by the power of design to shape behaviour and public health, and this campaign felt like a modern, hopeful reworking of those hard-hitting quit ads of the past.

By grounding the campaign in personal stories - for example; “for Max”, “so I can keep up with the lads” and “because I want to feel better”—we helped people see themselves in the message. It was about empathy, not shame. Encouragement, not fear.

The Result

The campaign launched across Somerset on No Smoking Day with a burst of digital, social and print materials, alongside support from community and local health teams. Designed to grow over time, the visual system makes it easy to add new voices and stories while maintaining campaign consistency.