When our joint managing director, Hannah Penn, sat cradling her newborn just days after giving birth, she was dealt a blow no parent should face—a melanoma diagnosis that could have cost her everything. As she fought for her life, another fight was unfolding quietly on construction sites across the UK: a silent epidemic of skin cancer that claims 44 percent of all occupational skin cancer deaths, even though builders make up just 8 percent of the workforce.
Driven by Hannah’s fear—for herself and for the countless site workers exposed to relentless UV radiation—we set out to make the invisible visible. UV-U-SEE isn’t just a silicon logo that shifts from white through pink to red as UV levels spike; it’s a holistic skin-protection system, anchored by our bespoke Higher-Vis vest and fortified with LifeJacket’s rugged, non-greasy suncream, that reminds every on-site team member they deserve—and need—real protection.
This is more than a creative exercise in hi-vis innovation; it’s a life-saving standard we’re proud to champion alongside Leo Workwear, the National Federation of Builders and the Considerate Constructors Scheme. Because if you can warn of a hazard, you can prevent a tragedy—and for Hannah’s story, that was everything.
UV-U-SEE is an extraordinary story with many beating hearts to it. This holistic skin-protection system that warns, nudges and protects construction workers to the dangers of harmful UV-rays, started as a terrifying revelation. Two and half years ago one of Pablo’s joint managing directors, Hannah Penn, just days after celebrating the birth of her second child, was suddenly dealing with a skin cancer diagnosis. Happy to say that Hannah made a full recovery and UV-U-SEE is the result of that experience, a deeply personal project she initiated within the agency in order to raise awareness around the woeful lack of skin protection within the construction industry.
Everyone always asks about that leap - why construction? After Hannah’s diagnosis, she was genuinely fearful about the possible effects that her cancer might have had on her unborn babies and whilst researching, found a staggering statistic; construction workers account for 8% of the UKs workforce, but 44% of occupational skin cancer deaths. Even more shocking was that 86% of skin cancer cases are preventable. That’s how Hannah briefed the agency, with a very open brief that simply asked ‘what could we do to help prevent more unnecessary deaths?’.
There were various thoughts around how we might tackle this issue, but it was a conversation in the Pablo kitchen between Adam and Gus, both creatives, that sparked the original thought around creating a highly visible warning system for a hectic work environment. That was developed into an idea to create a bespoke high-vis vest, a symbol of safety and synonymous to the industry. Although in its entirety UV-U-SEE is a holistic skin protection system, the Higher-Vis vest is really at the heart of the project.
The biggest obstacle was creating the tech itself and then integrating it into the vest. Whatever we came up with couldn’t impact the wearers daily role, had to adhere to health and safety regs and ultimately, had to remain affordable if we wanted to replicate the idea at a mass scale. We joined the project at the moment when the first exciting R&D attempts were being made to develop the tech which was all clunky battery packs, wires, and UV sensors. All of which worked, but none of which were practical or suitable for on-site use.
Hannah then found a brilliant factory in China and using an interpreter, we worked with them to help us test a new hypothesis; use a UV sensitive material encased in silicon that could withstand rain, building sites and washes. There was a very definite feeling of having made a breakthrough and more than that, a new potential revealed itself, that we could apply that UV-sensitive logo to other items like a buggy or a baseball cap or signs in parks, taking it away from just construction to increase its potential impact.
We turned our attention to the branding around the project itself, which was then called ‘The Hi-U-Vis’, thinking only of the vest. Seeing the development work with China and understanding the opportunity for other uses changed the course of the direction. We decided that we needed a broader name and approach that would sit comfortably in those other types of places. Again, simplicity and clarity was everything so ‘UV-U-SEE’ became our brand name, and a utilitarian tone emerged that told you exactly what the project’s aim was. Our design system adopted the body language of classic trademark design to use a visual language people could trust, alongside interesting type-setting and bold solarised images of construction workers.
I cannot express well enough how the power of Hannah’s personal story gave this project fierce momentum - that and her fearless ability to cold-call every partner that subsequently came on-board. As someone who has lived through melanoma and faced her own mortality, she could eyeball every potential partner when she said the construction industry and its workers deserve protections and they knew she meant it. Those partners included manufacturers like Leo Workwear who helped us identify the right vests and knowing the industry inside and out, could offer us a legitimate product that met all the health and safety regulations we needed to meet.
When we talk about a holistic system, we mean that you have to give the answer as well as the nudge. Lifejacket Skin protection came on board to supply us with a suncream that could stand-up to tough environments. Their product is impressively non-greasy, waterproof and allowed us to rebrand their product so it could form part of our skin-protection system.
Then the crucial and last piece of this ever-expanding puzzle was engaging lobbying partners, people who could help make change within the industry. The National Federation of Builders and Considerate Constructors, who set the standard for health & safety became joined the project and gave us the ability to create real change, making a pledge for skin protection to become part of their gold standard accreditation.
On the day it launched, British weather was uncharacteristically sweltering and the 1st of May, the start of Melanoma awareness month, was the hottest day of the year. Our little team shed many tears seeing UV-U-SEE go out into the world witnessing how it immediately captured the imaginations of the industry and beyond. How deeply satisfying, for all of us to see Hannah holding a vest badged with a brand we had all created and emotionally invested in, whilst speaking about it on the BBC news. And more than that, to see the requests come in for huge orders.
One of Pablo’s values that we have up on the wall is ‘Do Don’t Wait’, we are actively encouraged to have individual agency and wield it; this might just be the greatest example of it yet. There was something especially life-affirming about all of us working together towards a shared ambition, sometimes stumbling, because we didn’t have a clear pathway, but carrying on regardless. This project took over two years to realise and it could have fallen on its arse a thousand times over.
But it didn’t, and that was because of the Pablo internal team around it including planning who kept us honest, and production who kept the show on the road. All of us, and our brilliant partners never lost belief in Hannah’s story and UV-U-SEE’s ability to have real impact in the world.
By Ray Shaughnessy, Managing Creative Director, Pablo London
