Mucho named and branded US health-tech Ostro with a Meccano kit of connections

Formerly called RxDefine, Ostro works with medical professionals to help US patients navigate healthcare and get access to the right treatment and medicines — a space filled with complex jargon patients cannot easily parse.

A modular, Meccano-like lozenge as the logo, whose connection points stand for every connection Ostro provides on the patient's journey through US healthcare.

Mucho and naming studio A Hundred Monkeys chose 'Ostro' — the Italian name for a wind in the Mediterranean coming from the south — for its navigation link and its O-T-O symmetry, then let the O's drive the visual language: a Meccano-based palette where overlaps create new colours, iconography reduced to flat colours for small sizes, and a Neue Haus Grotesk logotype with a pedigree in healthcare and navigational signage.

The name and identity launched in April 2023; Mucho managing director Francesca Duncan said the result 'is not something people are expecting to see', which she believes will help Ostro stand out among competitors. No adoption figures disclosed.

Ostro, formerly called RxDefine, helps patients better navigate healthcare in the US and access the right treatment and medicines. Its CEO reached out to coffee brand Brewbird — one of Mucho's previous clients — for agency recommendations, which is how Mucho came to lead the rebrand.

The first step was the name, developed with California naming and writing studio A Hundred Monkeys. Creative director Eli Altman noted many health-tech names fall into the 'empty vessel' category — names without obvious definitions. They landed on Ostro, the Italian name for a wind in the Mediterranean coming from the south: a nod to navigation that ties to the company's purpose, chosen also because it starts and ends with O's around a central T, making it very symmetrical. Mucho then demonstrated how the O's could become part of the visual language.

Because US healthcare is filled with complex jargon, Mucho designed a system patients could understand at a glance, drawing on the children's construction kit Meccano. The logo is built on a modular, Meccano-like lozenge whose connection points represent the connections Ostro provides in the healthcare navigation journey; overlapping palette elements create new colours; iconography works in its most reduced form at small sizes; and the Neue Haus Grotesk logotype, originally based on Helvetica, carries a history in both healthcare and navigational signage.

The Meccano metaphor does double duty: it explains what the product does (connect patients to care) and guarantees the system scales — new pieces snap on.

Choosing an 'empty vessel' name with built-in symmetry let the wordmark and the graphic device be the same idea, not two separate assets.

Typography chosen for its signage pedigree quietly reinforces the navigation promise without another word of jargon.

When a category's language is the problem, borrow a system people learned as children — kits, connections, primary colours — and let the name carry the poetry.

Ostro launched its new name and identity in April 2023; the material records no further milestones.