Living Blue in KC

On a recent sunny Sunday afternoon, I dragged my hubs and 7 year-old son with me to take a family yoga class at LiveBlue KC, the new health and education wellness center, located in Zona Rosa, a busy shopping center in northern Kansas City.

I wasn’t there simply for fun; I was there to see the results of a partnership between Willoughby and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of KC. We developed the name, identity and brand experience, in conjunction with Helix Architecture who designed the interior architecture. The store debuted in August. So after navigating through too many teens driving too many SUVSand LOLing their way to Forever 21, we parked and found a nice refuge inside.

Eastern light pours in through large windows highlighting a Cross and Shield constructed from bright blue jump ropes. A series of KC-centric illustrations created for LiveBlueKC by local artist extraordinaire, Tad Carpenter, adorns the wall of the kid’s area. Each picture hides a pad of paper with identical illustrations for coloring. Several kids were collecting and coloring with enthusiasm while sitting on chairs converted from skateboards. Very cool.

We all trooped into the exercise area to begin our downward dogs and tree poses. We learned to growl like lions, hiss like cobras and sing songs with lyrics like, “Namaste, namaste, this is how we greet the day!” and I didn’t even feel silly. It was a fun experience and we’ll be going back. I may even sign up for Zumba — as soon as I find out what it is.

LiveBlueKC was created to help the KC community navigate the new Affordable Health Care law and reduce the number of uninsured Missourians. Making this kind of environment attractive and welcoming goes a long way toward making what can be a confusing subject a little less stressful. That’s kind of a metaphor (is there such a thing as a semi-metaphor?) for what we do at Willoughby everyday. Messaging in design and copy to make products and services more attractive and inspiring.

You should make time for a visit to LiveBlue, not only to see our great work (I have to get in a plug there, naturally) but to see how LiveBlueKC can inspire you to make a healthier lifestyle the norm for you and your family.

Namaste.