COLLECTIVE LONDON / THE NHS TRUST

NHS-X

CHALLENGE

The transition from from Primary to Secondary school education is a difficult one for both children and parents. There is an increased risk for children to ‘fall off the rails’ during the Summer holiday period.

‘Level Up - Safe steps to Primary school’ is a youth initiative set up to support children through this transition. It operates in Haringey, Camden and Islington.

Historically the programme involved direct interaction with mentors and health professionals, but due to COVID and its subsequent restrictions an alternative solution was required.

Solution

A design thinking approach was applied with empathised learning, definition, ideation, prototyping and test phases.

An iterative design process that would begin with two proposals for identity and visual design kicked off.

The first, ‘ageless but targetable’ took emojis a reference point, creating a visual language that has universal appeal and familiarity. Then scale to target specific audiences and  complex problems.

The approach was bold, colourful and vibrant with a confident graphical language. Animation and humour are key and used throughout.

The second, ‘scaling a common ground’ took the principle of the real world and juxtaposed with with illustration and hand drawn typography. Creating a broad range of visual collateral to directly target age groups where appropriate.

The evolution and focus of this style allows us great flexibility, addressing mood and focus easily, in one moment communicating a fun, humorous tone, the next somber and restrained.

This approach ‘walks up’ the design to appeal to age groups, rather than taking a ‘one size fits all’ approach.