Ragged Edge tackles the stigma of getting IVF with its brand identity for Gaia

With infertility affecting one in six couples, women having children later in life, men's sperm count falling dramatically, and the number of same-sex couples wanting to be parents increasing, IVF could be the answer for this whole new generation of families.

But with aspiring parents spending over £14,000 on average on their treatment and traditional ideas about how families should be made persisting, IVF remains an expensive, exhausting and (for some) shameful last resort.

Gaia, the world's first IVF insurance product, wants to change all that by making fertility treatments more accessible and ending the stigma around IVF. The idea is that IVF is seen as a natural, accessible choice for anyone who needs it.

The brief

The company was founded by Nader AlSalim, who experienced the frustrations and limitations of IVF first-hand. So his aim in creating Gaia was to prevent fertility treatment from remaining the preserve of the wealthy.

The company provides personalised financing based on calculating the number of IVF rounds a person might need. Members pay an initial insurance premium: those that do not leave hospital with a child pay no more than that, while those who do pay back the cost of treatments in instalments.

Wanting a brand identity for Gaia that would convey its philosophy succinctly and effectively, he turned to London branding agency Ragged Edge.

"Our brief was to build the first brand for when men and women want to start a family," Nader explains. "We wanted to change the system, not just make it better; for that, bravery was not optional. We needed to partner with someone as brave as us and certainly not afraid to break a rule or two."

The identity

"To make IVF more accessible, we needed to fundamentally change how people think about fertility treatments," says Max Ottignon, co-founder of Ragged Edge. "That meant breaking the stigma, challenging preconceptions around both how to make a family and what constitutes a family. It meant creating a brand that could behave with real conviction, without ever losing its empathy."

The vision, then, was for a strategic brand platform where seeking IVF isn't a failure. "That could realign expectation with reality – predicting what's probable rather than promising what's possible. That could better reflect parenthood, not simply as an instinct we follow but as a choice we can make that requires strength of character and resilience. And finally, a brand platform to crush stigmas surrounding IVF, meaning everyone's journey to and definition of family is no less natural, no less normal."

The central idea around which the brand was developed was that a family unit has no fixed form or a fixed way to be formed. "So by offering full agency over reproduction, Gaia are the 'life makers' here for all future families, no matter their creation or configuration."

This notion informs all aspects of the identity, he explains. "This includes the logo, which features two different letters reflecting how no two families are the same. The collages, featuring lifestyle images shot by Charlie McKay, show the rich, varied and often imperfect ways we make a family.

"Our colour palette captures the hard reality of an IVF journey, always with a touch of optimism," he adds. "And our voice is bold, with good bedside manner – allowing Gaia to assert its point of view in the world while always supporting individual members. Together, this is a brand for the future of fertility care, for the future of all families."

"We loved working with the team at Ragged Edge," says Nader. "Their thoughtfulness stood out, and so did the consistency of the experience, regardless of whom we interacted with.

"Their level of care and empathy for the people we serve defines them, and it shows in the work we have done together. Their investment in understanding the space we operate in has allowed us to create a brand that's true to who we are but big enough to carry who we'll become."